Theater Reviews: Before I Forget, Lie With Me, Six Years

Also, Stitching, The Loft Variety Hour, and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Wednesday, Mar 11 2009

...continued from page 1

GO THE LOFT VARIETY HOUR FEATURING NAUGHTY NANCY Director and emcee Adam Chambers is panicked: His actors are late, his puppets are belligerent, and his star, Naughty Nancy, is in jail. Still, the show must go on, and so it does — with chaotic charm. Chambers recites excerpts from rapper Young Jeezy’s interview with Playboy; a Mexican sandwich tap-dances across the stage. The harried (and fun) nine-person cast swirls through a glow-stick ballet and a Spanish number that shows off their ability to count from uno to diez, and the set sparks to life with 18 marionettes that threaten to upend the evening with TNT, molestation, and an acting lesson hosted by Laurence Olivier’s sofa. With the outraged entrance of Nancy (Christina Howard) — an English prostitute by way of Amsterdam — comes intermission and then a complete derailment of the show’s triumphantly goofy spark, as Nancy seethes and coos through 10 miserable vignettes during which she swills vodka and vents about the lameness of her johns, the perfection of her pedicure, and the pain of her Brazilian wax. Directed by Geoffrey Hillbeck and acted fearlessly by Howard, it’s a great character and a great performance but also a poison chaser to so much joy. L.A. Fringe Theatre, 929 E. Second St., L.A.; Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.; through March 15. (213) 680-0392. A Loft Ensemble production. (Amy Nicholson)

THE PAINTING comes with very broad brush strokes. Writer-director Bill Becker’s new play concerns the obsession of a wealthy, recently widowed painter (Sarah Boghatti), living somewhere in America in the middle of nowhere, with a male model (Daniel Richardson) whom she hires as part of a commission by what one would surmise to be a gay client, since the provocative pose requested is to be nude. Though Becker has all his actors keep at least their underwear on at all times, there’s nonetheless a leering quality to the writing, which only demonstrates that nakedness doesn’t always concern clothes. The play also contains the buff grandson (Lorenzo Bonzales) of an offstage Latina housekeeper. He drops in for reasons that are vague, dramaturgically. There’s also another housekeeper, a perky blonde (Tricia Alley) whose constantly rebuffed sexual advances toward the model should be a hint of the young man’s proclivities, but she doesn’t seem to get it. The play is designed to hang on a kind of mystery that’s undermined by the blatancy of the character’s motives, in both performance and in the writing. In the role of the model, Richardson comes off as cloyingly smug with a presumed intelligence that’s out of sync with his pedestrian lines. In Act 2, however, the character reveals a psychotic dimension, and this is where the performance catches up to the character. As the widow, Boghatti shows a delicate intelligence and truthful acting style. English is not her first language, however, and her struggle with it takes a toll. Alley’s seductress is appealingly childlike and Gonzales’ groundskeeper is fine. Gardner Stages, 1501 N. Gardner Street, West Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through March 22. (323) 960-7735. (Steven Leigh Morris)

Courtsy of Pudd’nhead Produtions

The Contest

Craig Schwartz

Kirk Douglas in "Before I Forget"

More About

GO PARADISE HOTEL The new Menander Theatre Company is off to a rousing start with a harum-scarum production of this classic French farce by Georges Feydeau, nimbly translated by Nicholas Rudall. The hotel in question is a disreputable house of assignation (it advertises hourly and group rates) where, by a series of unlikely coincidences, most of the characters wind up. M. Pinglet (Philip D’Amore) is attempting to elude his domineering wife (Catie LeOrisa) in order to seduce Marcelle (Jeanne Simpson), the wife of his neighbor Paillardin (Michael Bonabel), who’s also visiting the hotel for reasons of his own. The sassy French maid Victoire (Eris Migliorini) is out to seduce the clueless young philosophy student Maxime (Chris Arnst). Mathieu (Jim Kohn), a man who stutters only when it rains, thinks the Paradise is a respectable hostelry, and puts up there with his three daughters (Karen Grim, Jen Hoyt and Liza Morgan). The hotel manager (Sid Veda) specializes in spying on the guests, while the overzealous porter (Jason Thomas) is hell-bent on seducing Marcelle. Sex is in short supply, as confusions and contretemps escalate and multiply till loony Inspector Boucard (Eddie Pepitone) carts everybody off to jail. It’s a genuinely funny rendition, skillfully played, and nicely directed by Gina Torrecilla. Meta Theatre, 7801 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 7 p.m., through March 29. www.gomenander.com. Menander Theatre Company (Neal Weaver)

SIX YEARS Stagey but with redeeming moments, Sharr White’s well-intended play examines the posttraumatic stress of a World War II vet. Launched on a note of high melodrama from which it rarely descends, it is jump-started in a dumpy motel room in 1949, where an ex-GI named Phil (G. Scott Brown) has cloistered himself away. Unlike other soldiers who returned home to their families after the war, Phil has wandered about the country. Now he’s confronted by his young wife, Meredith (Wendy Kaplan Foxworth), who wants to bring him home to try to salvage their marriage. From that point, the play spans 24 years, tracking the couple’s ups and downs against a socio-historical backdrop, culminating in the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, neither the play nor the production matches their respective good intentions. Framed against a bleak, black backdrop, White’s inconsistent script is often derivative. Under Kevin Kaddi’s direction, Brown gives his all, but it’s clear he hasn’t internalized his character’s battle-engendered torment. Less challenged, Foxworth gives a believable performance as his long-suffering and ultimately adulterous spouse. The six-member supporting ensemble is uneven; Alex Gunn overcomes an initial awkwardness to present an effective portrayal of Meredith’s disappointed lover, while Sarah Cook offers a well-crafted cameo as a gal who contemplates giving Phil a whirl, then cuts and runs when she realizes the baleful imbroglio that might ensue. Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through March 22. (323) 871-1150. Momentum Theatre Group (Deborah Klugman)