Steven Leigh Morris
Roger Guenveur Smith in Dodgertown; Credit: Craig Schwartz
If you're in the minority of a certain age that grew up in or around L.A., there are certain names, associated with Dodger baseball broadcaster Vin Sculley's voice, that are part of what can only be called a legacy: shortstop Maury Wills, centerfielder Willie Davis, pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, and Don Sutton, second baseman Jim Lefebvre, first baseman Wes Parker, catcher Johnny Roseboro. At Chavez Ravine in the mid to late 1970s, whenever San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal took the mound at the top of the first, you could hear the wail of “boos” all the way in Long Beach. That's called institutional memory, of over a decade, for when up at Candlestick Park in 1965, Marichal succumbed to a fit of rage for being dinged on the ear by a return toss from catcher Roseboro to pitcher Koufax. Marichal ripped off Roseboro's mask and plowed into his skull with a baseball bat. Roger Guenveur Smith's solo show, Juan and John, takes that incident, which almost coincided with the Watts Riots and the amping up of the War in Vietnam, for a kind of sermon on the mound, on the essences of friction and mercy. It plays at the Kirk Douglas Theater through May 29. See Theater feature next week.
For COMPLETE THEATER LISTINGS, press the More tab directly below.
COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS FOR May 21-27, 2011
Our critics are Pauline Adamek, Paul Birchall, Lovell Estell III,
Rebecca Haithcoat, Mayank Keshaviah, Deborah Klugman, Amy Lyons, Steven
Leigh Morris, Amy Nicholson, Tom Provenzano, Bill Raden, and Neal
Weaver. These listings were compiled by Derek Thomas
Productions are sequenced alphabetically in the following
cagtegories: Opening This Week, Larger Theaters regionwide, Smaller
Theaters in Hollywood, Smaller Theaters in the valleys , Smaller
Theaters on the Westside and in beach towns. You can also search for any
play by title, using your computer's search engine
OPENING THIS WEEK
AfterMath Elliot Shoenman's comedic drama about a
widow trying to cope with her husband's suicide. Starting May 21,
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through June 26,
(800) 595-4849, aftermaththeplay.com. Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave.,
L.A..
Becoming Memories Arthur Giron's ode to
grandparents, created in collaboration with members of the Illusion
Theatre of Minneapolis. Fridays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
& 7 p.m. Continues through May 29, (800) 838-3006,
brownpapertickets.com. Avery Schreiber Theater, 11050 Magnolia Blvd.,
North Hollywood.
Between Us Chickens Two small-town girls
Pennsylvania and a native son of L.A. make for a manipulative love
triangle, by Sofia Alvarez. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Continues through June 19. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave.,
L.A., (323) 644-1929, AtwaterVillageTheatre.com.
Extraordinary Chambers David Wiener's story of a
business trip to Cambodia gone awry. Starting May 24, Tuesdays-Fridays, 8
p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 & 7 p.m. Continues
through July 3. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood, (310)
208-5454, geffenplayhouse.com.
Fifth of July Lanford Wilson's comedy-drama set in
1977 about reunited friends who once were antiwar activists in Berkeley.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through June 25,
(800) 838-3006, theprodco.com. Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave., L.A..
Hamlet, Prince of Darkness Zombie Joe's
Underground's Shakespeare-inspired “dark adventure-comedy-thriller,”
written by Richard Nathan . Fridays, 11 p.m. Continues through June 24.
ZJU Theater Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818)
202-4120, zombiejoes.com.
iGhost World-premiere musical adaptation of Oscar
Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, book by Doug Haverty, music by Adryan
Russ, lyrics by Russ and Haverty. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., June
5, 7 p.m.; Sun., June 12, 7 p.m. Continues through June 18, (626)
695-8283, brownpapertickets.com/event/169940. Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La
Brea Ave., L.A., lyrictheatrela.com.
The Indian Wants the Bronx/Tom & Jerry Actors
Circle Ensemble presents two one-act plays Israel Horovitz's story of a
bewildered East Indian in urban America, and Jim Geoghan's comedy set
in a sleazy nightclub run by the mob. May 25-28, 8 p.m.,
ActorsCircleEnsemble.com. Ivy Substation Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd.,
Culver City.
Jimmy Tingle for President The Exploratory Show –
The Funniest Campaign in History The comedian's satirical 2012 platform
for the presidency. May 26-28, 8 p.m.; Sun., May 29, 7 p.m., (323)
960-7745, jimmytingle.com. The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.,
complexhollywood.com.
Killer Queen Peter Griggs' one-man show about a gay
boxer who idolizes Freddie Mercury. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Sat., May 21, 8
p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 3 & 8 p.m. Continues through June 5,
brownpapertickets.com/event/163688. Empowerment Center Boxing Gym, 8106
Santa Monica Blvd., L.A..
Luv Murray Schisgal's spoof of avant-garde drama.
Starting May 21, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
p.m. Continues through June 26. Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova
Theater, 241 Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 364-0535, theatre40.org.
The Madness of Hercules Not Man Apart Physical
Theatre Ensemble presents excerpts from a new play by John
Farmanesh-Bocca, based on a text by Seneca the Younger. Fri., May 20, 8
p.m.; Sat., May 21, 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., May 22, 3 p.m. Getty Villa,
17985 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu, (310) 440-7300, getty.edu.
Nazi Hunter – Simon Wiesenthal Tom Dugan's one-man
play honoring the life of the late concentration-camp survivor. (No
perfs May 30 & June 5.) Starting May 22, Mondays, Tuesdays, Sundays,
7 30 p.m. Continues through June 21. Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova
Theater, 241 Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 364-0535, theatre40.org.
100 Saints You Should Know A priest's, a teenage
boy's and a young woman's confused destinies collide, by Kate Fodor.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through June 26,
(877) 369-9112,. Elephant Space Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.,
elephantstages.com.
Smutopia Highways' 22nd Birthday “Party” To
celebrate 22 years, Highways transforms into “an erotic hypnotic
hysteric frenetic midway, featuring festival stages, private booths,
stag film sets and The Palace of Peep.” Fri., May 20, 8 30 p.m.; Sat.,
May 21, 8 30 p.m. Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa
Monica, (310) 315-1459, highwaysperformance.org.
