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Paint the town red: The singers in “Under the Streetlamp”
will serenade Brooklynites with doo-wop music, at
On Stage at Kingsborough on Nov. 9. Eric Morgensen
Full harmonic
Retro band will croon hits of the 1950s
COURIER LIFE, NOV. 1-7, 2019 45
By Ben Verde Oh, what a night!
The retro rock ’n’ roll group
Under the Streetlamp will bring
its throwback tunes and shiny suits to
Manhattan Beach next weekend for an
evening of doo-wop, soul, and golden
oldies. The brightly dressed four-piece,
performing at On Stage at Kingsborough
on Nov. 9, will perform a set jammed
with hits from the middle of the 20th
century, in hopes of taking audience
members back to the carefree days
of their youth, said one of the band’s
founding members.
“It’s an opportunity for the audience
to forget their troubles and remember
where they were when they first heard
it,” said Shonn Wiley.
The band’s four vocalists, including
Wiley and his bandmates Eric Gutman,
David Larsen, and Brandon Wardell,
say that they aim to please baby boomer
music lovers by focusing on chart toppers
from their youth, including Elvis, Beach
Boys, Tom Jones, the Beatles and Roy
Orbison. Fans of those artists have few
options in live entertainment, said Wiley.
“If you look at the modern
entertainment industry, they’re really
underserved,” said Wiley.
Each of the singers has appeared
in various musicals, both on and off
Broadway, but the first time their paths
crossed was in 2011, when they were each
cast in a Chicago production of “Jersey
Boys,” the musical dramatization of the
rise to fame of Frankie Valli and the
Four Seasons. The performers worked
together so well that they decided to
break off and form their own show. They
decided on throwback tunes because they
all shared the same nostalgia for the
music of their parents’ generation, said
Wiley – “That music was the soundtrack
to every car trip,” he said.
The band is named for the Brooklyn
phenomenon of 1950s doo-wop groups
harmonizing under streetlamps, but they
also draw on the music of later decades.
A different member takes the lead for
each song, playing to their strengths
for the corresponding genres. Larson,
a tenor, covers most of the rock songs,
while Wardell, who Wiley describes as
having “incredible range,” handles the
older crooner tunes.
Between the four leads, who are
backed up by a full band, the show covers
a wide range of popular music, pulling
from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, said Wiley.
“We have a pretty eclectic evening of
music planned,” he said.
Under the Streetlamp at On Stage at
Kingsborough 2001 Oriental Blvd. at
Oxford Street in Manhattan Beach, (718)
368–5596, www.onstageatkingsborough.
org. Nov. 9 at 8 pm. $34–$39.
/www.onstageatkingsborough
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