Theater Reviews: Cymbeline, Oleanna, The Little Foxes

GO  STRANGER Keythe Farley and Eva Anderson’s world premiere musical (or more accurately a play with music) is set in the Nevada town of San Lorenzo in 1847. A bandit named Lagarto (Michael Dunn) has murdered the town’s sheriff and kidnapped his daughter Lucinda (Molly O’Neill). Lucinda’s mother, Miranda, (Ann Closs-Farley, who also creates the beautiful costumes) owns the local saloon and takes in The Stranger (Cameron Dye) who wanders into town one day, running from his own dark past. Lagarto is after treasure Miranda has hidden away, but she refuses to give it up without a fight, rallying the townspeople behind her, including The Padre (Joe Hernandez-Kolski), a morally ambiguous figure. The ambiguity of the priest’s motives, as well as the style of the piece evoke, and simultaneously parody, the “spaghetti Westerns” of the 1960s. Composer Anthony Bollas’ blues licks mixed with Western rock and Spanish guitar perfectly set the mood, along with Rebecca Kessin’s desert soundscape. Francois-Pierre Couture’s wood-slat backdrops that appear branded with a hot iron are wonderfully evocative of The Ponderosa as well. Farley, who also directs the piece, masterfully shifts between scenes and creates arresting tableaux, using the set to its full capacity. Dunn charismatically embodies a larger-than-life outlaw, delivering lines full of humor and irony, and the rest of the cast shines as well, from Dye’s tough-as-nails demeanor and O’Neill’s ferocity to Closs-Farley’s Mae West–like spunk and Hernandez-Kolski’s silver tongue. Bootleg Theater; 2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (June 21 & 28 only); through July 4. (213) 389-3856. www.­bootlegtheater.com. (Mayank Keshaviah)

TOUCH THE WATER The cause is great. The intentions are beyond reproach. So why is it that so much of playwright Julie Hébert and director Juliette Carrillo’s eco-advocacy drama plays like preaching to the choir? Perhaps it’s because their protagonist isn’t a human character but a piece of city infrastructure — the much-abused and long-neglected L.A. River. It certainly doesn’t help that the city’s adoption of the 2007 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan has, in effect, already robbed the political storyline of its dramatic thunder (which may explain why talky stretches of river-greening exposition are about as entertaining as a press release). Still, even sermons can have their charm, and choirs make beautiful music, and this production is rich in both. There is the pleasure of Carrillo’s site-specific staging on the northern bank of the L.A. River overlooking Frogtown (represented in Darcy Scanlin’s river-refuse set) and the rousing raft of original songs (music by Shishir Kurup, lyrics by Kurup & Hébert) that animates the show’s human story. There are engaging, lead performances by Kurup and Page Leong as old, Frogtown friends estranged by a riverbank gang killing, who are finally brought together by the river’s renewal. And there is the climactic coup de théâtre, engineered by lighting designer Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz, and its stunning moment of spine-tingling magic that is the raison d’être of site-specific theater. Rio de Los Angeles State Park, Bowtie Parcel, entrance adjacent to 2800 Casitas Ave., L.A.; Wed.-Sun., 8 p.m.; through June 21. (213) 613-1700, ext. 37. (Bill Raden)

TRACING SONNY Young voice-over artist Sonny (Jacob Smith) has more problems than a single play can accommodate. His parents adopted him because his dad (Sebastian Kadlecik) was experiencing a spell of impotence, which rendered children unlikely. Then, when the pressure was off, Dad sired a daughter, who later died of a childhood illness. Mom (Sylvia Anderson) blamed ever-angry Dad, and their marriage foundered. Now Sonny has taken up with pretty, animated cartoonist Luci (Vanessa Hurd), whom he met at the zoo, and they’re engaged. When she miscarries their baby, the resulting grief and guilt render Sonny impotent. His efforts to remedy the situation are hindered by parental voices reflecting Dad’s anger and Mom’s accusations of inadequacy. Playwright Andrew Moore attempts to use both the cartooning and the voice-overs as metaphors, but his plot meanders. Short scenes follow one another without climaxes, scenes are interlarded with bits of old animated cartoons featuring Porky Pig, Popeye, Betty Boop, etc., and director Pamela Moore’s direction fails to supply dramatic thrust. Smith and Hurd provide charm and skill, making the most of their material, but Anderson and Kadlecik are hindered by sketchy, one-note characters. Avery Schreiber Theatre, 11050 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through June 28. Produced by Theatre Unleashed. (818) 849-4039 or www.theatreunleashed.com. (Neal Weaver)