South of Delancey World-premiere play by Karen
Sommers, based on the true story of a Jewish arbitration court. Starting
May 21, Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through
June 26, (866) 811-4111. Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave.,
South Pasadena, fremontcentretheatre.com.
Sylvia A.R. Gurney's comedy about a man, his wife
and his dog. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 30 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Continues
through July 10. Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main St., Santa
Monica, (310) 399-3666, www.edgemarcenter.org.
Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg's play about
two generations of intertwined families. Starting May 21, Sat., May 21, 8
p.m.; Sundays, 2 30 & 7 30 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 7 30 p.m.;
Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 30 & 8 p.m. Continues
through June 12. South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa,
(714) 708-5555, scr.org.
The View From Here Margaret Dulaney's story of
anxiety in a small Kentucky town. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7
p.m. Continues through June 12. Actors Workout Studio, 4735 Lankershim
Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 506-3903.
WordTheatre Lit by Lulu Stories by Charles Baxter,
from his new collection Gryphon, performed by Justin Chambers (Grey's
Anatomy), Edith Fields (Next) and others. The author appears in person
for a Q&A and book signing. Sun., May 22, 7 30 p.m., (310) 915-5150,
WordTheatre.com. Soho House West Hollywood, 9200 W. Sunset Blvd., No.
817, West Hollywood, sohohousewh.com.
CONTINUING PERFORMANCES IN LARGER THEATERS REGIONWIDE
The Chairs Eugene Ionesco's slice of absurdity and
futility receives a faithful staging at A Noise Within. Over the course
of this 80-minute, one-act play, an aging couple drags out dozens of
decrepit chairs to accommodate a crowd of distinguished guests — who
prove imaginary. Old regrets surface from the depths of their memories,
and the Old Man lapses into melancholy and grief when recalling the loss
of his mother. Company members Deborah Strang and Geoff Elliott
(directed by ANW Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott) seldom evoke
amusement, even when lewdly flirting with their invisible visitors. A
gloomy mist pervades a set of dingy, peeling gray walls. Stephen W.
Gifford's set and prop design and Ken Booth's lighting suggest a
postapocalyptic setting (supported by a single line in the play) and the
sense they are isolated in a circular building surrounded by water.
Costume designer Angela Balogh Calin clothes the two leads in layers of
rags and ratty furs, once sumptuous, now shabby. Ionesco's fixation with
solitude, nothingness and the insignificance of human existence results
in a stark experience. I prefer theater — even absurdist comedies about
the end of the world — to come with at least some levity and relief
from the obvious. (Pauline Adamek). Fri., May 20, 8 p.m.; Sat., May 21, 2
& 8 p.m. A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818)
240-0910, anoisewithin.org.
GO The Eccentricities of a Nightingale It's New
Year's Eve in Tennessee Williams' drama, and Alma Winemiller is
enchanted by the crisp snaps of “frosty branches crackin',” but she's so
flushed with an inner flame she's shed jacket, scarf and gloves.
Deborah Puette's Alma is burning, set alight by a firecracker the
recently graduated doctor John Buchanan (Jason Dechert, in a role made
for him) casually tosses at her during Glorious Hill, Mississippi's
Fourth of July celebration. But Alma isn't like the pretty, simple girls
who have surrounded the eligible Buchanan up north. Nearing
spinsterhood, she's the town eccentric, who scatters crumbs for birds in
the square and is given to heart palpitations that seem a result of the
fluttery bird beating about in her own chest. Simultaneously attracted
(“The light keeps changin' in [her eyes]”) and repelled (“It's not lit,”
he says in the heartbreaking penultimate scene, crudely referring to
his sexual desire), Buchanan engages with Alma as an almost scientific
experiment. Yet Williams refuses to allow such cold sterility, and in a
scene so charged it leaves you smoldering in your seat, Buchanan
examines a frantic Alma, uttering possibly the most erotic three words
ever written by a playwright. Director Damaso Rodriguez dances the
entire production through the play's musicality on a stage lit
beautifully by James P. Taylor in the soft gauziness that Williams'
“romantic clichés” demand. In fact, the only slip is that early on,
Puette rests on an overactive accent. But by the second act, even that
flaw is forgiven, and as Williams' ever-tragic tide begins to come in,
the only thing to do is let it wash over you. (Rebecca Haithcoat). Sun.,
May 22, 2 & 7 p.m.; Thu., May 26, 8 p.m.; Fri., May 27, 8 p.m.;
Sat., May 28, 8 p.m. A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818)
240-0910, anoisewithin.org.
Extraordinary Chambers David Wiener's story of a
business trip to Cambodia gone awry. Starting May 24, Tuesdays-Fridays, 8
p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 & 7 p.m. Continues
through July 3. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood, (310)
208-5454, geffenplayhouse.com.
Funky Punks Circus Spectacular Troubadour Theater
Company's kid-friendly clown extravaganza. Saturdays, Sundays, 11 a.m.
Continues through June 5. Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Dr., Burbank,
(818) 955-8101, falcontheatre.com.
God of Carnage Yasmina Reza's 2006 play God of
Carnage — translated by Christopher Hampton and reuniting the 2009
Broadway cast (Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay
Harden) — swirls around an argument between two children who never
appear onstage. One, having been called a “snitch” by the other,
answered by smashing his accuser in the face with a stick and knocking
out two of his teeth. The play, however, doesn't so much explore the
origins of loathing between people as it assumes them as a given and
then merely reveals them. There's little paradox, just various forms of
decorum that get slowly, systematically yanked away eviscerating its
characters through primarily through mockery. It unfolds in the home of
the child-victim's parents, Veronica and Michael (Harden and Gandolfini)
— depicted in Daryl A. Stone's set as a contemporary slab of
domesticity. A cracked-stone-wall backdrop (all those fissures dividing
what appears so solid), juxtaposed against art books stacked on the
floor and tucked under coffee tables, signals a landing pad for liberal
ideals. Yet that pad stands surrounded by a wash of red — the raging
fire of aggression that's been licking at, if not engulfing, the
translucent skin of civilization for millennia. Veronica's husband,
Michael, is a self-made wholesaler, a blue-collar fellow pressured by
the play's circumstances to pretend he's far more tenderhearted than his
temperament allows. After a few drinks, he'll reveal his true colors.
