Theater Reviews: References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Yes Is a Long Time

 A PIECE OF TIN Queen Victoria (Dorrie Braun) gave her name to an era that was prim, proper and stultifying in manners and morals, though her own life was passionate and touched by scandal. In writer-composer Rhett Judice’s new musical, she adores her husband, Prince Albert (Kelby Thwaits), and mourns him ardently after his early death. Only her Scottish gamekeeper, John Brown (Thwaits), can penetrate her emotional isolation and engage her affections. Their intimacy inspires scandal, to the horror of her son, the Prince of Wales (Derek Long). The “piece of tin” refers to a locket in which the queen preserved a strand of Brown’s hair, and the play’s central conflict is between Victoria’s servant Mary Tuck (Mary Sutherland), who wants to honor the queen’s desire that the locket be buried with her, and the prince, who wants to obliterate Brown entirely. By splitting focus between Tuck and the queen, Judice dilutes both tales, which are only sketchily rendered, and his score fails to soar. Braun and Sutherland provide ample emotional conviction, director Douglas R. Clayton mounts a smooth production, Dan Jenkins’ provides a handsome set and Clifford L. Chally’s period costumes are lavish. But the piece is too genteel and restrained to reach much emotional velocity. Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La Brea Ave., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 25. (323) 939-9220 or www.LyricTheatreLA.com. (Neal Weaver)

 GO  REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT Now stuck out in Barstow, Gabriela (Carolina Phipps) has nine years of solitude to go before her GI husband, Benito (Ruben Ortiz), returns stateside for good, and they might rekindle some of the swirling passion that led to their marriage. Gabriela’s fixed house cat (Elysa Gomez) can’t decide whether it’s too dangerous to take a romantic risk on the Coyote (Sam Sagheb) who’s been courting her, while the stylish man in the moon (Koco Limbevski) competes with the horny, teenage next-door neighbor (Julian Works) for Gabriela’s affections. Obviously employing a fair degree of fantasia, José Rivera’s oft-produced play is mainly a study in Gabriela’s slowly growing up and trying to expand her intellectual horizons, while Benito remains cloistered in recollections of the first Gulf War, using Gabriela as a sex toy to escape those hellish memories. Life is a dream. Will Pellegrini’s production hangs on the forceful intelligence and sweet sensuality of Phipps’ Puerto Rican Gabriela, and her growing gulf of incomprehension for her husband. Ortiz plays that role with an appealing and persuasive mix of practicality, sensitivity and hard-headedness. It’s that difficult paradox of modern marriage that grounds this production and lends it such appeal. Resa Deverich’s conceptual set of carrier platforms provides an openness in which Rivera’s surrealism, and our imagination, can tumble unencumbered by the detritus of TV sets and couches. Art/Works Theater, 6569 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru May 2. (323) 960-5773. Pet Mercury Productions. (Steven Leigh Morris)

Michael Lamont

Pest Control: The Musical

Nick Gill

References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

Ed Krieger

Testosterone: How Prostate Cancer Made a Man of Me

A Piece of Tin

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More About

• Edward Kynaston
• Mira Kingsley
• Michael Lamont
• Musicals
• Prostate Cancer

Nick Gill

(Click to enlarge)

References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

Ed Krieger

(Click to enlarge)

Testosterone: How Prostate Cancer Made a Man of Me

(Click to enlarge)

A Piece of Tin

TESTOSTERONE: HOW PROSTATE CANCER MADE A MAN OF ME Writer-performer Hal Ackerman’s drama about his successful battle with prostate cancer is a deeply personal tale that’s as much cathartic therapy for the performer as it is involving for the audience. The drama of illness can often be compelling on stage, as in Julia Sweeney’s God Said, Ha!. Yet, Ackerman’s worthy but workmanlike description of the events surrounding his diagnosis of cancer, his exhaustive treatments for the disease and the unexpectedly troubled aftermath is essentially a by-the-numbers chronology of doctor visits, strained interactions with loved ones and straightforward philosophical deductions. When he’s diagnosed with the disease, Ackerman struggles to keep together his mostly sex-based relationship with his prickly girlfriend — and he also tries to console his troubled daughter (all the show’s female roles are personably played by Lisa Robins, showing remarkable versatility). In Michael Arabian’s intimate but haltingly paced production, Ackerman’s acting chops are sometimes a bit shaky, with awkward line readings and clunky comic timing (during the show’s few lighter moments). The performer’s shortcomings are somewhat compensated for by the immediacy of his own viscerally harrowing story — one that no one could do better. Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 Second St., Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; thru May 10. (310) 396-3680. (Paul Birchall)

 GO  YES IS A LONG TIME A man (Antonio Anagaran Jr.) in suburban New Jersey retreats for privacy into his home’s guest bathroom, leaving his wife (director-performer Mira Kingsley) slightly perplexed by what he might be doing in there — whether simply staring at new lines time has carved into his face, or something more lurid. Suddenly a small rock — could be a meteorite — crashes into that bathroom. Sibyl O’Malley’s enchanting play, based on Kingsley’s “big idea” and a 2007 news item that the affected family tried to keep out of the media, studies the essences of destiny and curiosity. Should they allow “rock star scientists” (same actors, along with Gaisha Paggett) to cut into the stone that traveled so far, and for so long, to greet them — just to determine with certainly what it is and where it came from? (The scene depicting the arrival of the scientists is a smoke-filled parody of a Rolling Stones concert.) How compelling is the need to know, if the knowing destroys the object to be known? On a Janne Zirkle Larson’s bare stage on which a taped perimeter delineates New Jersey from this L.A. theater, Kingsley accompanies the fable with Colbert S. Davis IV’s perfect sound design and the ensemble’s taut, jerky choreography, resulting in a good-humored charm fest that also straddles the border between perky, optimistic preciousness and the kind of disappointments that generally accompany life. Bootleg, 2220 Beverly Boulevard, L.A.; closed. (Steven Leigh Morris)