Theater Reviews: La Posada Magica, Women Behind Bars, Peep This

GO  THE GLASS MENDACITY Devotees of Tennessee Williams will surely delight in this send-up of the playwright’s best-known dramas. Maureen Morley and Tom Willmorth have blended characters and motifs from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire into one big, irreverent stew of laughs. Gathered together at the Belle Reeve plantation are Mitch (Ken Johnson, who doubles as a narrator), Amanda (Stephanie Strand), Maggie (Renee Scott), Brick (a dummy named Eliot Barrymore), Stanley (Joe Dalo) and Blanche (Catherine Cronin, who traveled by way of a certain streetcar). The occasion is Big Daddy’s (a hilarious Quincy Miller) arrival from the hospital and a celebration of his birthday. As in Cat, the cigar-smoking patriarch has cancer but is told he is suffering only from a “spastic colon.” And we must not forget dear Laura Dubois (Strand), who limps and vomits her way throughout, while fixated on her menagerie of animals made of ice cubes. From this disparate collection of Williams’ familiars, the writers weave a quirky narrative involving lust, insanity, infidelity, sibling rivalry, intrigue and lots of mendacity. It probably helps if you have some knowledge of Williams’ plays, (in one scene Stanley calls out “Starland,” instead of Stella). Andrew Crusse provides the solid direction. Hayworth Theatre, 2511 Wilshire Blvd.; L.A.; Thur-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.; through January 30. (323) 969-1707. arktheatre.org. An Ark Theatre Company Production (Lovell Estell III)

LA POSADA MAGICA Playwright Octovio Solis’ holiday musical was a staple at South Coast Rep for 15 years, but budget cuts have forced the producers to transfer the show to the Odyssey Theater, where the unabashed, sweet sentimentality of director Diane Rodriguez’s folksy staging fits genially on the intimate new stage. It’s a bilingual Christmas tale steeped within the Latino custom of the Posada, in which neighbors dress in robes and travel around their community singing Christmas carols in honor of Joseph and Mary’s journey around Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. It may also be a cultural theme that this is a Christmas tale whose themes of joy and hope are also mingled with a haunting melancholy. Left alone in her family home on Christmas Eve, Latina teenager Gracie (Tiffany Ellen Solano), who’s grieving over the recent death of her baby brother, has no patience when a traveling Posada passes by, offering to light a candle in her honor. Gracie reluctantly allows herself to be drawn along with the carolers but unkindly sets about ruining the evening for the others — until she has the opportunity to prove her own faith. With a gentle, Mariachi-like score by Marcos Loya (who also performs in the orchestra), Solis’ musical is warm and heartfelt — and the Posada chorus is so likable, they quickly make friends with the audience. Yet the mix of sadness and sentimentality frequently tips into the overly mournful — this is a world in which Death and Santa walk awkwardly side by side, and much of the show might be too downbeat for the kids, even as it keeps with the philosophy that Christmas isn’t a negation of the year’s sadness but rather an awareness that tragedy and joy are both parts of life. In addition, Rodriguez’s production is also unfortunately hampered by pacing lapses, which further undercut much sense of holiday merriment. The show is double-cast. Odyssey Theater, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.; Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through December 24. (310) 477-2055, odysseytheatre.com. (Paul Birchall)

MRS. CAGE (Katelyn Ann Clark) is a traditional housewife who treasures the sanctity of marriage. She sniffs disapprovingly when questioned about her divorced daughter, a lawyer. She spends time meticulously pressing her husband’s shirts. She shops daily for groceries. After witnessing a fatal shooting in a store parking lot, Mrs. Cage arrives at the police station, murder weapon in hand and undertakes to be questioned as an eyewitness by a seasoned detective, Lieutenant Angel (David Ross Paterson). A weary professional with sharp gut instincts, Angel handles her with firm courtesy, but it’s clear he’s suspicious. Playwright Nancy’s Barr’s 70-minute two-character one-act is a potentially powerful portrait in alienation, but under Barbara Bain’s direction, Clark’s prim and mannered delivery doesn’t exploit the script’s plentiful opportunities. Most of her considerable dialogue is directed outward toward the audience, instead of toward the lieutenant, depicted by Paterson with consummate skill. The result is that what might have been a fascinating dramatic gambol between two complex characters (the detective has his own issues) unfolds with prosaic predictability. NoHo Actors Studios, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; throgh December 20. (818) 761-2166. (Deborah Klugman)

PALESTINE, NEW MEXICO When U.S. Army Captain Catherine Siler (Kirsten Potter) stumbles into “Bumfuck” — a New Mexico Indian reservation — she’s already tripping, exhausted from crossing the desert, dehydrated and addicted to her now-terminated prescription meds for pain and stress. That’s before she drinks a peyote-laced beverage given to her by one of the natives, for dehydration. So in Richard Montoya’s mess of a new play, which contains the germ of a beautiful idea, there are dreams, and then there are dreams. I tracked at least four plays, each in different styles, and for a 90-minute experience without intermission, that’s the dramaturgical definition of a cake just been put in the oven, with ingredients still bumping up against each other. Lisa Peterson directs. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn; Tues.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 p.m.; Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.; through January 24. (213) 972-628-2772. (Steven Leigh Morris) See Theater feature.