Veronica and Michael are visited by the parents of the aggressor-child,
Alan and Annette (Daniels and Davis). Alan is a high-powered lawyer who,
we discern from his incessant cell phone conversations, represents big
pharma. Alan's emotionally precarious wife, Annette, is into “wealth
management” — the wealth of her husband. It all starts out so
reasonably. Nobody wants to go legal over a kids' squabble. That thin
amiability becomes stretched by the consumption of too much alcohol,
until it starts to tear. As the tensions among them rise, the initially
agreed-upon premise that a problem child struck an innocent peer gets
expanded to the theory that the abuser may have been justified because
he'd been insulted. The rhythmic ebbs and flows of Matthew Warchus'
direction of his perfect cast keep the play about as taut as can be
imagined. But the comic-dramatic tension of who can gore whom is like
watching a bullfight. It's sadism mixed with technique, and the bloody
outcome isn't really in question. I found myself riveted for an hour or
so, until the dramatic formula became formulaic. (Steven Leigh Morris).
Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 1 & 6
30 p.m. Continues through May 29. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave.,
L.A., (213) 628-2772, centertheatregroup.org.
The Good Boy Michael Bonnabel shares stories of his
life growing up with deaf parents in sign, speech and song.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May 22.
Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., L.A., (866) 811-4111,
thelatc.org.
Juan and John Roger Guenveur Smith's memories of
his childhood, his parents and a Dodgers brawl. Fri., May 20, 8 p.m.;
Sat., May 21, 4 & 8 p.m.; Sun., May 22, 6:30 p.m.; Through May 27, 8
p.m.; Sat., May 28, 4 & 8 p.m.; Sun., May 29, 6:30 p.m. Kirk
Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (213) 628-2772.
Just for the Record Paul Rodriguez's solo show on
his life in comedy. (In Spanish on Sundays.). Thursdays, Fridays, 8
p.m.; Saturdays, 5 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Continues through May
29. El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818)
508-4200, elportaltheatre.com.
NEW REVIEW GO KISS ME, KATE
Director
Michael Michetti has assembled a delightful production for this revival
of the classic musical, with its glorious score by Cole Porter. The
zanily clever book by Samuel and Bella Spewack introduces us to
producer-director Fred Graham (Tom Hewitt), who is starring — and
bickering — with his ex-wife, Lili Vanessi (Leslie Margherita) in a
production of The Taming of the Shrew, but their real life
roles keep spilling over into their onstage conflicts. Margherita is a
hilariously over-the-top Lili/Katherine, while Hewitt makes for a
stalwart Fred/Petruchio. Meg Gillintine sparkles as gold-digging Lois
Lane, who's having a fling with Fred while trying to reform her gambler
boy-friend Bill (Sean Martin Hingston). Jay Brian Winnick and Herschel
Sparber score a comic triumph as the Shakespeare-quoting gangsters who
disrupt the action with untimely efforts to collect a gambling debt. Lee
Martino's electric, sometimes bawdy choreography lights up the stage,
and the dancers led by Hingston, Scott Alan Hislop, and Ray Garcia,
galvanize the production. Costume designer Gary Lennon provides the
lavish costumes, including form-fitting parti-colored tights, complete
with cod-pieces, for the male dancers — but his military uniforms
wouldn't pass inspection. Music director Michael Paternostro leads the
orchestra with meticulous verve, and Tom Buderwitz's set — a huge
revolving proscenium arch — keeps the action fluid. Reprise Theatre
Company at UCLA/The Freud Playhouse; Tues.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m.;
thru May 22. (310) 825-2101. (Neal Weaver)
Krunk Fu Battle Battle East West Players'
world-premiere hip-hop musical, book by Qui Nguyen, lyrics by Beau Sia,
vocal music by Marc Macalintal, dance music by Rynan Paguio and Jason
Tyler Chong. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues
through June 26. East West Players, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St., L.A.,
(213) 625-7000, eastwestplayers.org.
The Madness of Hercules Not Man Apart Physical
Theatre Ensemble presents excerpts from a new play by John
Farmanesh-Bocca, based on a text by Seneca the Younger. Fri., May 20, 8
p.m.; Sat., May 21, 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., May 22, 3 p.m. Getty Villa,
17985 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu, (310) 440-7300, getty.edu.
The Scene Theresa Rebeck's comedy about a naive
newcomer to Manhattan's showbiz scene. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 5 p.m. Continues through May 22,
brownpapertickets.com/event/170974. Malibu Stage Company, 29243 Pacific
Coast Hwy., Malibu, (310) 589-1998.
GO Standing on Ceremony The Gay Marriage Plays
This highly acclaimed evening of short plays by award-winning
playwrights, dealing with the subject of marriage equality, was first
presented as a one-time benefit to support gay marriage. Now it's
scheduled for a special series of Monday night performances, to benefit
the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's efforts to promote marriage
equality, with a different celebrity cast each week. All nine plays are
winners — funny, clever, stylish and compassionate — and none is allowed
to devolve into mere propaganda. This Marriage Is Saved, by Joe Keenan,
concerns a Christian evangelist, caught in flagrante delicto with a gay
hustler, who attempts to salvage his conservative credentials by
writing a book called Now I Only Kneel to Pray. In Strange Fruit, writer
Neil LaBute looks at a happy gay couple who plan to marry till grim
reality intervenes. In On Facebook, Doug Wright adapts a real online
exchange in which fur flies as six people, of widely differing views,
tangle violently on the subject of gay marriage. Moisés Kaufman sets his
moving London Mosquitos at a Jewish funeral, in which a man mourns the
loss of his longtime lover to vicious gay-bashers. And Paul Rudnick's
The Gay Agenda provides a funny and surprisingly sympathetic portrait of
a hysterical member of Focus on the Family, who feels her whole
existence is under siege by gays and lesbians. The other plays, by Wendy
McLeod, Jenny Lynn Bader, Jordan Harrison and Jose Rivera, are equally
sharp. If director Brian Schnipper can assemble celebrity casts as
skillful as the one reviewed (Amy Aquino, John Getz, Harriet Harris,
Peter Paige, Tom Everett Scott and Cynthia Stevenson), this production
is a luxury item. (Neal Weaver). Mon., May 23, 8 p.m.; Mon., June 6, 8
p.m.; Mon., June 20, 8 p.m.; Mon., June 27, 8 p.m.,
StandingOnCeremony.net. Renberg Theatre, 1125 N. McCadden Pl., L.A.,
(323) 860-7300, lagaycenter.org.
