Weekend Theater Reviews

 ALL ABOUT WALKEN So these eight Christopher Walken impersonators glide onstage, strutting and yowling and wearing bad wigs. Most are decent Walkens, and the best have mastered the piranha stare and elastic enunciation that snaps the ends of syllables like rubber bands. As the octet — Michael Bayouth, Lily Holleman, Amy Kelly, Kanzo Lee, Patrick O’Sullivan, Tara Prince, Brennan Vetter and Troy Vincent — shapeshift through a dozen familiar Great Moments in Walken (much of which involve violence or the threat of it), it’s clear that Walken, like Elvis, is easy to imitate but hard to top (though Holleman and Bayouth come close). Walken’s gleeful insanity is realized when director O’Sullivan challenges his band of Walkens to new Walken frontiers — an all-Walken Wizard of Oz , a loopy feminine spray commercial, a Q&A called “Talking to Walken,” and a threatening karaoke cover of “These Boots Were Made for...” By the time the Walkens have killed each other off only to rise as zombies and to groove through a gangly version of “Thriller,” my ribs hurt so bad, I felt like I’d been mano a mano with Vincenzo Coccotti. PAUL GLEASON THEATER, 6520 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Mon., 8 p.m.; thru March 12. (310) 663-4050. (Amy Nicholson)

THE GOOD STENO is a promising yet disappointing tale about sexual exploitation and harassment in the garment district of 1946 Manhattan. In the holding cell of a police station, we meet Gloria (Noelle Arzillo), who is being interrogated by a detective (Michael Oberlander). An engaging, spirited 16-year old, Gloria tells of how she dreamed of better things and took a job as a stenographer at a swimsuit manufacturer owned by the unscrupulous duo of Jack (Louis Giambalvo) and Morty (co-writer and director Paul Ben-Victor). Jack constantly made passes at her, while the bombastic and often humorous Morty pimped out his models to his buyers. Ultimately, Gloria’s outrage over her male bosses’ conduct becomes the catalyst in a desperate and violent act of defiance that concludes the play. Co-writers Leah Kornfeld Friedman and Ben-Victor utilize a collage of flashbacks to tell this story, but the format is poorly constructed and often confusing, a fault accented by a meandering script. The production features a few musical and dance arrangements that lack polish. Ben-Victor gives the standout performance in a good cast. THE HAYWORTH, 2509 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sun., 8 p.m.; thru March 25. (800) 838-3006. (Lovell Estell III)

LADYBIRD Set to a Russian hip-hop beat, the U.S. premiere of Vassily Sigarev’s exploration of disaffected post-communist youth looks like Trainspotting without the heroin. In an apartment complex aptly named “Dead and Alive,” Dima (Patrick Mapel) and Slavik (York Griffith) live hand to mouth by stealing metal grave markers from the neighborhood cemetery and selling them for scrap on the black market. Complicating this placid existence is Dima’s alcoholic father (Jeff Perry), who spends most of the play passed out in the adjoining room. The arrival of neighbor Lera (Sarah Utterback) and her Lolita-esque cousin, Yulka (Jennifer Sydney), to see Dima off to the war in Chechnya turns an already tense situation into a Molotov cocktail of desperation and regret. Richard Hoover’s garage-sale set design establishes an appropriately bleak tone, while Yasen Peyankov’s adaptation makes the gritty realism palpable. His directions, however, too often substitute rage for intensity. Perry gives the most nuanced and interesting performance, making me wish that his character had more stage time. While similar in theme to Sigarev’s previous play, this latest offering lacks the emotional heart of Black Milk . Rushforth Productions at THE BOOTLEG THEATRE, 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru March 17. (323) 769-5245. (Mayank Keshaviah)

LEVIATHAN ’99 Ray Bradbury’s streamlined retelling of Moby-Dick is set on an outer-space research vessel in the year 2099. With distant galaxies in his eyes, the youthful Ishmael (David Mauer) signs on as a crew member for the spaceship Cetus 7, as does his newfound friend, Quell (Patrick Skelton), a green-skinned alien with the ability to read minds. The mission starts off with promise, but the crew grows increasingly frustrated with their mysterious leader, who refuses to leave his cabin. When the Captain (Michael Prichard) finally emerges and addresses the crew, it’s clear that nothing good will come from his obsession with the white hot comet that blinded him many years ago. Under Alan Neal Hubbs’ direction, the opening-night performance was rocky. Many of the lighting cues were a few seconds late, leaving actors speaking dialogue in the dark. More noticeably, Prichard, who stepped into the role of the Captain with one week’s notice, occasionally struggled with his lines. Nevertheless, Skelton brings a sense of dignity to the role of the alien outsider, and Mauer is fine as the idealistic Ishmael. David Gunn’s moody original score complements the play, but the same cannot be said of John Edward Blankenchip’s bland all-silver set and unimaginative costumes. Pandemonium Theater Company at the FREMONT CENTER THEATER, 1000 Fremont Ave., S. Pasadena; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru March 4. (323) 960-4451. (Sandra Ross)

LIFE IS A DREAM What a beautiful play, and this world premiere of Nilo Cruz’s translation of Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s 1635 masterpiece — the glory of Spanish classical theater — flows as languidly and smoothly as a good wine, considering the ornate and baroque richness of the source material. Polish King Basilio (John de Lancie) imprisons his son, Segismundo (Daniel Breaker) — rightful heir to the throne — in a cave, because of an Oedipal prophecy that the child would seize power and unleash evil in the land by first stepping on his father’s white beard. One day, Basilio tests fate. Among the play’s first actions, Basilio chooses to release his now grown son while the king plans to slip away in disguise (echoes of Measure for Measure). However, Basilio will protect the kingdom, allowing for the possibility of sending the prince back in shackles, by drugging him so that, when he awakens in the palace, he won’t be able to clearly discern whether his newfound power is real or a dream. Power comes and goes, nations rise and fall, all in the blink of an eye. When the young prince stirs from his sleep, all he can do is rage at the memory of his lost childhood and his abused entitlements. The rebellions he ignites speak to the eternal verities of falling empires and of the colonies that rail against them — and of cycles of vengeance that have fueled civil wars through the millennia. Basilio’s fingers remain crossed that his son can, one day, behave like a “nobleman,” holding his power with compassion rather than hoarding it with cruelty. Possibly fearful of stodginess, director Kate Whoriskey sets the fable on set designer Walt Spangler’s retro-futuristic landscape of animated mountain caves that spin around the stage mechanically. The actors look silly dancing and clicking flamenco-style in Ilona Somogyi’s Star Trek costumes. Probably all they needed was a guitar and a painted set. The rest is effort and money squandered on special effects, when the deepest effect comes from the story and its timeless wisdom. De Lancie’s Basilio oozes charm and a mastery of the language. Less so, the other players in the large ensemble, from whom the prose sounds overly articulated. SOUTH COAST REPERTORY, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Tues., 7:30 p.m.; Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; thru March 11. (714) 708-5555. (Steven Leigh Morris)