Theater Reviews: Hot and Ready, Tooth and Nail

 
GO  1001 See Stage feature. Theatre @ Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru June 8. (626) 683-6883.

 
GO  PIPPIN Tim Dang’s hip-hop/anime staging of Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz’s 1972 Candide-like musical is one of the most taut and accomplished spectacles seen on this stage in some time. Much of the credit goes to Blythe Matsui and Jason Tyler Chong’s rambunctious and snappy choreography, sharply performed by leading player Marcus Choi. Ethan le Phong in the title role of a callow young Pippin — based on the hunchbacked son of Charlemagne — has an etherial, sweet voice that easily handles Schwartz’s pop score. Musically, the three-person band produces an overly synthesized, tinny tone, but that’s not enough to impede Dang’s lush comic book spectacle that’s part Hollywood and Highland, part Kabuki. Plastic boots and mop wigs (hair and makeup by Jackie Phillips) punch up the fairy tale, further accentuated by Naomi Yoshida’s otherworldly costumes. Pippin’s search for meaning in life involves an escapade in war, competition with his prancing, vain half brother (Cesar Ciproampo), flirting with sex and a smidgen of patricide, leading to an epiphany that’s as obvious and true as pop art is meant to be. The fleshy journey may be more life-changing for Pippin than for the audience, but Dang’s exercise in style and sizzle accomplishes most of its ambitions. David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Little Tokyo; Wed.-Sat., 8 pm.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru June 8. (213) 625-7000. (Steven Leigh Morris)

Michael Lamont

Pippin

David Fofi

Tooth and Nail

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TOOTH AND NAIL Gerald (Gregory Mortensen) wants his wife, Ellie (Lynn Odell), dead, only he’s the one with the inoperable brain tumor. In the opening scene of Gena Acosta’s loose-cannon comedy, Ellie’s a riot — a maniacally optimistic chatterbox who practically believes she can change the weather. Acosta’s frothy, clever dialogue and her keen awareness of details have us settling in for a trivial romp, but with the introduction of the Weehawken couple’s three adopted daughters — pregnant Robin (Jennifer Etienne Eckert), childish Rose (Kerry Carney) and sour Dylan (Tara Norris) — and stoned baby-daddy Hamster (Josh Breeding) enters a thornbush of social-problem issues and their pert resolutions, along with Gerald’s addled conviction that he’s Peter O’Toole. As the chaos increases, our engagement diminishes (minutes are filled with overlapped shouting) and Lindsay Allbaugh’s gumptuous direction finds an uneasy balance between frenzy and pathos. But Odell’s rampaging housewife deftly embraces the two; her lunacy has purpose. As the new neighbors whom she’s anxious to impress, Tony Foster and Tom Stanczyk know when to underplay and when to cut loose in a production which, despite its stumbles, has the audience rooting for it to succeed. Lillian Theater, 1078 N. Lillian Way, Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru June 14. (323) 960-4410. An Elephant Theater production. (Amy Nicholson)