The Taming of the Shrew William Shakespeare's
comedy, relocated to the American Wild West. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May 28. Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E.
Anaheim St., Long Beach, (562) 494-1014, lbph.com.
Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg's play about
two generations of intertwined families. Starting May 21, Sat., May 21, 8
p.m.; Sundays, 2 30 & 7 30 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 7 30 p.m.;
Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 30 & 8 p.m. Continues
through June 12. South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa,
(714) 708-5555, scr.org.
The Ugly Duckling Interactive kids' musical by
Lloyd J. Schwartz and Adryan Russ. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Continues through
July 9, (818) 761-2203. Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, L.A.,
theatrewest.org.
CONTINUING PERFORMANCES IN SMALLER THEATERS SITUATED IN HOLLYWOOD, WEST HOLLYWOOD AND THE DOWNTOWN AREAS
AfterMath Elliot Shoenman's comedic drama about a
widow trying to cope with her husband's suicide. Starting May 21,
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through June 26,
(800) 595-4849, aftermaththeplay.com. Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave.,
L.A..
Attack of the 50 Ft. Sunday Jordan Black directs
the Groundlings Sunday Company. Sundays, 7 30 p.m. Groundling Theater,
7307 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 934-9700, groundlings.com.
bash latterday plays Coeurage Theatre presents
Neil Labute's Mormon tragedies. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7
p.m. Continues through May 22, coeurage.org. Actors Circle Theatre, 7313
Santa Monica Blvd., L.A., (323) 882-8043, actorscircle.net.
Between Us Chickens Two small-town girls
Pennsylvania and a native son of L.A. make for a manipulative love
triangle, by Sofia Alvarez. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Continues through June 19. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave.,
L.A., (323) 644-1929, AtwaterVillageTheatre.com.
GO The Birthday Present 2050 Stories about
dystopian societies often risk seeming contrived, but playwright Tania
Wisbar's beautifully detailed and elegiac tale depicts a world that
might believably exist, say, 100 years after a Nazi takeover. In the
future, poverty and disease have been eliminated, but the world is
instead organized on entirely practical lines, with your right to
survive being decided by the number of “points” you earn every year. On
the 75th birthday of family matriarch Teresa (Salome Jens), her devoted
daughter Marsha (Elyssa Davalos) thinks she has collected enough points
from her two sisters and family to allow Teresa to live another year.
More than just being the emotional center of her clan, Teresa is one of
the last living rebels who recalls life before the odious new order came
to pass. Marsha's hopes are threatened when unexpected complications
amp up the charge for Teresa's right to life. In director Jonathan
Sanger's beautifully melancholy staging, what could be a mechanical
exercise in high-concept plotting becomes a wistful tale of how easy it
would be to purge memory of the past from the world. Sanger's smoothly
executed production boasts many rich details Set designer Kis Knekt's
calculatedly sterile living room is replete with decorative video
screens that show 1984-esque messages from the genially sinister
bureaucrat (Jeffrey Doornbos) who oversees the family's doings. Knekt's
set, in conjunction with composer Karen Martin's eerie incidental music,
crafts a world that's just plain crazy. The ensemble work is just as
assured. Apart from Jens' powerful turn as the ferociously nonconforming
grandmother, Davalos' complex performance as Marsha is exceptional Her
character is seemingly an upbeat chirper, but her good mood is so
clearly artificial, it seems as though she's always about to weep. Also
engaging in supporting roles are Katrina Lenk, as Marsha's venomously
selfish younger sister, and Demetrius Grosse, as a guilt-haunted
security agent. (Paul Birchall). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7
p.m. Continues through May 22, (323) 960-7733, plays411.com. Skylight
Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., L.A..
Blink & You Might Miss Me You've seen Larry
Blum before ― in fact, I'd bet $20 bucks you've seen Blum on TV a dozen
times. But unless you know who you're looking for, you might not have
noticed him. When his one-man show about his career opens with footage
of Meryl Streep's 2010 Golden Globes win and Blum struts out and asks,
“Did you notice who took Meryl to the stage?” the audience does a double
take. Blum is an on-camera talent escort, a hired gun who makes sure no
star snaps a stiletto on her way to accept an award. Before that, he
was a dancer, and earlier still he was a celebrity-obsessed gay Jewish
teen in late '60s New York who lost his virginity to a sailor in an
alley behind a Nestle truck. (“Every time I have a cup of cocoa, I still
get hard,” he reminisces.) Blum's good-humored, self-deprecating show
has the patter of a dinner party guest who's told his stories a few too
many times, and director Stan Zimmerman could get Blum's one-liners to
sound more off-the-cuff. Still, Blum's got bite and it's lucky for him
that among the many, many stars he dishes dirt about, at least half are
dead or too old to bother calling a lawyer (Roseanne Barr, Raquel Welch
and Dionne Warwick should stay away). Though in his youth he hoped to
become famous, Blum doesn't paint himself as a has-been, never-was or
will-be. He's proud to pay his rent by pursuing his dream ― and by being
a shameless residual check hound who even joined Susan Lucci's fan club
to make sure he made every nickel from taking Lucci's arm during her
big Emmy win. (He elbowed her husband out of the way for the honor.)
Blum's cascade of quick clips keeps multimedia operator Matthew Quinn
busy as they stack up to build a scrapbook of the busiest actor you'd
never recognize. (Amy Nicholson). Fridays, 8 p.m. Continues through May
27, (323) 960-7612, plays411.com/blink. Asylum Lab, 1078 Lillian Way,
L.A., theatreasylum-la.com.
Cabaret Damn Broadway — when they get it right,
they get it really right. Sam Mendes' 1998 revival of the musical
Cabaret, which scooped up a slew of awards for its raunchy reworking,
featured Alan Cumming's now-famous hypersexual turn as the M.C. The
musical, which is set in Berlin on the brink of the Nazis' rise to
power, fixes its dark gaze on the dingy Kit Kat Klub, where young
English cabaret performer Sally Bowles meets Cliff Bradshaw, a broke
American novelist; the M.C.'s sardonic eye roves over the action as it
builds to its inevitable end. While director Marco Gomez smartly tries
to avoid com-parisons by reverting to the original version and employing
cross-gender casting, Mendes' revival's riskiness still looms large
enough to make DOMA Theatre Company's latest production feel underfed.
