“Polyester and Pearls” Revisits the Pop Standards of Another Era

The Great American Songbook isn’t inscribed in stone.

What was once musically new is now vintage; what was once the fare of Top 40 radio now has a place in the collective pop culture consciousness. Jeremy Reger and the cast of the upcoming musical revue “Polyester and Pearls” are more than happy to celebrate that changing of the musical guard.

The new, original show—written and arranged by Reger, associate professor of vocal coaching at the CU Boulder College of Music—features music by the pop impresarios of the 1970s, specifically the songwriters behind the era’s hits. Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, Laura Nyro, Carole King, the Carpenters and others all figure into the soundtrack of this cabaret show which offers audiences a stage plot partly inspired by the dynamic of the New York City venue 54 Below and the over-the-top, boisterous aesthetic of the era.

“We’ll be performing on a cabaret stage in the College of Music’s theatre with suggestions of the time period. We’ll take the same approach with the costuming,” Reger notes. “We’re going to take the audience back to an era, one of the ‘Gong Show’ and Carol Burnett.”

This setting will help bring the most important element of the show—the music—to life in the proper context, Reger adds. For those who lived through the soundtrack of the ’70s, the revue will offer a fresh take on familiar material. For those unfamiliar with the era, the production will serve as a crash course into a specific chapter in the history of American music—one where songwriters and performers expanded on the folk/rock cues of the 1960s and found a new direction.

That instructive quality isn’t just for young audiences, Reger shares. The show also serves as an educational experience for the cast of about 10 performers who are presenting the soundtrack of a specific era.

“We’ve written this show specifically for our students. In the musical theatre program, we’re always trying to think of ways to help students with things they’re going to encounter in their professional lives,” Reger says, adding that songs like “Moon River,” “Say a Little Prayer for You” and “Alfie” could very well be standard tunes for a performer tackling what he calls a “cruise ship revue.” “We wanted to open it up and find pieces by all songwriters—women and non-white composers included.”

The result is a one-act featuring a live band that will offer audiences and performers alike an important lesson in the shifting topography of what’s considered the “classic” era in American songwriting.

“These songs, they’re now what we would call the Great American Songbook,” Reger says. “That used to be music by the Gershwins and Cole Porter—as time moves on, these take their place. This music is 50 years old now, and they’re still such great songs.”

The CU Boulder Musical Theatre Program presents Polyester and Pearls Nov. 12-15 in the Music Theatre, Imig Music Building.