{"id":111024,"date":"2026-02-06T21:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=111024"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:45:26","slug":"wwi-phone-operators-light-up-ross-valley-players-hello-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wwi-phone-operators-light-up-ross-valley-players-hello-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"WWI phone operators light up Ross Valley Players\u2019 \u2018Hello Girls\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ross Valley Players production of “The Hello Girls” features, L-R, Monica Rose Slater, Jacqueline Lee, Abigail Wissink, Grace Margaret Craig and Malia Abayon. (Robin Jackson\/Ross Valley Players via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

By WOODY WEINGARTEN<\/p>\n

Women’s roles in wartime rarely have been so smartly and poignantly portrayed as in “The Hello Girls.”<\/p>\n

Ross Valley Players are staging the 2018 musical drama co-written by Peter C. Mills and Cara Reichel, which starts in World War I as U.S. servicemen are fighting in France. Dispatches were being screwed up because male American telephone switchboard operators couldn\u2019t speak French, and their French counterparts lacked English.<\/p>\n

Enter the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hello Girls\u201d\u00a0tracks\u00a0the misogyny French-speaking females suffered at the hands of their peers and superiors, all the way \u201cup the chain\u201d to stalwart Gen. John \u201cBlackjack\u201d Pershing, played by Joseph Walters with\u00a0appropriate gruffness.<\/p>\n

The feel-good story focuses on Grace Banker, the women\u2019s leader, and four other bilingual operators. Monica Rose Slater adroitly portrays Banker, who is often stone-faced, a countenance befitting keeping her underlings in line\u2014until she starts singing and smiling, often with wide-eyed mugging. She clearly has the most resonant voice of the 10-member cast. Grace Margaret Craig displays comic chops as sharp mouthed operator Suzanne Prevot.<\/p>\n

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Monica Rose Slater plays Grace Banker, leader of the telephone operator corps in Ross Valley Players\u2019 \u201cThe Hello Girls.\u201d (Robin Jackson\/Ross Valley Players via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mills composed the sometimes-similar jazz and ragtime songs in the two-act, two-and-half-hour show. The dense lyrics are geared to move the story along, but the tunes lack memorable riffs. However, some numbers are pleasant: the opener \u201cAnswer the Call\u201d; the bouncy title tune \u201cHello Girls\u201d; the first-act finale \u201cLives on the Line\u201d; the second-act opener \u201cThe Front\u201d and \u201cMaking History,\u201d which details what happened after the time period of the show, as the \u201cgirls\u201d fought to be recognized as soldiers for decades.<\/p>\n

Only a few\u00a0numbers near the schmaltzy ending\u2014such as \u201cThe Lost Battalion,\u201d a solo by promoted Capt. Riser (Nelson Brown)\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0a study in poignancy\u2014deal\u00a0with the horrors of war.<\/p>\n

None of Mills\u2019 melodies\u00a0are\u00a0as exciting as snippets of\u00a0standards\u00a0such\u00a0as \u201cAlexander\u2019s Ragtime Band\u201d that are\u00a0included. And\u00a0those\u00a0morsels\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0nearly as\u00a0good as the upbeat choruses of signature tunes from each U.S. military branch,\u00a0belted by the full\u00a0cast\u00a0in a patriotic\u00a0medley.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0actors playfully display their abilities\u00a0on\u00a0myriad instruments \u2014\u00a0keyboard, drums, double-bass, cello, violin,\u00a0flute\u00a0and accordion.\u00a0While\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0probably not\u00a0either Juilliard or San Francisco Symphony\u00a0material,\u00a0they\u00a0play\u00a0well\u00a0enough to create an illusion of mastery.<\/p>\n

Director Maeve Smith\u00a0ensures that the performers\u2019 singing and\u00a0dancing are\u00a0in sync, and that\u00a0their\u00a0facial expressions and body language\u00a0convey precisely\u00a0the right mood.<\/p>\n

Ron\u00a0Krempetz\u2019s\u00a0set is marvelous and eye-catching;\u00a0cross-hatched wires and bright lights\u00a0reveal\u00a0how critical phone messages were to the war effort.<\/p>\n

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Grace Margaret Craig displays comic chops and proficiency on accordion in \u201cThe Hello Girls.\u201d (Robin Jackson\/Ross Valley Players via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Costumes\u00a0by Valera Coble\u00a0providing\u00a0an accurate\u00a0sense of the era\u00a0range from blue military outfits with high necklines, puffy sleeves and long skirts, and\u00a0contrasting colorful civilian garb,\u00a0for the women, and\u00a0olive drab\u00a0uniforms and\u00a0army helmets and ammo belts for the men. All that, plus heavy boots!<\/p>\n

Jonathan Blue\u2019s choreography,\u00a0predominantly cutesy,\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0help but evoke smiles.<\/p>\n

Props are few, and the switchboard\u00a0is invisible. However,\u00a0the actors make it real by simulating plug-in motions\u00a0and serving up\u00a0perfect harmony,\u00a0musically and in demeanor.<\/p>\n

While it was difficult to watch how the\u00a0women\u00a0were rebuffed in their efforts to\u00a0be\u00a0in the middle of the action\u00a0\u201cat the front,\u201d the show\u2019s comedy\u00a0goes down\u00a0easier, such as the\u00a0scene\u00a0where the\u00a0women are learning\u00a0ever-changing secret phone system codes that force them to be trilingual, to know French, English and gibberish.<\/p>\n

Ross Valley\u00a0Players\u2019\u00a0\u201cThe Hello Girls\u201d\u00a0runs\u00a0through March 1 in the Barn Theatre,\u00a0Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Blvd., Ross. Tickets are $30-$45 at\u00a0rossvalleyplayers.com.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This article was first published on<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>LocalNewsMatters.org<\/a>, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find\u00a0Sherwood \u201cWoody\u201d Weingarten,\u00a0a member of the\u00a0San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and the author of four books at voodee@sbcglobal.net, woodyweingarten.com <\/a>or vitalitypress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WOODY WEINGARTEN Women’s roles in wartime rarely have been so smartly and poignantly portrayed as in “The Hello Girls.” Ross Valley Players are staging the 2018 musical drama co-written…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-111024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"