Even so, a competent cast, Michael Mullen's fantastically flashy
costumes and the sheer strength of the musical itself make for an
agreeable evening. Renee Cohen, shouldering the weight of the M.C.,
belts and struts with smirking panache; Caitlin Ary (a dead ringer for
January Jones), who's a little shallow acting-wise, certainly digs deep
enough to sing the role of Sally Bowles. But, from transforming the Klub
girls into a flock of iridescent peacocks to outfitting Rory
Alexander's Bradshaw in sharp suits that belie his financial straits,
Mullen's the big star of the production. And although the young cast has
a difficult time maintaining a balance between the Klub's lurid,
grinning delusion and the very real clouds quickly rolling into Berlin,
it's hard not to catch chills as the M.C. wishes you one final, solemn
Auf Wiedersehen. (Rebecca Haithcoat). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through May 22, (323) 960-5773,
plays411.com/cabaret. MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., L.A.,
theMETtheatre.com.
GO Caught In the aftermath of Proposition 8
passing in November 2008, one of the regrets of those who fought
valiantly for gay marriage and against the proposition was that enough
wasn't done to “normalize” gay couples. And while the events in David L.
Ray's world-premiere play take place in July 2008, Caught furthers the
cause by dramatizing one of those healthy relationships. In it,
Angelenos Kenneth (Corey Brill) and Troy (Will Beinbrink) are on the eve
of their nuptials, a ceremony that will be officiated by their friend
Splenda (Micah McCain), who is ordained via the Internet. This blissful
scene is interrupted by a visit from Kenneth's estranged sister, Darlene
(Deborah Puette), who is very Southern and very Christian, as well as
her daughter, Krystal (Amanda Kaschak). In the interludes between
scenes, we also see Darlene's husband, T.J. (Richard Jenik), preaching
to his conservative congregation in Georgia. Secrets, lies and
surprising revelations fuel the drama. Director Nick DeGruccio deftly
takes Ray's strong and likable characters from page to stage, sparingly
playing up stereotypes for comedy without ever reducing the characters
to them. Adding to the authenticity are Adam Flemming's delightfully
detailed set and Katherine Hampton Noland's colorful couture. Adding to
the emotional investment in the story is a talented cast; standouts
include Puette, for her rich and intense portrayal of Darlene; McCain,
for balancing divalike comedy with deep sincerity; and Kaschak, for
combining fresh-faced innocence and a willfulness to create a very
believable teenager. (Mayank Keshaviah). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through June 26, (800) 595-4849,
CaughtThePlay.com. Zephyr Theater, 7456 Melrose Ave., L.A..
GO The Chinese Massacre The Chinese Massacre is
set in 1891 Los Angeles, 20 years after 18 Chinese men and one boy were
shot or lynched in a race riot instigated by vigilantes in the name of
protecting local employment opportunities from “foreigners.” Even then,
in 1871, the Gold Rush was waning, Chinese immigrant labor had all but
completed that major east-west railroad arteries that would provide
whatever oxygen of commerce could be breathed. And in Tom Jacobson's
absorbing play, after the 20-year-interlude, an educated Chinese
physician named Lee (West Liang) wanders into the mercantile store of
Reverend Crenshaw (Mitchell) in order to purchase a novelty item the
severed finger of a Chinese man who was among the victims of the
massacre 20-years earlier. This is the kind of artifact that
archeologists and paleontologists use to fathom the mysteries of the
past, but Lee's purpose is not only historical but religious. The finger
is the last remaining fossile of somebody he knew withered flesh and
bone deserving of sacred burial, rather than being locked away in some
shop-seller's jewelry box. Lee is like Antigone, arguing with her uncle
Creon, over an honorable funeral for her brother, whom Creon regards a
traitor. And from the minutiae of their barter unfolds in flashback the
events leading up to the massacre, told, enacted, corrected and
annotated, because a truthful history rarely makes for the best yarn.
And it's the myths we recall, the hyper-energized, over-simplified
rendition, that gets made into the movie, or published in schoolbooks
presuming that history is even in the curriculum. The history that
unfolds includes Chinese human traffickers and slave traders, and
Caucasians who risked their lives to protect the persecuted. It's the
Holocaust in miniature, set in the Wild West. For all its abundant
virtues, and a fluid, beautifully performed production directed by Jeff
Liu, the play suffers from its flow of historical scenes, like a
pageant, that doesn't quite reach the kind of national or even local
mythology to which it aspires. Jacobson, closes with tableaus from
L.A.'s subsequent race riots, which is telling sort of that we keep
learning nothing because we keep erasing history. But that's not really
true either, even in L.A., and Jacobson is certainly smart enough to
know that. Yet if any playwrights in Los Angeles have the capacity to
write a great work, Jacobson stands tall among them. (Steven Leigh
Morris). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 & 8 p.m. Continues
through May 28, circlextheatre.org. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269
Casitas Ave., L.A., (323) 644-1929, AtwaterVillageTheatre.com.
Curse of the Starving Class Director Scott Paulin
poorly serves Sam Shepard's 1978, semi-autobiographical fantasy about a
Southern California nuclear family caught up in the throes of spiritual
and financial implosion. A certain ungainliness is understandable.
Coming just before the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child, the play
uneasily straddles the dazzling free-form experiments of Shepard's Off
Off Broadway work and the mastery of traditional narrative form that
would characterize his “mature” period. The titular curse is of the
existential kind — a starvation of the soul afflicting a family all but
abandoned by their dissolute, alcoholic rancher/patriarch, Weston (Kevin
McCorkle). His flighty wife, Ella (Laura Richardson), plots with a
corrupt speculator (John Lacy) to sell the ranch from under him. Their
mercurially hormone-addled, pubescent daughter, Emma (Juliette Goglia),
merely wants to “get out.” It is left to their embittered son, Wesley
(Ian Nelson), to save the family farm by literally putting on his
father's clothes and trying to piece the shattered household back
together. Unfortunately, salvaging the dramatic gold lurking in the
text's surreal collision of incompatible styles would take far more than
Paulin's careless, clumsily literal staging. Jason Mullen's mundane
lights and Victoria Profitt's disappointing, slapdash set illuminate
none of the play's allegorical riches. And the ensemble's exasperatingly
ham-handed approach to the language only succeeds in suffocating the
screwball comedy while shredding the breathtaking lyricism of Shepard's
poetry. (Bill Raden). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Continues through June 4. Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd.,
L.A., (323) 882-6912, openfist.org.
