OutInJersey.net
"The Bikinis" is about first love, endless summer days & amazing music

It was the summer of 1964, at the Belmar Beach Talent Contest. Four local girls entered the contest, & won! This was the day "The Bikinis" was born (named for their beachware worn on that fateful day).

The four members of the group; Sisters Jodi & Annie (Kathy Morath & Annie Golden) from Paramus, their best friend from Staten Island, Barbara (Cheryl Freeman),.& their cousin from Philadelphia, Karla (Karyn Quackenbush) have reunited at Sandy Shores RV Resort to raise money to save the beloved mobile home park, which is in danger of being taken over by a developer. Along with their friend/manager/projectionist Betty, they take the audience back to a time of first love, endless summer days, & amazing music.

Act 1 is filled with some of the best music from that era. "Under The Boardwalk", "Chapel Of Love", & "It's In His Kiss" kept the audience literally dancing in their seats. During the rendition of "The Twist" some lucky audience members get pulled from the front rows to join the ladies & "do the Twist"! Cheryl Freeman has her "Jennifer Holliday moment" during her scorching rendition of "Heat Wave" which brought the audience to their feet. That girl can belt! The set is simple & the costume changes minimal, as the girls voices & the fantastic music remain front & center. Act 2 begins at the cusp of the Vietnam War & "flower power" is taking over. The ladies take us back to the era of peace & love with renditions of such classics as "Time Of The Season" & "Incense & Peppermints". The lights are brought down & shots of the Vietnam war are shown during the rendition of "Dedicated To The One I Love" which was surely emotional to some. Karyn Quackenbush gives a stirring rendition of "Midnight Blue" which truly showed her vocal prowess. The party continues though, when renditions of such disco classics as "Last Dance" & "It's Raining Men" bring us into the 70's all over again!

Throughout the play, there are references to Jersey, from Avon to Asbury Park to Belmar. As the play was shown at the famed Carousel House in Asbury Park & many of the attendees were locals, this truly makes you a part of the show. I won't ruin the ending, as there's a "surprise twist" that no one sees coming. The ladies give us one final number together, & then the beach balls come out, bringing the audience to their feet for a true "beach party"!

During the final number, one of the ladies mentions that sometimes finding the best things is like buying a 45 record (remember 45's?). "Sometimes you buy a 45 for the A side, but the real treasure is on the B side". In that case, "The Bikinis" is definitely a B-side treasure!

Asbury Park Press
"BIkinis" are top-heavy with talent

The Bikinis puts its point across primarily via a carefully selected score of period pop hits, ranging from the shoop shoop, itsy-bitsy innocence of the pre-Beatle era; on through the long strange Woodstock trip and up to the "Last Dance" of disco. …if you're anything like the opening night audience, you probably won't be shy about singing along from the seats.

As you'd expect, each of the stars gets their turn in the spotlight, on crowd-pleaser standards such as "Heat Wave" and "These Boots Are Made For Walkin,' " as well as Melissa Manchester's "Midnight Blue" and Joseph Baker-Ray Roderick originals, including the country divorce ballad "Goodbye to You." There's even a well-deserved tribute to hippie pop goddess Melanie. Even better are the numbers in which the four Bikinis harmonize together as if they've been doing it all their lives — prominent among them the Connie Francis theme "Where the Boys Are" and the Mamas and Papas arrangement of "Dedicated to the One I Love." A sweet boardwalk dessert that might even have you rooting for the good people of Sandy Shores.”

The New Jersey Star Ledger

“…a nostalgic funride. How fitting that the new musical called “The Bikinis” should be in two pieces.

For the first section of this world premiere at ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park, four fiftysomething women relive the early ‘60s.

They sing the songs they warbled when they were young and performing as “The Bikinis.” The audience is treated to such happy-go-lucky bubble-gum classics as “It’s in His Kiss” and “Where the Boys Are.” (Of course, any show called “The Bikinis” will find room for a song that contains the words “itsy-bitsy” and “teeny-weeny,” too.) But then in the second part of the show, The Bikinis recall the era of two Kennedy assassinations, the Vietnam War, and Woodstock. Now the songs they sing have social significance, such as “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma” and “A Simple Song of Freedom.”

En route, we get to know a little about the women. In Act One, they talk and sing rapturously about their boyfriends while in Act Two, they’re less enthusiastic about the men they married.

By show’s end, they’re telling stories about their own grown sons. “The Bikinis” succeeds as a terrific concert for those who remember the era when boots were made for walkin’ and when one’s baby did the hanky-panky. …a show with fire, style and nostalgia.”