MARINE CITY, MI–Anyone in the mood for some raucous hilarity should get to Marine City ASAP for The Great American Trailer Park Musical, playing at The Riverbank Theatre.

This show is racy and raunchy, which in another review might sound bad; but in a musical set in a trailer park, racy and raunchy translates as downright marvelous! 

Directed and choreographed by Carrie Meusling, with music and vocal direction by Colleen Everitt. Trailer Park is a high energy story about the “upstanding” denizens of Armadillo Acres in northern Florida. The audience meets a lively trio consisting of Betty (Christy Kreidler), Lin (Carrie Meusling) and Pickles (Kelly Maynard).  They are a sassy bunch that monopolize the gossip around Armadillo Acres, and are not shy in sharing their dirty laundry about conjugal visits with a husband on death row, a deceased husband who was buried in the yard, and hysterical pregnancies. 

Then there are neighbors Jeannie (Shannon  Singh) and Norbert (Joel Frazee), who are planning to celebrate their 20 the anniversary in ultra-classy style by going to the Ice Capades, if only Jeannie can manage to step  outside their trailer and overcome her agoraphobia, which was brought on 20 years  earlier when their baby son was kidnapped.

Things are shaken up with the arrival of Pippi (Ash Moran), a hot, red-headed strip club dancer on the run from a bad boyfriend in Oklahoma City.  She offers the unsuspecting Norbert a ride home from town one night, and ends up giving him the ride of his middle-aged life—over and over again, for the next several weeks.  When Jeannie discovers Norbert and Pippi’s affair, she dreams that her life is an episode of a chair-throwing, reality talk show.  

Pippi’s marker-sniffing ex-boyfriend Duke (Michael Danaj) tracks her down and confronts the park residents, waving his gun and threatening to burn down the whole park. The residents make a startling discovery—one that seems ironically sordid even by their own standards— which leads to a resolution between Jeannie and Norbert.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical is cleverly written by Betsy Kelso and David Nehls. The hilarious script uses campy trailer park stereotypes as a jumping off point for the characters, but watchers will realize before the end that the characters’ troubles also reflect life in neighborhoods beyond the park limits. Many pop-culture references are sprinkled throughout, which will elicit laughs from those who survived the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

Musically, the show blends country-rock with bluesy style, and a bit of disco thrown in for fun.  The trio of Betty, Lin and Pickles serves as musical narrators for exposition early in the show, but also serves as backup voices in nearly every song (they are in fact referred to collectively as “The Girls” throughout the musical synopsis). One very interesting number, “It Doesn’t Take A Genius,” features the trio of The Girls, layered with a duet of Norbert and Pippi, and the solo voice of Jeannie.  The Act I finale “Storm’s A Brewin’” resurrects a discotheque vibe complete with silver lamé jumpsuits,  among other surprises. The Riverbank also utilizes live backstage musicians for this production, which adds to the energy.

The absolute highlight of this show are the vocal performances.  The Betty/Lin/Pickles trio (Kreidler/Meusling/Maynard) may be oddly matched as friends, but vocally, they are perfectly matched, well blended and consistent.  Norbert (Frazee) uses his voice to express his character’s conflict, and Duke (Danaj) uses his to convince us that he is quite unhinged.  Jeannie (Singh) has an interesting arc in her vocals, ranging from the timid voice of a nervous wife, afraid to exit her front door; to the powerful emotions unleashed when she emerges from her self-imposed prison in the song “Panic.”  But it was the voice of Moran as Pippi that stole the show, especially the robust and lusty,  lounge-singer style of “The Buck Stops Here,” and the compelling confidence of the Act  II “Finale,” in which she bravely sings about pressing on with her life—just like a fake fingernail.

I also have to mention the wonderful set design (Tom Vertin) comprising two trailers that were either real (how did they get them into the theatre?) or assembled to make them appear absolutely authentic; I truly could not tell which. One of the trailers has a break away front wall that allows us to see inside. The one weak point was some technical trouble with a hissing and popping mic, and some inconsistent mic audio levels, which hopefully can be worked out for future performances. 

I am not typically the first one to rise for a standing ovation, but I will admit I was among  the first as this performance ended. It was an outstanding combination of a witty script  with well-written music, a cast with comedic talent and vocal prowess, presented on a  well-designed set.  

Don’t bring the kids to this one, but get your tickets to see The Great American Trailer  Park Musical         . You won’t regret it.  The show is playing at The Riverbank in Marine City through July 30, 2023.