Defendiendo Al Cavernícola (Defending the Caveman)
In Spanish only. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m. Continues
through May 22. Frida Kahlo Theater, 2332 W. Fourth St., L.A., (213)
382-8133, fridakahlotheater.org.
NEW REVIEW DEUX EX MACHINA AND THE HANDS OF THE BEHOLDER
Minutes
into writer-director R.S. Bailey's “dark Vaudevillian farce,” one gets a
sinking feeling. The play (which really feels like two discreet works),
takes place in a semi-apocalyptic setting in which God's wrath is at
hand and religious zealots have taken over the world. In the prologue,
we meet a character named The Historian (Jezter Detroit), who rambles on
about history, politics, cause and effect, great events, historical
relativism, and more. Prompted by the wail of police sirens, he quickly
exits, after which the “meat” of the play begins. Bailey assumes the
role of Old Testament Patriarch — with a dash of mad scientist and
Sorcerer's Apprentice tossed in — who is searching for God before the
Day of Judgment. Assisting him are his wife Majda (Mary Dryden), and son
Jesse (Jonathan Brett), who is working on a contraption called a
Metatron where God is located, or as it turns out, the dwelling place
of his voice. The inspiration for this is purportedly the story of
Abraham and Isaac, but if it is, it doesn't come across as such,
notwithstanding the bizarre sacrifice near the play's end. Theatre Z
Productions at The Complex, Dorie Theatre, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd.,
Hlwd.; Thurs-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.; thru June 5. (323) 960-7788. plays411.com (Lovell Estell III)
Don't Believe Me One-man spoken-word/hip-hop/comedy
show by the performer known as IN-Q. Fri., May 20, 8 p.m.,
plays411.com/dontbelieveme. Greenway Court Theater, 544 N. Fairfax Ave.,
L.A., (323) 655-7679, greenwayarts.org.
Doug Loves Movies Tue., May 24, 7 30 p.m., Free. Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, 5919 Franklin Ave., L.A., (323) 908-8702.
Drive Playwrights 6 and Open Fist Theatre Company
present Laura Black's world premiere about the aftermath of a car crash.
Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Continues through June 8. Open Fist Theatre, 6209
Santa Monica Blvd., L.A., (323) 882-6912, openfist.org.
Eleemosynary Lee Blessing's portrait of a
grandmother, mother and daughter. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7
p.m. Continues through May 29, (323) 860-6569. Berg Studio Theatre,
3245 Casitas Ave., Ste. 104, L.A..
Evil Women Kinetic Theory Circus Arts explores the
nature and perception of the female sex through movement, trapeze,
contortion, aerial hoop, dance and acrobatics. Fridays, Saturdays, 8
p.m. Continues through June 4. Kinetic Theory Theatre, 3604 Holdrege
Ave., L.A., (310) 606-2617, kinetictheorytheatre.com.
Facebook The weekly show formerly known as MySpace. Wednesdays, 9 30 p.m., $5. Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, 5919 Franklin Ave., L.A., (323) 908-8702.
NEW REVIEW GO FERNANDO RICHARDSON'S TREACHEROUS BRAIN
In
playwright Monica Trasandes' poignant and humorous drama, a man
undergoes brain surgery and, in the ensuing confusion, spills some
secrets that threaten to shatter his marriage. Uruguayan Fernando
(Roberto Montesinos, in an endearing performance) and his American wife
Kate (Natalie Sutherland) are warned by his Surgeon that patients can be
quite bewildered after a brain operation. But no one is prepared for
the jumble of memories that comes tumbling out. At first it all sounds
like nonsense, but Fernando's impassioned distress at the possible
abduction of a woman named Elisa (a sultry Karla Zamudio), whom he met
when visiting Argentina, prompts his best friend Patrick (Mark Slater)
to pursue the mystery. But sneaky Patrick may have an ulterior motive
for unearthing the truth. Director Andre Barron elicits superb
performances from his well-cast ensemble and allows time for tender,
non-verbal moments. Trasandes' compassionate and subtle storytelling
approach reveals shreds of information while her intimate and warm
dialogue illustrates the complexities of various devoted relationships.
Above all, her carefully constructed play touches on deeper themes of
culture clash and the burden of middle-class guilt and proves the heart
is more powerful than the brain. Playwrights 6 and Open Fist Theatre
Company, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Thurs., 8 p.m.; through
June 9. (323) 882-6912. openfist.org. (Pauline Adamek)
Fifth of July Lanford Wilson's comedy-drama set in
1977 about reunited friends who once were antiwar activists in Berkeley.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through June 25,
(800) 838-3006, theprodco.com. Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave., L.A..
GO Flower to Flower Tom and Anna (Joseph L.
Roberts, Marie Lively) are Plano, Texas, newlyweds with plans for a
future together. But four months into the marriage, they have yet to
consummate their union, and Anna is starting to worry, in addition to
becoming exceedingly horny. Youth pastor Tom is all thumbs and has
neither confidence nor experience when it comes to sex. He believes the
problem can be solved with petitions for help to the Almighty. Anna,
however, is far more practical, and thinks the path to orgasms can be
found in bed, i.e., making love with another woman. Thus is established
the tug of war between Jehovah and Eros that gives this hourlong piece
its comic firewood. The idea of a “threesome” repulses Anna's
white-bread husband, whose scriptural references about the evils of
homosexuality are lucidly rebuffed when she points out that the Good
Book says nothing about lesbians or lesbianism. Things really turn
humorously erotic when Martha (Amy Harmon) happens along selling Mary
Kay products. Notwithstanding an anemic ending, Christina Cigala's
script bristles with lively dialogue and whips up its share of laughs.
John Ennis directs capably, and the cast, which is rounded out by Ben
Fuller in the role of Tom's brother, turn in good performances. (Lovell
Estell III). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues through June 4, (213)
290-2782, BrimmerStreet.org. El Centro Theatre, 804 N. El Centro Ave.,
L.A..
For the Record Baz Luhrmann Show at Barre's
tribute to the writer-director's songs and films. Thursdays, 8 p.m.;
Fridays, Saturdays, 9 p.m. Continues through June 11, (323) 661-6163
x20, showatbarre.com. Vermont, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., L.A..
