Theater Reviews: Bohemian Cowboy, Tartuffe, Black Women — State of the Union

Also, American Guilt, The Taming of the Shrew and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Wednesday, Feb 25 2009

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BRIDEZILLA STRIKES BACK! Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.; through March 29. (323) 960-7774. See Stage feature.

GO CHERRY POPPIN’ FESTIVAL In the Friday night bill of its festival of new plays, Alive Theatre shows a dogged determination to fathom the unfathomable Big Questions, through Spartan theatricality and Absurdist jokes. Anthony Cretara and Jasper Oliver’s The Adventure Play or Keep Them Babies Outta My Soup, is a fairy tale — our Kierkegaard-quoting narrator (Calli Dunaway) holds a wand, I think — that follows an earnest and bewildered traveler named Zozza (nice turn by Jessica Culaciati), as he searches for his medieval village, which is some place not unlike Oz. Zozza befriends a Man (Eddie Chamberlain) who, with some merriment, considers the benefits of smashing open his brain with the hook end of a hammer. In in a nifty sliver of theatrical invention by director Jeremy Aluma, he does just that, letting loose a demon (the rotund and jocular Paul Knox) — a fellow who speaks with a Scottish brogue and refers to his own “Mediterranean” dialect. With its cast of nine, the delightfully loony one-act contains an internal battle between pretentiousness and farce. Farce wins. There’s also a shadow puppet play within the play, designed by Robin Bott. Ryan McClary’s Under the Great Booby Hatch concerns a dissident radio host (Jasper Oliver) broadcasting from a clandestine desert location and, with his tormented idealistic assistant (Rebecca Patrick) is wrestling with the ethics of lying on air in order to boost pathetic ratings. In so doing, the play examines the larger ramifications and ironies of truth-telling and storytelling to a nation of loons. With its cartoon aesthetic, in settles upon the view that there is redemption in craziness, that insanity is the only reasonable response to the world as it is. Director Mike Dias works with a devoted ensemble, though Oliver needs to stop mumbling, or the playwright’s point is just so much dead air. Royal Theater on the Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach; in rep, Fri.-Sun., 8 p.m. (pre-show band plays at 7:30 p.m.); through March 8. (562) 508-1788 or www.alivetheatre.org. An Alive Theatre production. (Steven Leigh Morris)

Kim Zsebe

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine

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GO A DON’T HUG ME COUNTY FAIR This crowd-pleasing cornball musical, by Phil and Paul Olsen, suggests a hometown talent show combined with a sort of Minnesota Folk Play, full of bad jokes and set in a bar called the Bunyan, on the first day of the Bunyan County Fair. Proprietor Gunner Johnson (Tom Gibis, who also plays Gunner’s man-hungry sister Trigger) is so uncomfortable talking about feelings that he can’t utter the word “love.” His frustrated wife, Clara (Judy Heneghan), seeks attention by becoming a contestant in the Miss Walleye Contest, whose winner will have her face carved in butter. Also in the running are Trigger and Bernice (Katherine Brunk), a scatty-but-shapely gal who longs to star on Broadway. And there are other competitions: Karaoke-machine salesman Aarvid Gisselsen (Brad McDonald) and camping-supplies tycoon Kanute Gunderson (Tom Limmel) vie for the hand of Bernice, while Kanute and Gunner compete in the fishing contest. The songs, by the Olsens, are rinky-tink and derivative, borrowing melodies from everywhere, but somehow they work. The giddy tone is set by Doug Engalla’s direction, Stan Mazin’s choreography, and an astonishingly detailed set by Chris Winfield, featuring a karaoke machine with a mind of its own. Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., through March 29. (818) 700-4878 or www.lcgrt.com. (Neal Weaver)

THE INCREASED DIFFICULTY OF CONCENTRATION Absurdist playwright, militant anticommunist and human-rights advocate Vaclav Havel is unique as the only working playwright who was also a head of state: He was president of both Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic. This piece, translated by Stepan S. Simek, centers on social scientist Dr. Edward Hummel (Scott Rognlien), who’s writing an earnest treatise on the nature of happiness and human needs. In private life, however, he’s an egocentric male chauvinist, liar and sexual philanderer. In addition to his neglected wife (Kristina Hayes), he has a flamboyant mistress (Sarah Wolter), and makes passes at his secretary (Whitney Vigil). He’s also participating in a crack-brained research project conducted by the sex-starved academic Dr. Betty Balthazar (Amy Stiller), her oddball assistants (Steve Hamill and Eric Normington), her eccentric supervisor (Bobby Reed), and a temperamental computer named Putzig. Though all the Absurdist elements are present — a fractured chronology, emblematic characters and bizarre events — it seems like a conventional sex comedy grafted onto a philosophical farce. Director Alex Lippard has assembled an able cast, and the results are often funny, but the play’s over-schematic structure makes for arid patches. The Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., through March 28. Produced by The Next Arena. (323) 960-7788. (Neal Weaver)

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Shakespeare’s curiously misogynist comedy predates Neil Strauss’ The Game by 400 years, during which audiences have yet to decide whether he’s confirming or slyly eviscerating gender roles. (In this only recently post-Guantánamo climate, breaking Kate with starvation and sleeplessness and temporal disorientation seems less comic.) This staging seems more concerned with mounting a handsome production than a cohesive one. Jack Stehlin’s direction takes each scene individually, some playing up the humor into Three Stooges–style slapstick, while others burn sexual heat underneath red lighting. The set’s minimal props and checkerboard floor underscore the sense of rootlessness — with characters standing by without much to do in a scene, the large ensemble looks like game pieces waiting to move. The cast turns out fine performances, each with their own tone; those who choose naturalism fare best, particularly Geoffrey Owen’s intelligent Tranio and Stehlin’s shrew-taming Petruchio, who has the easy confidence of Clark Gable. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; through April 26. (310) 477-2055. An Odyssey Theatre/Circus Theatricals production. (Amy Nicholson)