‘Summer of’42’ bright, energetic

It's a familiar coming-of-age story, set in the summer of 1942. The country is at war, and Hermie, Oscy and Benjie, three teens from New York and New Jersey, are spending a summer on an island off the coast of Maine. The boys' biggest concern is girls, and except for an air raid drill, a few cursory efforts at conserving goods, and a single, pivotal telegram, the summer islanders are relatively unaffected by the war.

Stage 1 makes the most of their tiny space with a striking set, designed by Mercedes Schaum. Theatre-goers are greeted with gravel and beach grass as soon as they enter the space, and the simple multi-leveled and tiered set of boards, gravel, grass and reeds feels authentic and is beautifully lighted by Kenny Mullens.

In their enthusiastic portrayal of the terrible trio of teen-aged boys, Christopher Steward, Drew Seigla and Jonathan A. Perez careen around the tight space with more than a few near misses and their female counterparts, Aggie, Miriam, and Gloria, played by Audra Honaker, Ellie Atwood and Maggie Roop skillfully pull off energetic dance numbers on the sloping set.

Hunter Foster's book and David Kirshenbaum's music and lyrics are full of nostalgia and padded with historical references, but the coming-of-age humor provides the most memorable moments. Hermie's agonizingly painful experience buying condoms, a beach picnic, Hermie and Oscy's double date at the movies -- highlighted by Hermie unwittingly caressing his date's elbow -- and Hermie's crush on the older Dorothy, a new bride whose husband has been sent off to war, stand out.

Aggie, Miriam, and Gloria provide color, and Oscy and Benjie are excellent foils, but this is Hermie's story from start to finish. Robyn O'Neill offers an excellent voice, both in her encounters with Hermie, including the nostalgic, "Like They Used To," and "Someone to Dance With Me," and in her solo, "Promise of the Morning."

With all the youthful hormones supposedly flowing through the Summer of'42, the actors occasionally fall short on energy, yet at the same time they sometimes appear to be trying too hard to recapture the naiveté of the teen years. Overall, Stage 1's "Summer of'42" is a bright and energetic production, from Kirshenbaum's music and lyrics to Chase Kniffen's direction and choreography.

My biggest criticism -- why have a live band if you cannot see them? Hidden behind the backdrop, the band, under the direction of Tony Williams, isn't even allowed to come out front for a bow. Frank Creasy's Walter Winchell radio newscasts were the only partially unintelligible sound bites in an otherwise crystal-clear audio production, so perhaps that was the intended effect after all.
Julinda Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer living in eastern Henrico County. She can be contacted at .