NEW REVIEW GO 4 CLOWNS
Creator-director
Jeremy Aluma's performance piece made quite a splash during its run at
last year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. This latest incarnation, with
some noticeable tinkering, is every bit as entertaining. The play blends
music, dance, physical comedy and narrative performed by four
archetypal clowns cum red noses and painted faces: Sad Clown (Alexis
Jones), Mischievous Clown (Kevin Klein), Angry Clown (Raymond Lee) and
Nervous Clown (Amir Levi). Accompanied by the commanding virtuosity of
Mario Granville on piano, the clowns tell of the common and uncommon:
nasty fights with siblings; a trip to the doctor that resulted in
molestation, teenage angst, that special event known as a first date; a
mom at home trying to cope with family issues. There is a lot of
audience interaction that transpires, which adds to the fun. In one
especially poignant moment, Lee opens a steamer chest (which is the only
prop used) and finds a Christmas gift. What surprises most about this
show is the ease and spontaneity with which the performers interact with
one another and their manic energy, which at times seems to take over
the stage. There is a fair amount of coarse language and X-rated
material (not all of which is funny) so this isn't a show for the
kiddies. Sacred Fools Theater Company, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr. L.A., Fri.
11. p.m.; through June 10. (310) 281-8337. (Lovell Estell III)
Groundlings State Penitentiary All-new sketch and
improv, directed by Jim Rash. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 & 10
p.m. Continues through July 9. Groundling Theater, 7307 Melrose Ave.,
L.A., (323) 934-9700, groundlings.com.
NEW REVIEW GO GYPSY
With
its huge cast, multiple settings, book by Arthur Laurents, score by
Jules Stein, and catchy lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, this show has become
a quintessential Broadway musical, making demands that are hard to meet
in a 99-seat theatre. Director Richard Israel proves that it can be
scaled down without losing its pizzazz. And Jan Sheldrick, as the
bullying, possessive Mama Rose, takes a role that has been played by
Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler, and
makes it triumphantly her own, with quiet moments as well as brassy
ones. Stephanie Wall provides a fine performance as Rose Louise–the
future Gypsy Rose Lee–marred only by the fact that she's not always
audible. The large cast, headed by Michael Matthys as Mama Rose's
brow-beaten swain, Eric Allen Smith as the young song-and-dance man
Tulsa, and Kelly Swanson as Mama Rose's other daughter, Dainty June,
provides fine support, along with veteran performers Larry Lederman and
Tony Pandolfo. Sara J. Stuckey, Kelly Jean Cuir, and Jessica Schatz
score as the three strippers who sing “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.”
Johanna Kent's music direction and John Todd's choreography keep things
lively. Theatre of Arts Arena Stage, 1625 North Las Palmas Avenue,
Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 3 p.m., thru July 3. Produced by
West Coast Ensemble. (323) 655-0108. westcoastensemble.org. (Neal Weaver)
A House Not Meant To Stand Empty butterscotch
wrappers scattered on a cheap coffee table, an afghan in shades of brown
clutching a grubby couch, an old Christmas-themed popcorn tin catching
one of the ceiling's countless leaks — Misty Carlisle's prop design is
so on-target, if she isn't from the South, she must have spent summers
there. Yet her efforts, and Jeff McLaughlin's picture-perfect set, can't
save the soul of this production of Tennessee Williams' tragicomedy.
The premise is dyed-in-the-wool Williams Hard-driving father Cornelius
(Alan Blumenfeld) and his regressed-from-depression wife, Bella (Sandy
Martin), arrive home from burying their gay son in Memphis. (“You
encouraged him to design clothes [and] try 'em on,” Cornelius berates
his wife.) Their youngest, kinda sneaky, kinda sweet son (Daniel Billet)
is home (after losing another job) with a similarly out-of-work
girlfriend (Virginia Newcomb). The play, Williams' last, isn't his best;
soliloquies directed at the audience weaken the action and disrupt the
script's flow. But in not clearly revealing the kind of seminal
Williams-esque conflict between a deep well of despair and the
near-instinctual impulse to hide anything unpleasant, director Simon
Levy has ignored the desperate sadness here, turning the play into a
carnival of caricatures. Fortunately, Lisa Richards, a cougar before the
term even existed, soft-pedals her approach as a nosy neighbor, and her
scene near the end with Bella is the first in the production that
intrigues. The real shame, in fact, is that Martin's performance as the
mentally clouded yet still feisty Bella is stranded in this production.
Tennessee Williams always saved his best for his women, and Martin more
than does him justice. (Rebecca Haithcoat). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May 22, $25-$35; $18 students.
Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A., (323) 663-1525,
fountaintheatre.com.
GO House of the Rising Son Tom Jacobson's comedy
riffs in the style of Tennessee Williams, in a story about the
initiation of a young Los Angeles man into a secret gay dynasty now
situated in New Orleans, but dating back to Ancient Rome. Young folklore
collector Felix (Steve Coombs) droolingly observes handsome, older
biologist Dr. Trent Varro (Paul Whitten) giving a lecture in Los Angeles
about parasites. Within 15 minutes of stage-time, they're graveyard
hopping from Hollywood Forever to Forest Lawn, after which Felix finds
himself with an invite to visit Trent's “family” in New Orleans for the
weekend. Family would be dad (Patrick John Hurley ) and grandad (Rod
Menzies). The comedy is a gay version of Meet the Parents, but with an
actual idea attached that as parasites serve an ecosystem, gays
similarly serve a social system. The play concerns issues of secrecy
versus candor, of ghost stories versus empirical research, and the
legacy of persecuted subcultures driven underground, who form their own
rules to play by. Under Michael Michetti's direction, Menzies is
particularly fine as the wry and cantankerous dying patriarch. As his
son Hurley contains a genteel and gentle Southern swagger that's as
endearing as it is wise. Whitten and Coombs also have a rapport that
sparks. The visual delights include Richard Hoover's gothic carpeted set
with furniture set at angles askew, like a House of Usher that's
tilting from a sinking foundation. Sound designer Bruno Louchouarn
floats in chords and brief anthems to accentuate moments of gothic
melodrama. Nothing is what it seems. This whole blasted crew may just be
swirl of ghosts. Though these characters talk and act as though from a
play by Tennessee Williams, if they looked in the mirror, they might see
Noel Coward's reflection. Spirits haven't been so blithe in a long
time. (Steven Leigh Morris). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
p.m. Continues through May 29, (323) 644-1929,
ensemblestudiotheatrela.org. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave.,
L.A., AtwaterVillageTheatre.com.
