Good Vibrations (musical)

Good Vibrations is a Broadway jukebox musical conceived and directed by John Carrafa featuring the music of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. It opened February 2, 2005, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and ran for 94 performances before closing on April 24, 2005. The musical follows the tale of three high school friends who want to escape their small New England town and drive to California. However, none of them own a car, so they invite the unpopular valedictorian girl who has a crush on one of the guys to use her for her car, and drama and romance ensue. The cast on opening night starred Kate Reinders as Caroline, David Larsen as Bobby, Tituss Burgess as Eddie, Brandon Wardell as Dave, Jessica-Snow Wilson as Marcella, David Reiser as Dean and Sebastian Arcelus as Jan. Janet Dacal, Sarah Glendening and Krysta Rodriguez made their Broadway debuts in the show.
Critical reception.
"Good Vibrations" received many harshly mixed reviews that condemned its plot as being superficial, predictable and bland, contrived around incorporating as many Beach Boys' songs as possible. Since the songs were not tailor-made for the musical, critics complained that songs did little to progress the plot or give insight into the characters. Therefore, despite an energetic cast and a soulful score of favorite tunes, the general verdict was that "Good Vibrations" made for a nice concert but a poor example of true musical theatre.