Stage West's Beehive musical celebrates 1960s through the women who shaped the decade

Stage West's musical Beehive: The 60s Musical is pure nostalgia, charting women's shifting roles and independence through the defining songs of the 1960s.

The production opens with teenybopper songs — Lesley Gore's "It's My Party," the Chiffons' "Sweet Talking Guy," and Supremes hits "Where Did Our Love Go?" and "Come See About Me" — tracking how young women were sold the idea that a bad boyfriend was better than no boyfriend at all. As the evening progresses, the women become stronger. Diana Del Rosario transforms Connie Francis's "Where the Boys Are" into a female anthem that rattles the dinner theatre's roof.

Musical director Konrad Pluta doesn't try to recreate the original sounds but instead offers his own interpretation, a choice that works beautifully. The show's tonal range shifts as the decade deepens. Sarah Horsman's rendition of the Shirelles' ballad "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" — about a young woman who gave her virginity the night before — and the Chiffons' "One Fine Day" move past bubblegum lyrics into weightier themes.

The ensemble uses Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John" to recall the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the lives lost in Vietnam. Trench coats replace the garish 1960s outfits costume designer Raili Boe has them wear for most of the first half, and video screens complement the performance with poignancy.

As the women move into songs by Dusty Springfield and Lulu, and later into Tina Turner and Carole King, director Troy Goldthorp showcases the ensemble's talent. Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" closes the decade with energy and control. The final song, Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music," captures the show's theme: that women were finding their own voice and charting their own path.