By Andrew Poretz***By name alone, going in cold, The Randy Andys are, surprisingly—a trio of female singers, and they’ve been making a splash in town. Inspired by the Postmodern Jukebox musical collective, and attired in identical red, sparkly dresses and with large pink flowers in their hair, the group performs both old and new music in the style of 
The Andrews Sisters, with solid harmonies and some choreography. They also make great use of humor, sexual innuendo (thus the “Randy” part), and the occasional innovative, if hitherto unthinkable, mashup.
At their recent sold-out performance of their new show Spring Swing at Don’t Tell Mama, The Randy Andys —Monica Blume, Alison Mahoney and Celia Pires-Fernandes—were quite entertaining. They were joined by guest performers Joe Montoya and Ellie Wyman, and were accompanied by pianist Matthew Everingham and drummer Andrew Wolfe.
Opener, the Madonna hit, “Material Girl” (Peter Brown, Robert Rans), set the tone of the show. Although not quite tight at first, as the set went on, their harmonies 
became closer and sharper. Each “Andy” took on a different character: “Louella,” with the sweet tooth; “Bev,” whose “Claude” waiting at home for her turned out to be a cat; and “JoJo,” the “randiest of the Andys”. There were plenty of funny puns and sometimes corny shtick to give their act an old-school feel.
“Toothbrush” (Joe Jonas, James Ghaleb, Rickard Göransson), a tune reminiscent of one of those mildly risqué songs that performers such as Betsy Stratton parodies on her “Heaves 2 Betsy” YouTube channel, was very “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” in its arrangement, which proved an interesting foreshadow of the rest of the set. With the appearance of Montoya, the show took a different turn. With a thin, high tenor, he performed three songs with verve and passion, while the ladies sat at the edge of the stage and swooned. He was especially affecting on the gorgeous ballad “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” (Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman) with the rare verse, and on a killer take of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (Rod Temperton) with the Andys joining in with harmonies.
The biggest highlight of the show came with the rather ingenious, improbable mashup of the 1950s pop hit “Mister Sandman” (Pat Ballard) with heavy metal band Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” (Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Jason Newsted). It was brilliantly performed and quite effective. Hearing an Andrews Sisters-style arrangement on the suggestive “Big Ten Inch Record” (Fred Weismantel) was quite fun.
Guest performer Ellie Wyman was a big hit with the crowd, though her powerful voice seemed a bit shrill on this particular night. Her most effective number with The Andys was the vaguely risqué “Juice” (Lizzo), with its repeated riff/play on words (“Blame it on my juice” instead of “Blame it on my youth”), and audience participation. The group closed with the real “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and a solid re-creation of The Andrews Sisters’ arrangement. The Randy Andys are an entertaining and attractive act, and while they may not have that exquisite close harmony of The Boswell Sisters, on whose shoulders they stand, The Randy Andys are quite worth seeing.
Photos by Andrew Poretz
