Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s ‘Freaky Friday’ will be an acquired taste

First off, I have a great deal of respect for Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. Every year they are able to fill their theater seats with eager audience members while casting local theatrical talent. When I saw that they were producing “Freaky Friday” I actually looked forward to the show.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed. Not in the cast, or the orchestra, or the sound, or the lighting and certainly not the stage set design (although a secondary curtain to hide the kitchen would have helped). My discontent was in the show itself. It is simply way too long with way too much music.

 Along with the “Prologue” and the “Entr’acte” you have 22 full length songs along with three reprises making for close to three hours of seat time. This is a work that could be trimmed of two songs...or ten. On top of that, none of the songs are memorable past the theater exit.

Most of us are aware of the story line.

Ellie Blake (Jace Maly) begins the show by warning us that we will not believe her story about the worst 24 hours of her life (“Just One Day”). Her mother, Katherine (Halle St. John) is getting married the next day and since she is a wedding planner by profession has decided to arrange all of the details for her nuptials (there is also a problem with lack of finances).

Ellie and her brother Fletcher (Shane Johnson) are at odds. He communicates through hand puppets which irritates Ellie. Fletcher enters with an ancient hourglass that Ellie’s father had given her (a duplicate had been gifted to Katherine). Katherine has Fletcher give back the antique to Ellie who has not gotten over her father’s death. She has resentment against the bride groom Mike (John-Paul Whitman) who tries desperately to break the ice between he and Ellie but is constantly rebuffed. Ellie’s friends, Gretchen (Elyse Whitman) and Hannah (Rachel Marzullo) show up wanting her to join them that night in “The Hunt” where classmates participate in an elaborate scavenger hunt that is held throughout the city at night.

Katherine forbids it since it is the night of the rehearsal dinner. Katherine and Ellie fight, with each of them wrestling the hour glass as they simultaneously wish that the other could understand her (The Hourglass”). The hourglass breaks and the two switch bodies. Their attempt to switch back is met with failure as the spell can only be reversed if the hourglass is whole. Ellie/Katherine reveals that the hourglass that she had was sold to finance the wedding.

Given no choice, the two decide they will have to pretend to be each other until they can get this sorted out and the second hourglass found. Each feels that the other’s life is easy and are confident that they can do a better job in their new bodies (“I Got This”).

Ellie/Katherine is to be interviewed for Weddings Magazine that will be a huge boost to the business. Katherine/Ellie was a good student at school and sees no challenge what so ever (“What You Got”). In short order Ellie/Katherine destroys the wedding cake as Katherine/Ellie realizes how difficult it is to fit in these days as a teenager with harsh teachers and a bully, Savannah (Jessie Pollak) plus there is Adam (Jack Wagar) who Ellie has dreams about and Katherine feels attracted to as well. Mike arrives at the house early for the rehearsal dinner as Ellie/Katherine is being interviewed. With her lack of training in the wedding planning field the interview goes all wrong. Mike decides to save the day by reading his vows to Ellie/Katherine who is repulsed by him which confuses everyone.

Discoveries are made as Katherine/Ellie finds a tattoo on her backside and Ellie/Katherine finds that her mother smokes. They also discover a mutual fondness for Twinkies while following a strict diet (“Busted”). On the bright side, Ellie/Katherine finds a macaroni necklace that her mom has kept for years and Katherine/Ellie realizes that her daughter is quite popular at school with solid friends.

At the parent/teacher conference to discuss Ellie’s many absences and anti-social behavior Katherine/Ellie realizes that her daughter’s down slide happened following her father’s death and that by throwing herself into her work had neglected Ellie (“Somebody Has Got to Take the Blame”). Before anything can be resolved, Katherine/Ellie is taken to gym class.

Ellie/Katherine picks up Fletcher from school and on the way home discovers that the pawn shop that the hourglass was sold to has closed. Ellie/Katherine gets an idea to get the hourglass added to “The Hunt” so that the entire school can look for it. Katherine/Ellie tries to make friends with the bully who is “The Hunt” champion in helping find the hourglass which alienates Katherine/Ellie with her school friends. On the way home, Fletcher tells Ellie/Katherine how excited he is about getting a new dad. Cynical Ellie/Katherine reveals all the lies that parents tell (“Parents Lie”) which upsets Fletcher.

With all the guests arriving for the rehearsal everything begins to unravel. Gretchen and Hannah kick Ellie/Katherine off the team for wanting to work with Savannah. Katherine’s number one worker quits (there is still no replacement for the wedding cake). Katherine/Ellie tells Mike that she may call off the wedding and Fletcher runs away from home (“Just One Day (Reprise)”)

Although the musical (based on the 1976, 1995 and 2003 film adaptations) has never appeared on Broadway, it has premiered at la Jolla Playhouse, The Cleveland Playhouse and Houston’s Alley Theater during the 2017 season. It was also presented in Norfolk, Virginia by the Virginia Musical Theatre as well as Atlanta Georgia by the Horizon Theatre Company later in the same year. It is from a book by Bridget Carpenter with music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Brian Yorkey (some would say too much music and lyrics), and book by Bridget Carpenter.

In spite of the inherited problems, the cast did manage to soldier on. Jace Maly as Ellie and Halle St. John as Katherine work well in their topsy-turvy parts making us all believe in “the change”. The nine piece orchestra under the direction of David W. Coxe does a fine job. While the singing is good, it falls short of being great and singing some songs louder does not make it better. The sound design by Stephen M. Savanyu seemed in need of some boosting in parts as lyrics and lines were sometimes lost to the audience members. Jen Justice does an adequate job with the choreography. Baz Wenger’s stage design while good could use a bit of tweaking to differentiate between the various locals. Marcus Dana’s lighting made good use of centering the light for various scenes. The Director was Brian Westerley.

While being a very entertaining non-musical series of movies, the stage musical tends to throw too much at us for comfort. Sometimes less is more. Some serious snipping needs to be done in order to make this show easier to view. Regardless, CVLT fans will love it none the less.

The Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s production of “Freaky Friday” will be on stage at 40 River Street, Chagrin Falls, Ohio through August 16, 2025, For more information and to purchase tickets go to http://www.CVLT.org or call (440) 247-8955.