It's loud, it's fast, it gets the job done, and it's watchable all the way through - and it's also a show I could have left at any moment without feeling I missed much.
Cafe a Go Go takes place Saturday night in a 60s London club, just in that wild period before the light-heartedness of Beatlemania gave way to late-era drugs and politics. As such, the tone of this Heather Brothers confection remains light throughout (appropriate for the theater's own oversized-cabaret setting), with club denizens engaging in the usual teenage party behavior: drinking, flirting, puking, fighting, crying, snubbing, romancing and dancing. More a song-cycle than an actual musical, Cafe a Go Go has a few winning tunes and more that might grow on us if the evening weren't so loud and frantic. Forget actually caring about any of the characters, including the smarmy nightclub owner, played capably and sung questionably by Vin Adinolfi.