For Dean Parker, the writer of a musical premiering in Northampton this weekend, the sound of 1980s pop star Tiffany is all about feeling good.
At a time when he says Hollywood entertainment seems to be all about sensationalism and shocking people, Parker, a native of West Springfield, decided to use Tiffany’s music as the basis for his play’s storyline to give audience members the lift he thinks they deserve.
“It’s a salute to her music because it really was feel-good music, so we tried to make a feel-good show,” Parker said during a recent phone call from his adopted home of Los Angeles, Calif.
Born in 1971, the same year as Tiffany (full name Tiffany Renee Darwish), Parker said he wanted to incorporate songs from one of his favorite musicians into a theatrical performance.
“Mr. Mambo,” a musical comedy titled after one of Tiffany’s songs, is about three high school students chosen to appear in a New York City dance show competition.
The musical premiers Saturday at the Academy of Music at 8 p.m.
In the play, Kristen Aimes and her two friends, Casey Harmon and Danny Rodriguez, compete in “Dance America,” a reality television show hosted by TV star Eric Archer, also known as “Mr. Mambo.”
When Johnny Stevens, Aimes’ secret crush, is not chosen to join the competition, he follows the three other teens to New York, and the stage is set for a play filled with jealousy, love and drama.
There are additional twists. Archer’s manager convinces him to pretend to be romantically interested in Aimes to generate extra publicity. At the same time, Archer’s ex-girlfriend and dancing partner on “Dance America,” Amber Catrell, shows up to the broadcast to reclaim her spot on the show — and get the three teens booted out of the competition.
Parker calls the play a “jukebox musical,” meaning his characters are drawn from some of Tiffany’s songs (Johnny, for example comes from “Johnny’s Got the Inside Moves”) to create a storyline filled with high-energy singing and dancing that engages the audience.
“The show is not about Tiffany herself, but it’s a recognition of her contribution to the (music) industry,” he said.
David Bovat, of Springfield, is the musical’s choreographer, and he’s known Parker since he gave him dance lessons as a 7-year-old. Now he’s helping bring “Mr. Mambo” alive.
Bovat said the show uses many of Tiffany’s most memorable songs, and that even though the play is set in current times, it still captures the timeless feeling of being in high school.
“The way (Parker) wrote it is actually brilliant because it’s like a show within a show,” said Bovat, who directs the dance department at Bay Path University in Longmeadow.
Most of Tiffany’s music, he noted, “told a story about a young person growing up with experiences of love and hurt and relationships, and I think (the play) brings people back to a good time.”
Like his former dance student, Bovat said he was very familiar with Tiffany’s music at the height of her popularity, in the late 1980s and early 1990s; he said he “grew up dancing to that music.”
The 16-member cast of “Mr. Mambo” has been rehearsing since the end of August, and Bovat said one of his challenges has been transforming a small number of non-dancing actors in the show into dancers.
As a competitive dance instructor with 32 years of experience, Bovat is used to working with dancers who typically train seven days a week. But he said his actors and actresses rose to the occasion and have done wonders in the musical’s rehearsals.
“The opening number is ‘Mr. Mambo,’ and it takes place in a dreamlike sequence,” Bovat said. “The show opens with a big number with lots of hip action, low-to-the-floor jazz moves and stylish, flamboyant costumes.”
Around the early 2000s, Parker, who today is a screenwriter for hire in Los Angeles, said he noticed a change in movies and television. He believes the entertainment industry began to decline around then, when shows moved away from character-driven narratives.
“[The entertainment industry] is getting away from TV and movies being about fun,” he said. “Everything now is very dark and serious, or it goes to the other end of the spectrum where it’s a screwball comedy and there’s no in-between where it’s funny but also fun to watch.”
Parker graduated from Cathedral High School in Springfield in 1989 and moved to Orlando, Florida, that year to pursue theater acting. After a few years performing in theaters there, he moved to Los Angeles in 1994 to continue acting, but said he also began to develop his own scripts.
He’s had two plays produced on the West Coast in the past few years, and his contemporary fiction novel, “High Rollers,” was published in 2013.
As for his show in Northampton, he said, “When [the audience] comes out of the theater, I want them to feel good from hearing all that music.”
David Bovat seems to think that’s pretty likely.
“It’s high-energy, non-stop action when it comes to the dance part of it,” he said. “I think any young dancer, or old dancer, who wants to see something really good will be entertained.”
“Mr. Mambo” takes place at Northampton’s Academy of Music on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.; doors open at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and additional information, visit www.aomtheatre.com.