Theater Reviews: Chico's Angels: Chicas in Chains, Hello, Merrily We Roll Along
Also, Valentino Valentina, Sultan's Battery and more
GO CHICO'S ANGELS: CHICAS IN CHAINS Somewhere in an alternate TV universe, where it is always the 1970s and the posh Charles Townsend Agency still services L.A.'s moneyed class with its elite staff of glamorously gowned, undercover crime fighters, there exists a parallel detective agency well east of the L.A. River. Only this trio of blowsy, somewhat earthier Angels, comes with cha cha heels on their gumshoes, a decidedly bitchy attitude, and a virtue that can be summed up in one word — cheap. They are, of course, those sleuthing, Latina femme fatales, Chico's Angels, better known by their adoring cult of fans as Kay Sedia (co-writer Oscar Quintero), Frieda Laye (Danny Casillas), and Chita Parol (Ray Garcia). And, in director/co-writer Kurt Koehler's razor-sharp restaging of the third installment of their madcap adventures, the intrepid posse of drag parodists again prove that there is virtually nothing they won't do to get their man or to milk a laugh. Their weapons include an arsenal of fashion faux pas (courtesy of costumer Shaun Wunder and wigmaker Janet Walker), a comic pidgin as broad as Whittier Blvd., and a machine-gun delivery of ribald ad libs and double entendre malapropisms that leaves nothing to the prurient imagination. The plot has the girls going undercover in a lily-white prep school to ferret out a murder witness (the fine Beth Leckbee) who also moonlights as a high school hooker. The point, however, isn't the mystery but in the inimitable way the blundering girls vamp their way through the evening's wealth of pornographic puns and satirically skewered musical numbers. Cavern Club Theater at Casita del Campo, 1920 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake; Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 9 p.m.; thru Nov. 7. (323) 969-2530 or chicosangels.com. (Bill Raden)
CIRCLE DANCE Strained relations between husband and wife, and rancor between father and son are the central motifs in Def Kirland's tepid family melodrama. Sonny (Kirkland) is a former NFL football hero whose son Steve (Christopher Poehls) is now being sought out by recruiters. But Steve is undecided if he wants to be a professional athlete. His irresolution disturbs his mother Mary (Laura Lee), who worries that Steve isn't weighing his choices carefully, and also that Sonny is neglecting his fatherly duty by not displaying enough interest. Humdrum at first, the drama escalates in the second half, when Steve discovers his father's adultery, and further revelations precipitate a crisis. As writer, Kirkland — who drew the play's title from a Bonnie Raitt song about heartbreak — aims, classically, at a portrait of a disintegrating family and a flawed individual who learns his lessons too late. The problem lies in the presentation of familiar conflicts without giving the characters dimension or adding fresh twists to the story. Exuding presence, Kirkland's demeanor nonetheless suggests someone who has wandered in from some crime drama, and he seems miscast in his own play. After Laura obsesses over pot roast throughout Act I, Lee acquits herself respectably as a betrayed wife. As daughter Emma, Courtney Schleinkofer handles her stereotypical role with charm and skill. One question: If this is present day, as the program indicates, where are the cell phones and laptops? Jeff McLaughlin designed the attractive set and Rick Andosca directs. Skylight Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru Nov. 7. (323) 960-7776. pr4plays@plays411.com (Deborah Klugman)
CAMPAIGN Some day, someone somewhere may finally write the great American electioneering farce that this amiable if creaking musical satire by Samuel Warren Joseph and Jon Detherage strives so hard to be. But in art, as in politics, timing is everything. And in these shell-shocked, post-George W. Bush years, Joseph and Detherage's transposition of 1990s-vintage sex scandals to their caricature of a problem-plagued, contemporary gubernatorial campaign seems like nostalgia for a nobler, more innocent age. Although ostensibly set in 2008, Joseph's book is overgrown with hoary, anachronistic weeds carried over from its source, his own 15-year-old play. The show's uninspired campaign-headquarters set (by lighting/set designer Dave Carleen) frames a culture of landlines, fax machines and 24-hour cable news networks, but one devoid of the websites, blogs, text messaging and tweets that are a modern campaign's communication lifeblood. Despite Joseph and Detherage's obvious delight in skewering their Bill & Hillary-like candidate couple — the witless, philandering congressman, Glenn Mann (Brian Byers), and his smarter, albeit deceived wife (Barbara Keegan) — the musical's heart is less in its satire than in the boilerplate romance that develops between its compromised-idealist protagonists, campaign manager Steve (Travis Dixon) and Mann's press secretary/mistress, Brenda (Jean Altadel). And while Dixon and Altadel boast voices far superior to Joseph and Detherage's mostly undistinguished, pop-derived songbook, the lovers' hopeful, redemptive plotline feels like a discordant, tonal artifact from an antique musical romance. Director T.J. Castronovo delivers some memorable comic flourishes, but his staging falls shy of the spark or spectacle needed to carry this critic's vote. MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru Nov. 7. (323) 960-7612 or plays411.com/campaign. (Bill Raden)
CHURCHILL Edmund L. Shaff, who plays the doughty British prime minister in Andrew Edlin's solo drama, has an appropriately jowly face, and when he turns mischievous, the resemblance to Churchill is almost uncanny. Edlin's play is set in London, on April 4, 1955, when the old lion was trying to make up his mind whether or not to finally retire. Edlin's literate, informative script sketches Churchill's long, colorful career and incorporates his glorious wartime speeches, and his salty wit and wisdom. Churchill tells of his fears that his successor might lack the strength to stand up to the Soviets, his admiration and respect for FDR, General Patton, Harry S. Truman, his abiding love for his parents, and his shocking, unexpected electoral defeat in 1945. Director James Horan gives Edlin's script an interesting production, if only he'd edited it a bit: With intermission, it runs 2 hours and 45 minutes —already long for a one-person show, it taxed Shaff's voice causing problems for the otherwise skillful and splendidly persuasive actor. Whitmore/Lindley Theatre, 11006 Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 3 p.m., thru Nov. 7. Produced by Portrait of Churchill Productions. (800) 595-4849 or tix.com (Neal Weaver)
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