Theater New Reviews: Tooth and Nail, Sarah Sarah, Canned Ham

THE GIFT HORSE In his director's notes, Benjamin Haber Kamine points out that his is only the second staging of playwright Lydia R. Diamond's 2002 melodrama. That's not surprising. Rather than another production, this unwieldy, convoluted and rambling soap opera could have benefited from a second draft. Diamond, who has made something of a career out of dramatizing the emotional travails of the black professional class (Stick Fly), here explores its darker side in the story of Ruth (Ajarae Coleman), the daughter of a sexually abusive, offstage psychiatrist, and Ruth's lifelong friendship with Ernesto (Arturo Aranda), her gay, Latino college roommate. The play charts their sometimes barren and often bumpy love lives, first as Ernesto gets the raw end of a relationship with a sociopathic, Typhoid Mary of an HIV-infected boyfriend (Steven Koller), then as Ruth falls for her psychotherapist, Brian (Horace V. Rogers), as he plumbs the puzzle of why she can't bring herself to sleep in her expensive, Pottery Barn bed. Kamine elicits some fine performances, including Aranda's wonderfully nuanced, 20-year leap from timid freshman to trauma-tempered survivor, and Rogers' chillingly convincing turn as Ruth's stolid if unethical love interest. But a lackluster production design (Aviva Fersht's dual living room set, Austen Hoogen's lights) and a text top-heavy with un-actable narration, un-stageable scene crosscutting and overly cute audience asides all but annihilate Diamond's less-than-convincing moral on the redemptive power of unconditional love. Working Stage Theater, 1516 N. Gardner St., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun.-Mon., 7 p.m.; through May 24. (323) 851-2603. A See Kay Theatre Production. (Bill Raden)

GROUNDLINGS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT In a departure from the Groundlings' trademark irreverent, take-no-prisoner sketch comedy that made laughing as involuntary as breathing, this new show, directed by Karen Maruyama, is distinctly low-key and only funny in patches. The evening's biggest disappointment were the two improv segments that bracket the show, where comedians do routines based on audience suggestions. The absence of ease, craft and imagination was palpable. These failings were apparent in other sketch routines as well. "Caltech" has a crew of seismic scientists engaging in silly wisecracking and an overwrought spate of physical comedy and demolition derby with their chairs. "Next Step" finds Charlotte Newhouse and Scott Beehner as teenagers trying to get their sexual desires in sync, but there isn't much wit. A husband becomes vexed trying to relate to his wife in "I'm Listening," which is equally unfunny. "Concert Footage" is a pleasant surprise. After a Taylor Swift concert, Damon Jones, playing a P.R. guy, interviews and coolly insults members of the audience. Michael Naughton is still one of the funniest guys around, and his talents are evident in "Mirror Image," where a special software program allows you a glimpse of what you'll look like in the future, and "Animal Stars," where he is one of a pair of animal trainers. Groundling Theater, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 10 p.m.; through July 10. (323) 934-4747, ext. 37, groundlings.com. (Lovell Estell III)

OJALÁ! Jennifer Barry's play about a young, Mexican nanny (Claudia Duran) in 1960s Los Angeles helping a young affluent white woman (Lindsay Lane) care for her accidental child is best when it gets away from its cliché beats and delves into the fragile relationship between its two protagonists. A standout performance from Duran urges the play toward this, and Elizabeth Otero de Espinoza's direction favors the scenes of intimacy between employer and employee. But the plot definitely works against this, pushing the story toward disappointing melodrama. And Barry steps conveniently around the language-barrier issue, which could have helped layer the class tension supposedly at the center of this piece. The play's most beautiful moment is an interstitial that features three Mexican maids engaged in their repetitive domestic labor while one of them sings a doleful song in Spanish. If only the rest of the play could have been consistently as conscious of its theme. Casa 0101 2009 E. First St., East LA. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 5 pm; through June 6. (323) 263-7684. (Luis Reyes)

GO  SARAH SARAH In playwright Daniel Goldfarb's family drama, the generation gap is not so much a gap as it is a gaping crevasse. In 1961, fearsome Jewish mama Sarah Grosberg (played by Cheryl David with battle-ax aplomb) invites the mousy fiancée (Robyn Cohen) of her beloved son, Artie (Patrick J. Rafferty), for tea and strudel, ostensibly so the two ladies can get to know each other but really so the possessive mamutchka can talk the girl out of marrying her son. As the intimidating matriarch tears into the younger girl like a glutton gnawing on kugel, it falls to Sarah's kindly housekeeper (Bart Braverman) to save the day with an unexpected revelation about his boss. Years later, Sarah's granddaughter Jennifer (also played by David, in such a different, breezy, open turn that she's almost unrecognizable) journeys to China to adopt an orphan, who turns out to be ill and possibly mentally handicapped. Goldfarb's play is mainly set dressing for David's splendid tour de force twin performances as the steely matriarch and her neurotic, insecure granddaughter, turns that are beautifully nuanced and complex. As Sarah, David depicts an immediately familiar type, who's as much a creature of her era as is the more immature-seeming, emotionally drifting Jennifer. Director Howard Teichman's deceptively simple production adroitly captures the mood and feel of two eras, exemplified by different body languages and physical behavior. Braverman is also deft in his two characters — he excels as Jennifer's supportive yet pessimistic father in the play's second half. Pico Playhouse, 10508 W. Pico Blvd, W.L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; , Sun., 2 p.m.; through June 27. (323) 821-2449, wcjt.org. A West Coast Jewish Theatre Production. (Paul Birchall)