Bald Soprano: A Christmas Anti-Play

Comments (0) By Lovell Estell III Thursday, Nov 8 2012

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City Garage at Bergamot Station Arts Center

2525 Michigan Ave., T1
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Category: Theaters

Region: Santa Monica

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Even after 60 years and counting, Eugene Ionesco's classic absurdist farce The Bald Soprano is still one of France's most popular and frequently produced plays. And as director Frederique Michel demonstrates in this steadfastly enjoyable revival, it's still good for a load of laughs. The opening tableau reveals a middle-aged Parisian couple, the Smiths (Jeff Atik, David E. Frank in drag, skillfully blending impertinence and camp), relaxing at home. She decorates the Christmas tree and discusses banal details about dinner, while he responds with outbursts of guttural gibberish from behind a newspaper. Things turn even more bizarre with the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Martin (Bo Roberts, Cynthia Mance) -- who initially don't seem to even know each other -- and a loquacious Fire Chief (Mitchell Colley). The evening gradually segues into a frenetic outbreak of meaningless chatter, jarring non sequiturs, grade-school storytelling and oddball silliness, all of which Michel and her cast (which includes Lena Kay as a ditzy maid) serve up with impeccable comedic skill and elan. Ionesco satirizes middle-class manners and banality, and at the same time constructs a dramatic environment where logic, language and reality are wittily disassociated, and therein is the fun and laughs in the piece. Cast performances under Michel's direction are first-rate.
Thursdays, Fridays, 8:30 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 4 p.m. Starts: Nov. 1. Continues through Dec. 23, 2012