Written by Patrick Chavis

Escape to Margaritaville, the musical is playing now at Golden West College in Huntington Beach from October 4 to 13, 2024.

This is a musical so cliche, you could remove Jimmy Buffet from the title and call it Hang Loose or Island Time, and nothing would have to change. Actually, Island Time might be a better title. If Adam Sandler had written musicals around the same period as Happy Gilmour and Billy Madison, they would have looked and sounded much like this. In some way, shows like this bring back nostalgia for those dumb but charming films from the 90s, and Golden West has produced an admirable production of this formulaic musical.

Escape to Margaritaville is a musical set on an undisclosed island in the Caribbean. It’s not a real place; it’s a state of mind. I visit this mystical place a few times a year. It’s fun when done responsibly.

Story:

No, actually, it’s a fictional bar and resort where this play largely takes place. Tully (Whitney Ackerman) is a laid-back beach bum type who works at Margaritaville as a singer and performer, but Tully spends more time breaking women’s hearts as they come and go from the island.

Rachel (Novelee Smedley), an earnest scientist with dreams of creating a power source from potatoes, becomes Tully’s latest conquest. Can Tully’s wit and island charm loosen up the studious Rachel, or will Rachel show Tully there’s is more to life than carefree days on the beach? Other relationships also commence, and Tammy (Elisa Renae), Rachel’s friend, finds a little self-respect—(I knew it was there; self-respect is very important) all of this and more in Margaritaville.

This musical is wildly predictable, and the humor is adolescent. Besides scratching a nostalgic itch for comedies of the past, Escape to Margaritaville doesn’t add anything new to the conversation. What it does do very well is imitate these past comedies quite well.

Most importantly, it’s not dull, and this cast sounded great with the accompaniment of the live band led by Music Director and Conductor Rick Heckman. Nestled in the back as the bar’s house band, the production’s large ensemble of over ten musicians plays various tunes, mainly from the Jimmy Buffet catalog, as this is his jukebox musical. The sound design of Dave Mickey and the Caribbean music was a true highlight, and the singing from the cast definitely had its moments.

Set Design:

Set design from Tim Muller utilizes the curtain at Golden West to the fullest, obscuring two other parts of the set on a grass mountain atmosphere right of the stage and left of the stage, a design for quick story development. A wall that drops in from the sky and, wow, an airplane that practically flies on stage for the airplane scene.

Acting:

Regarding the cast, Saffron Brauer was excellent as Marley, Margaritaville’s gossip and bar owner. This minor part was made much better because of the actor behind it.

Maximus Dorsey does a fantastic job as Jamal and brings a lot of personality and fun to the role.

Whitney Akerman and Novelee Smedley lead this cast, with largely consistent performances.

While the musical never reaches the level of the Pina Colada you’d expect from a Jimmy Buffet musical, it’s more like a cold Budweiser, and that’s not so bad sometimes.

Review

7.9 Overall

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Story7.5

Acting7.9

Set & Design8.4

Costumes7.6

Entertainment8

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Above Average!