Beehive, created by Larry Gallagher and directed by Megan Richards, with choreography by Erin Ryan, is a buoyant, high-octane throwback to my era.
I grew up in the ’60s with a box of 45s—filed A through Z—rushing to the record store each weekend with my father to spend my allowance on the latest hit. This show taps directly into that muscle memory.
Seven young women—Sherlicia Cariolet, Meredith Anne Villarrial, Ella Mia Carter, Hannah Ferguson, Macy Field, Lauren Gaw, and Arielle Laguette—perform full and partial versions of iconic songs while moving, costume by costume, from prim ’50s silhouettes into the free-form sweep of the late ’60s. Plastic go-go boots—white, cherry red, bubblegum pink, electric blue—flash under the lights, each pair matched to a swirl of towering wigs in every imaginable shade. The look is unapologetically mod, unapologetically fun.
The first act directly belongs to the Kennedy-era pop moment, taking place after sock hops and before psychedelia, a time when girls suffered heartbreak from love or were caught off guard by betrayal. By the second act, the tone shifts. The harmonies harden. The women stand taller. What begins as longing evolves into women’s liberation.
From “Walking in the Rain,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “I’ll Never Change Him,” and “Baby, I Love You,” the show pivots toward history—President Kennedy and Dr. King echoed in “Abraham, Martin, and John,” defiance in “You Don’t Own Me,” raw power in “River Deep,” “Proud Mary,” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” “To Sir with Love” and “Chain of Fools” landed like memory triggers.
Lauren Gaw’s sly, pitch-perfect flirtation with a senior gentleman in the audience was a standout—playful, teasing, and expertly timed. The house giggled, perhaps because of a perception that senior citizens don’t flirt?
New Yorker Sherlicia Cariolet showed off her vocal range with pizzazz while Meredith Anne Villarrial consistently held the group together with her range and field of vision.
For me, the experience was visceral. I still know every lyric to every song I ever owned. Fifty, sixty years later, the melodies summon streets, faces, summers, heartbreaks. Each tune is a time capsule. Maybe it will be for you as well?
Running through March 1.
TexARTS Theatre & Academy
1110 Ranch Rd 620 South
Lakeway, TX 78734
512-852-9079
tex-arts.org