Review: Pop go the ‘80s (again) with still-engaging ‘miXtape’

The 1980s: Lived them, loved them, bought the Flock of Seagulls T-shirt.

So let me just say as an unrepentant fan of the band that I am offended the Flock is represented only by a haircut in “miXtape,” Lamb’s Players Theatre’s newly revived musical ode to the decade.

(And if you say all they were was a haircut, I’ll stick my fingers in my ears and keep repeating the word “Kajagoogoo” until you go away.)

Other than that, “miXtape” remains as much boisterous, fluffy, tongue-in-cheek fun as ever — maybe more than ever, given the return of several veteran cast members and some reworking of the show.

You might recall that “miXtape” (the bold “X” is for the generation it mostly focuses on) stands as the longest-running homegrown musical in local history; the original 2010 production lasted some four years before closing, if briefly.

Creators Jon Lorenz and Colleen Kollar Smith (whose sharp work is also now on display in “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at Carlsbad’s New Village Arts) manage to pack a dizzying array of ’80s music and pop culture into the two-act, 140-minute revue.

Max Headroom, “The Facts of Life,” the B-52’s, Boingo, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Don’t You (Forget About Me)," "Beat It," "Rio" — if this production were an actual mixtape you’d need some kind of mega-Memorex cassette to contain it all (and forget about trying to rewind).

Plenty of the songs trotted out are from one-hit wonders, including the Buggles and their weirdly prescient '79 tune "Video Killed the Radio Star."

Others are from acts that just never quite got their due; "Don't You," which pops up twice in "miXtape," became a massive hit for Simple Minds after it appeared in the era-defining 1985 movie "The Breakfast Club," but it was a song they didn't even write. (Check the earlier albums "Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call" and "New Gold Dream" for a much better read on the Scottish band.)

Kerry Meads’ direction and the heroic stage management of Kendra Stockton somehow keep the show flowing through all the quick costume changes (with lots of riotously fun styles by Jemima Dutra) and breakneck musical shifts.

And the actors and band (with musical direction and arrangements by Lorenz) get a workout that makes Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” which is of course portrayed here, look like a lot of lazing around in leg warmers.

The unstoppable Joy Yandell (she plays Alison, although character development isn’t really a thing in "miXtape") is a particular powerhouse as she fronts numbers from Suzanne Vega’s “Luka” to Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole” — by far the edgiest the show gets. (You’ll need to look elsewhere for “Joy Division: The Hitz!”).

Geno Carr (Brian) is a comic gift in such bits as a “Top Gun” riff as well as on “Don’t Stop Believin’”; and the strong-voiced Steve Gouveia (Hardy) and charter “miXtape”-er Marci Anne Wuebben (Claire) are all over the place on both songs and sketches.

Likewise for Moriah Angeline (Melanie), Leonard Patton (Winston) and the versatile and funny James Royce Edwards (Jake), all of whom do justice to Kollar Smith’s zippy choreography. Singer-guitarist Dylan Burcombe also steps up for a few standout turns, on Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” and others.

Mike Buckley's catwalk-happy set, Nate Parde's occasionally Day-Glo lighting, Matt Lescault-Wood's crisp sound mix and Michael McKeon's savvy projections add to the sense of sitting in at the MTV studios or some lost-in-time taping of "Solid Gold."

If the show pushes its title conceit to the edge of contrivance, and some of the more somber moments sit uneasily amid the party atmosphere, “miXtape” remains a force of nature — or at least nostalgia.

And after all these years, the show still whips it ... what's that word again? Nicely.