‘With the love, the loss, the heartache.’ Inside Pembroke Pines’ new musical
Crinolines swirl, poodle skirts sway and more than 20 classic hits from the 1950s and 1960s fill the Pembroke Pines Theatre.
“The Marvelous Wonderettes” has its opening show at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, bringing a nostalgic, music-filled journey from prom night to the inevitable high school reunion 10 years later.
Written by Roger Bean in 1999, the jukebox musical centers on four young women whose friendships and ambitions are tested through love, laughter and unexpected challenges. The show blends humor, heart and nostalgia through the lens of girlhood.
Behind the glitter and bubbles, Geoffrey Mergele and Del Marrero, co-directors and longtime board members of Pembroke Pines Theatre of Performing Arts (PPTOPA), orchestrate the magic act of balancing music, choreography and some of the unique challenges community theater brings.
For Mergele and Marrero, the show is as much about community as it is about performance.
“Whatever I don’t see, Geoff sees,” Marrero told the Pembroke Pines News.
The duo first met during a production of “Cabaret” shortly after Mergele moved to Florida in 2018. Since then, they’ve formed a tightly knit artistic team.
Mergele, who serves as the show’s musical director, comes from a strong musical background, learning piano, cello and eventually acting and dancing.
But there was something that musical instruments couldn’t give him: movement.
“I had too much energy to sit,” Mergele said. “So once I started taking dance classes, I realized that it was a good way to get rid of my energy.”
Now that he doesn’t dance as much as he used to, Mergele says he tenses up without a way to expel all his energy. But, in this role, he says he enjoys being able to wear many hats.
“I don’t like to be in charge of what’s happening, but I like to bring everyone together to do the thing,” Mergele says.
He also shares on the unique perspective he brings as a male director on a female-focused show.
“I feel as a male, I’m lucky to get to work on this show since it’s so female heavy,” he says. “Most of the time when people do this show, they’re not looking for men to be in charge, I don’t think anymore, but it’s been really fun.”
Community theater comes with its unique set of challenges, particularly financial ones.
“Lack of funds. That’s number one,” Marrero says. “You get a lot of people that are willing and want to do, but ... how are you making sure that you are paying your people or buying rights or lights or sets, but make it a reasonable price for the patrons.”
Pricing depends on factors such as the theater’s size and the number of performances, which can get costly very quickly. According to Broadway Licensing, buying the rights and downloading the performance tracks alone can cost $600.
“I don’t think people really know how much it costs, and I don’t think they know how much time it takes,” Mergele says.
For Marrero, the show resonates personally, especially with the growth the characters experience.
“We do have a very young cast and they do a phenomenal job of morphing into the adult selves in act two. ... There are so many real authentic moments that as a woman in my 30s, I relate to and I see,” Marrero says. “With the love, the loss, the heartache … that’s why I love it so much.”
Mergele says he hopes audiences can escape for a couple hours and fully immerse themselves in the show.
“I hope they’ve had two hours where they don’t have to think about what’s going on in the outside world. ... We can’t shut it off all the time, but hopefully for two hours they can be transformed back to a time where pop culture was fabulous,” Mergele says.
“The Marvelous Wonderettes” will run at the PPTOPA, also known as the Susan B. Katz Theater of Performing Arts on the Pembroke Pines Charter High School campus, from Oct. 10-19.
For more information on showtimes and tickets, click here.
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 1:10 PM.
