"Adventures in Hostessville Presents 1967: The Summer of Love-in" at the Hive Collaborative

"Do you like fun?  Do you adore vintage style?  Do you love history, but also modern marvels like indoor plumbing and the right to vote? THEN WE ARE OBVIOUSLY GOING TO BE BEST FRIENDS." I think I have a new best friend. Last night I attended my first Adventure in Hostessville, and it's just my kind of thing. Created and hosted by #TCTheater artist Melanie Wehrmacher, Hostessville is great edutainment, combining music, comedy, history, pop culture, trivia, cocktails, and snacks, with a slide show! Melanie has been doing a series of these adventures at The Hive Collaborative (a perfect venue for its cozy vibes and ability to have cabaret table seating) this season. I missed 1943 and 1925, but when I heard that her new show would feature 1967, the best year (and also possibly the worst year), I was in! Visit the Adventures in Hostessville website, or follow Melanie on Instagram, to get notified of all of future adventures. But I'm not sure how she's going to top 1967, a year that is so rich in music, pop culture, history, and good vibes, so head out to the Hive this weekend, wearing your best hippie gear, to experience the fun of the Summer of Love (with indoor plumbing).

Melanie doesn't play a character, but is completely herself in the most charming and disarming way. Like any good hostess, she greets her guest before the show, and has made us a selection of themed snacks from vintage cookbooks, elevating the Hive's always excellent snack game. When the show begins, she shares her deep dive into 1967, known as the "Summer of Love." I love the '60s (Mad Men, HAIR), specifically the music and the aesthetics, but I really didn't know the details of the Summer of Love, so I learned a lot from our hostess. It wasn't all peace and love, it's a little more nuanced than that. Many differing factions were involved, San Francisco was overrun with young people without the infrastructure to support them, and meanwhile across the country there were hundreds of race riots. Melanie breaks this all down in an entertaining and accessible way, complete with visual aids. Along with the history, she shares pop culture (including vintage magazines), makes some questionable cocktails from the period, quizzes us on 1967 trivia (I guess I don't know that much about the '60s, I only scored 2 out of 20!), and best of all, shares the music of 1967.

photos courtesy of Melanie Wehrmacher

Melanie is joined in the musical part of the show by musicians and backup singers Luke Aaron Davidson (piano), Jeff A. Miller (guitars), and Marshall Yoes (trumpet, dressed in a Sergeant Pepper jacket). They perform just a selection of the incredible songs from 1967, from artists like The Beatles, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Johnny and June, The Turtles, Country Joe and the Fish, Bobbie Gentry, and many more. In fact, 1967 is such a rich musical year that they ended Act I with a medley of a dozen or two songs, which became a singalong as tends to happen at the Hive.

Now that I've experienced an Adventure in Hostessville, I hope not to miss another! Even though no other year could be as cool as 1967 in terms of music and style, but probably just as entertaining and informative. The show is a fun mix of many things, well constructed to include all of these disparate ideas and themes, and surprisingly poignant as Melanie illustrates how we're still dealing with many of the issues faced in 1967 today. I don't know if a "love-in" can help (as I'm not sure it did then, described by Melanie as "a sit-in with fewer goals"), but a healthy dose of peace and love couldn't hurt.