Beehive, that giddy musical powerhouse that celebrates the girl groups and singers of the '60s — from the Shangri-Las to Lesley Gore to Tina Turner and Janis Joplin — has returned to the Playhouse in the Park Shelterhouse for a holiday run.

        Cast members Heather Ayers, Ashanti Johnson, Laiona Michelle, Joye Ross, Rachel Stern and Kirsten Wyatt sat down over lunch to talk about now and then (with much laughing, shrieking and interrupting).

IF YOU GO

• What: Beehive   • When: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, through Jan. 6. Additional matinee 1 p.m. Nov. 28. No performance Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.   • Where: Playhouse in the Park Shelterhouse, Eden Park.   • Tickets: Previews $32 (today-Wednesday). Beginning Thursday, $39-$47. Any unreserved tickets half-price day of show at Playhouse box office 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 421-3888.

        Question: You were all born way after these songs were hits. What are your first memories of the music?

        Kirsten: I love this music. I was in third grade the first time I heard Tina Turner — “What's Love Got to Do With It?” I had no idea she had a career.

        Joye: I'd never head of Janis (Joplin).

        Kirsten: My whole family is Italian. They played Connie Francis' Italian album all the time. (She performs a few measures of “Finiculi, Finicula.”)

        Rachel: My folks were from the Bronx, my dad had the leather jacket, the cool shades, this was the music they grew up with.

        Joye: Rachel's dad invented Aqua Net.

        Rachel: Then they moved to the 'burbs.

SONG LIST

Act I • Let's Rock • The Name Game • My Boyfriend's Back • Sweet Talkin' Guy • One Fine Day • I Sold My Heart to the Junkman • Academy Award • Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? • Remember (Walking in the Sand) • I Can Never Go Home Again • Where Did Our Love Go? • Come See About Me • I Hear A Symphony • It's My Party • I'm Sorry • Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree • I Dream About Frankie • She's a Fool • You Don't Own Me • Judy's Turn to Cry • Where the Boys Are • The Beehive Dance • The Beat Goes On • Downtown • To Sir With Love • Wishin' and Hopin' • Don't Sleep in the Subway • You Don't Have to Say You Love Me Act II • • A Fool in Love • River Deep, Mountain High • Proud Mary • Society's Child • Respect • A Natural Woman • Do Right Woman • Piece of My Heart • Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) • Me and Bobby McGee • Ball and Chain • Make Your Own Kind of Music

        Q: How do you like the music?

        Heather: It holds up today. It's good music. And I feel like I'm paying tribute to my mom.

        Rachel: The subject matter in the first act is so simple, so dramatic — my boyfriend's walking out of the party!

        Laiona: The songs had something to say that was emotional, and then political.

        Rachel: Like it says in the show, "The boys went to war and the women went to the microphone.' And you could dance to it.

        Kirsten: And it's all women. Women made this music. They made it happen. They blazed the way.

        Rachel: Men wrote it.

        Kirsten: I don't care.

        Rachel: And these women were pop music — Brenda Lee, Lesley Gore, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin. These are lasting names. What pop star today is going to do that? None.

        Q: How about the clothes?

        Rachel: The costume designer knitted us sweaters!

        Heather: It's not the same show as last time. The music is the same, but we're different. Unique.

        Kirsten: We were asked for our input, what's your take on the character?

        Joye: I didn't get that.

        Kirsten: There has been a capri pants issue. None of us have bad bodies, but capris cut you at the hips and we're like — aaaahhhh!

        Ashanti: And the pointy bras — to make your waist look small. By the '60s, they were burning bras.

        Heather: In the '50s you could have some flesh on you.

        Joye: It was about voices then.

        Ashanti: They were average girls. It's fascinating — they were sent to charm school.

        Rachel: It didn't matter what you looked like. Videos changed that.

        Ashanti: Before videos you could have no legs and no teeth and nobody knew.

        Heather: That's why we all have poor body images — Christina Aguilera.

        Kirsten: These girls haven't gone through puberty yet.

        Q: So what do you think? Is there a revue to be made from the last generation of women pop stars?

        Kirsten: Totally. Jewel, the Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin —

        Rachel: Alanis Morissette —

        Heather: Let's do it!

        Rachel: “Chick Rock — The Musical!” But it'll be a . . . getting rights.

        Q: I notice you're all having cheesecake for dessert. How many calories do you figure you're burning up on this show?

        Joye: I don't know, but my guess is we're working it off.
       

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