JEREMY DANIEL
Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present the jukebox musical “Mystic Pizza” through Feb. 23.
In the 1980s, you might have been hard-pressed to find much common musical ground between John Mellencamp, Debbie Gibson, The Bangles and Rick Astley. But their hits — and the songs of other ’80s and early pop ’90s stars, including Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Bryan Adams, Berlin and Robert Palmer — are heard throughout “Mystic Pizza,” the 2021 jukebox musical, based on the 1988 movie, that is currently running at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, with direction by Paper Mill veteran Casey Hushion.
JEREMY DANIEL
From left, Alaina Anderson, Krystina Alabado, Jennifer Fouché and Deánna Giulietti in “Mystic Pizza.”
Book writer Sandy Rustin throws in some references to ’80s culture (Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”) and strays outside the 1980-1993 era, musically, only once, with Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” (1970). (Two other songs, “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” originated in the ’60s, but did have prominent ’80s covers.)
I was in my 20s in the ’80s. And though most of these artists, at that time, were not in heavy rotation in my home or car stereo, these songs are a part of my cultural DNA. And as a result, I experienced the show as a fun jolt of nostalgia, especially when Rustin matches the right song to the right scene, as when she uses Mellencamp’s “Small Town” to establish the musical’s modest, seaside setting (Mystic, Connecticut) … or when she calls on Lauper’s “True Colors” to pull at the heartstrings when two major characters reconcile … or when she has a wedding singer belt out Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
This is not the most original musical, sticking to the romcom conventions of its cinematic template, which is about three young, Portuguese-American pizza-shop waitresses who are searching for love and trying to figure out their futures. And at least a few of its characters come off as one-dimensional. But it still tells its familiar story with an exuberance that is hard to resist.
The main characters are three recent high school graduates: sensitive, Yale-bound Kat (Alaina Anderson), who was so serious about her studies she skipped prom to study for her AP physics test; her coarser, more sexually experienced sister Daisy (Krystina Alabado); and their loud, fun-loving, no-nonsense best friend JoJo (Deánna Giulietti).
JEREMY DANIEL
Alaina Anderson and Ben Fankhauser in “Mystic Pizza.”
JoJo adores Bill (F. Michael Haynie), who sings in a local band called The Lobster Rolls, but she just can’t bring herself to marry him. Kat falls for recent Yale grad Tim (Ben Fankhauser), an unhappily married, Mozart-loving architect who is spending the summer working in Mystic. And Daisy is pursued by a rich, handsome, preppy guy, improbably named Charles Windsor (Vincent Michael), whose upper-class lifestyle couldn’t be more different than the working-class grind Daisy has grown up in.
The pizza shop is not doing well, and its gruff but big-hearted owner Leona (Jennifer Fouché) is thinking of selling; JoJo thinks she may continue in the business on her own, if only if Leona will share with her the secret recipe that makes her pizza so mystic. A cartoonishly snooty, bow tie-wearing restaurant critic known as The Fireside Gourmet (James Hindman) — who could save the business with a rave review — stops by to try the pizza. He leaves so quickly that everyone thinks he must have hated it, but they’re not sure.
As in the movie, everything leads to a mostly happy ending. That doesn’t mean all the romantic couples resolve all their differences: “Mystic Pizza” isn’t quite that tidy. But Kat, Daisy and JoJo reaffirm their bonds with each other, and their belief in themselves, and face a future that looks bright.
In 1987, I may have regarded Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” as a disposable pop song that I never particularly wanted to hear again. But as the rousing final number of “Mystic Pizza,” sung by the ensemble, it’s kind of perfect.
The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Mystic Pizza” through Feb. 23. Visit papermill.org.
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