The conversation topic du jour this week in our house was – what do you think “The Pajama Game” is going to be about?  Guesses for what the plot of Williamsburg Players’ latest show would be included a caper where pajamas are evidence, a teenage girl-based plot where all the action happens at a sleepover, and a comedic drama about a playboy whose many trysts begin to find each other based on the fact that he lets them all keep the pair of pajamas that he buys in bulk and has ready for each of them at the end of the night.

As it turns out, “The Pajama Game” is a 1950s-style romance which creates conflict through a union-management fight over a 7 and a half cent raise at a pajama factory.  It is chock full of very fun, “Golden Age of Broadway” songs, where the women fall immediately in love with the new guy in town with no questions asked, and the men have very little power over themselves when a young woman is in the room, except, of course, when business must come first.  It was a “simpler” time in the 50’s, which brings this play its charm, and director Dillon Bates fully recognizes that, having his cast lean into both the plotlines that hold up and those that we all know were more “of the time”.  For example, thrown in is a philandering union president (played by Kevin Clauberg, who does a nice job through his multiple affairs of executing the jokes while also giving a little bit of tongue-in-cheek energy), a discussion on physical discipline in the workplace where our protagonist takes an… interesting stand (which gets the appropriate eye roll from our leading lady), a plot point where our protagonist gets a girl drunk to get her to do what he needs (while being very upfront with said girl that this is his plan), and a WILD subplot around knife throwing (which I wouldn’t say is 1950s-esque, but is completely entertaining and totally out of left field).

With all that going on, you can see why Dillon Bates made a point to note that this is truly a group effort to bring together, and from what we could tell, he had a great team, both on and off stage.  Costumer Angela Robinson put together a fantastic portfolio of outfits for this show, with everyone having at least two costumes and all being fun and interesting to look at.  Wren Beavers lent her beautiful voice to our pro-union leading lady Babe Williams, pulling off the internal struggle of Babe between her undying commitment to the union and her personal love life.  Beavers also really brought that 1950s love interest energy – you could just imagine her in a black and white movie with an old-timey plane behind her as the music swells.  Meanwhile, Andrew Christensen (who we saw last year in PCT’s “First Date”), once again impressed us with his voice and his easy chemistry with Beavers and the rest of the cast.  Peggy Kageleiry believably plays Ms. Hasler, the out of touch owner of the factory.  And Jeff Nicoloff, nominated for two ACT-y’s last year for his role in PCT’s “The Prom”, was completely hilarious again here as Vernon Hines.  Nicoloff has such stage presence that he could pull off anything, which is good as he is tasked with the aforementioned knife throwing subplot, which is crazy and fun.  He, along with Misty Hammett as the secretary Mabel, bring us the most fun duet of the evening, “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again”, where Nicoloff acts his butt off as he tries to convince Mabel that, even in the wildest of circumstances, he will trust his current beau Gladys.

Gladys is played by the radiant Georgia Hester, who is a really strong character actor in this role.  She also is a great dancer, which gets me to our favorite part of this performance – the choreography, especially of the ensemble numbers!  The dancing throughout this show was stunning, often with multiple different things happening on stage at the same time during the bigger numbers.  With multiple featured dancers taking center stage separately or together, the choreography was really something to behold.  Huge shout out to choreographer Dana Margulies Cauthen for putting this together, and to the entire ensemble cast for executing it wonderfully.  

The movement, in combination with a strong ensemble sound (which only got better throughout the evening as the group found their union identity), made for multiple really fun, big numbers, including Act I’s “I’m Not at All in Love” and Act II’s “7 and a Half Cents”.  You could just imagine that you were back in that “Golden Age of Broadway”, amid the glitz and glamour of New York City, all while staring at a pajama factory.  Amazing what some catchy songs can do.