Hauling out to Lakeway is a long drive, but it isn’t a terrible one, especially when light traffic and good weather make it pretty — even in midwinter, when every living thing between here and nowhere turns deaddrybrown and tree branches poke their gnarly bare fingers into the big blue Texas sky, daring spring to make an appearance. Such was the case on the Sunday afternoon when I decided to make this drive, the reliable front wheel drive sleigh loaded up with girlfriends also eager to make the most of a trek out past city limits. The destination? TexARTS and their current professional-series production, Beehive: The 60s Musical, created by Larry Gallagher.

Beehive is not what I would call, exactly, a traditional musical. It is mostly a musical revu. It has no real plot. (And don’t say “neither does Cats,” because that is not a fight you will win.) There’s sort of a book, maybe a total of two dozen lines of dialogue throughout the show, and actresses use their own names. But where typical elements like plot lines and characters are waved away, another very important theater element is ushered to the forefront: ✨ spectacle ✨.

Beehive is gorgeous to look at. Set designer Bradford Smitherman has transformed TexARTS’ space into a loungey, moody disco fever dream. Lights flash against a dizzying backdrop of pink and orange swirls. Shimmering sequins transition from from silver, to aqua, to Barbie pink, and a disco ball spins slowly above the audience like a benevolent party god of old. Below it, a cast of seven talented women, equally colorful, sparkly, and a little cheesy, sing and dance their way through the swinging sixties at breakneck speed — thirty four songs in ninety minutes. The progression through the years is marked by Lindsay M. Palinsky’s costume design, which hits all the highlights of the decade: full, modest skirts and tennis shoes; mod miniskirts and go-go boots; Woodstock-Festival-chic; elegant, empire waist ballgowns. There’s no shortage of color or character. Wigs, too, (Christopher S. Arthur) tell their own story, climbing higher and higher into the titular beehives, then flattening into hippie-straight just as quickly as they rose.

Beehive is a marathon for vocalists, since there are so few speaking breaks between songs. TexARTS’ cast (Sherlicia Cariolet, Macy Field, Meredith Anne Villarrial, Lauren Gaw, Ella Mia Carter, Arielle Laguette, and Hannah Ferguson) get to show off both their individual chops and impeccable group harmonies throughout. The first act trips along through cutesy girl-group pop songs; most of the cast stay on stage the whole time, one or two taking the lead while the rest coo in harmony behind her, bopping their hips, toes, and heads to songs about puppy love. I certainly couldn’t name you most of the acts represented there, but all of the songs were familiar. The second act features more solos, and the cast take turns personifying recognizable names. Things get a little deeper, a little darker, a little more grown-up. Ella Mia Carter channels Dusty Springfield and Lesley Gore, her alto voice filling the room. Sherlicia Cariolet blows the crowd away by playing two different icons of American music, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. The Woodstock interlude is represented by one Jefferson Airplane (Starship?) song, then three Janis Joplin songs that Macy Field must carry on her own along with the Joplinesque wig on her head. She isn’t bad, but Joplin isn’t an easy impression. Did Joan Baez not want her music associated with off-Broadway musical revues? Ah well. The show ends with everyone in matching sequined minidresses, sparkling, toothy grins flashing, waving the audience to join in as they sing Cass Elliott’s “Make Your Own Kind of Music”.

Does one get the sense that Beehive was developed by and for a cruise line? Well, yes. But so what? It’s cute, it’s sparkly, it’s catchy. It only runs 90 minutes! What else could you want from a Sunday matinee? Nostalgia is a hell of a marketing tool, and — judging by the smiles on every face as we filed out after bows — it’s a hell of a good time, too.

Beehive: The 60s Musical runs at TexARTS through March 1, 2026. For tickets and more information, visit TexARTS online.