‘Girl Power’ On Display As ‘Beehive’ Takes Stage

“Beehive: The 60s Musical” is coming to the stage at the Lenfest Center this week.

Washington and Lee University’s Department of Theater, Dance and Film Studies and the Department of Music are jointly presenting the 2023 Bentley Musical production on this Thursday and Friday, March 9 and 10, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 11, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre.

Tickets are required for this trip back in time and are available online at https:// wlulenfestcenter.universitytickets. com/w/?cid=168 with a credit card or in-person at the Lenfest box office.

Patrons can contact the box office by calling (540) 458-8000 or emailing boxoffice@ wlu.edu.

Written by Larry Gallagher, “Beehive” celebrates the powerful female voices of the 1960s with timeless hits such as “My Boyfriend’s Back,” “Be My Baby,” “Chain of Fools” and “Proud Mary.”

This non-top, energetic celebration tells the story of six young women coming of age during a tumultuous decade. Through direct address, the audience joins them on their journey from innocence in the early ‘60s, when hemlines and hairstyles are their focus, to maturity and the challenges facing the entire nation by the end of the decade.

Leading the cast are the “Beehive” girls: Kate Fisher, Ana Montano Martinez, Cate Brien, Elise McPherson, Meaghan Endres and Zaria Daniels. Alec Sirois plays the DJ who connects the women with the sounds of the ‘60s. Mikie Sanchez and Christy Childs round out the cast. Daniel Reiter is the assistant director, Emily Moran is backstage manager and W&L students Michael Allen and Noah Shelton are playing in the band.

Directed and choreographed by professor Jenefer Davies with musical direction by Patrick Summers, this show is a love letter to girl power.

“Women’s empowerment, and specifically the idea of women not as a monolith but as independent humans who love and live and want different things, drew me to this play,” said Davies. “The music the women sing is a shared soundtrack of their lives, but even as the music evolves throughout the 1960s and the girls themselves grow and change, they accept and love one another. They are the original girl squad.”

LEAD ACTORS in “Beehive: The 60s Musical” include (from left) Ana Mantano Martinez, Kate Fisher, Meagan Endres, Elise McPherson and Cate Brien. Not pictured is Zaria Daniels.