GO I Never Sang for My Father If the aim of
naturalism in theater is the pitch-perfect rendering of reality, then
Cameron Watson's urbane staging of Robert Anderson's 1968 drama scores.
It revolves around an aging, ailing and cantankerous egotist named Tom
(Philip Baker Hall) and Tom's beleaguered son, Gene (John Sloan). A
widowed college professor, the soft-spoken Gene has always sought his
father's love but has never received it. With Tom now battling dementia,
Gene struggles between a mix of duty and a desperate need to bond, and
his equally strong desire to establish a new life for himself in
California, 3,000 miles away. Constructed as a memory play, Anderson's
highly personal work sometimes teeters on the edge of melodrama but
ultimately transcends its suburban WASP milieu and mid-20th century
perspective with its themes involving fathers and sons, family and self.
Hall, a performer whose intense dynamic can barely be contained within
the production's small venue, dominates the stage, barking at those
around him; his Tom has become a fierce and wounded human animal. Sloan
performs impeccably in the less flashy role of the tongue-biting adult
Gene is laboring to be; so does Anne Gee Byrd as Tom's gracious,
long-suffering wife. As sister Alice, banished from the family for
marrying a Jew, the terrific Dee Ann Newkirk metamorphoses from a
tight-lipped secondary character into the plot's fiery catalyst. The
various shifts in time and place are effectively accommodated by
designer John Iacovelli's spare set, with its transparent scrim
elaborated on by projection designer Christopher M. Allison's
color-imbued drawings. (Deborah Klugman). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sun., May 22, 8 p.m. Continues through May 22, (310) 701-0788,
NewAmericanTheatre.com. McCadden Place Theatre, 1157 N. McCadden Pl.,
L.A., mccaddentheatre.com.
Iceberg Ahead! Jay Parker's backstage farce.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m. Mosaic Lizard
Theater, 112 W. Main St., Alhambra, (626) 457-5293, lizardtheater.com.
An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde's take on honor and
morality in London politics. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m.
Continues through May 29. Knightsbridge Theater, 1944 Riverside Dr.,
L.A., (323) 667-0955, knightsbridgetheatre.com.
iGhost World-premiere musical adaptation of Oscar
Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, book by Doug Haverty, music by Adryan
Russ, lyrics by Russ and Haverty. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., June
5, 7 p.m.; Sun., June 12, 7 p.m. Continues through June 18, (626)
695-8283, brownpapertickets.com/event/169940. Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La
Brea Ave., L.A., lyrictheatrela.com.
ImagoFest 2011 Three one-acts by Mark Donnelly, Tim
McNeil and Alex Aves. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.
Continues through June 12. Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd.,
L.A., (323) 465-4446.
In the Ages of the Earth Guy J Jackson's “not for
kids” one-man show. Saturdays, 11 30 p.m. Continues through May 28,
(310) 651-1859. Working Stage Theater, 1516 N. Gardner St., L.A.,
workingstage.com.
Jimmy Tingle for President The Exploratory Show –
The Funniest Campaign in History The comedian's satirical 2012 platform
for the presidency. May 26-28, 8 p.m.; Sun., May 29, 7 p.m., (323)
960-7745, jimmytingle.com. The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.,
complexhollywood.com.
Julius Caesar Theatre Unleashed's all-female
version of the Shakespeare tragedy, set in an American community coping
with the domestic effects World War II. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Continues through June 18. Studio/Stage, 520 N. Western Ave., L.A.,
(323) 463-3900, studio-stage.com.
Just Imagine Tim Piper's John Lennon impersonation,
including performances of Beatles hits and Lennon's solo work. Fridays,
Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through May 29, (323)
960-4442. Hayworth Theatre, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., thehayworth.com.
Killer Queen Peter Griggs' one-man show about a gay
boxer who idolizes Freddie Mercury. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Sat., May 21, 8
p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 3 & 8 p.m. Continues through June 5,
brownpapertickets.com/event/163688. Empowerment Center Boxing Gym, 8106
Santa Monica Blvd., L.A..
GO La Razon Blindada (The Armored Reason) How does
a prisoner survive without hope? Writer/director Aristides Vargas drew
inspiration for this poignantly horrific black comedy from the
experience of his brother, a political prisoner in Argentina during that
country's military dictatorship. Confined in solitary, prisoners were
permitted a brief respite on Sunday, when they could meet and talk,
albeit while remaining seated and with their hands on the table. That
setup provides the physical framework for this luminously surreal
80-minute one-act in which two incarcerated men come together to
role-play — one calling himself De La Mancha (Jesus Castanos Chima), the
other Panza (Arturo Diaz de Sandy). The actors remain seated
throughout, navigating across the stage on wooden chairs with wheels.
Within these loosely assumed personae, the pair frolic through a
hallucinatory landscape, clowning their way through speculations about
madness, sanity, heroism and human bonding, and conjuring an elaborate
fantasy of regency over an island that brilliantly mocks the nature of
power. In the end, the aim of the game is survival — not as rational
beings, because reality would be too painful, but as madmen whose lunacy
frees them from the shame of powerlessness. The performances are
consummate and the staging, as eloquent as the text, features a
videographed landscape over which their sunken shadows pass, and Faure's
Elegie for Violoncello and Orchestra to underscore the pathos. (Deborah
Klugman). Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues through June 25. 24th Street
Theater, 1117 W. 24th St., L.A., (800) 838-3006,
www.brownpapertickets.org.
Lavender Love World premiere comedy by Odalys
Nanin. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays, 8
p.m.; Sun., June 5, 7 p.m. Continues through June 18, (323) 960-4429,
plays411.com/lavenderlove. Macha Theatre, 1107 N. Kings Road, West
Hollywood.
GO Mad Women Known for his mastery of the
intimate, character-driven performance, John Fleck does not disappoint
in this offbeat, yet strangely heartfelt solo show. It consists of
dramatic portraits of two women, iconic diva Judy Garland and Fleck's
own mother, who died from Alzheimer's-related issues some time ago. At
the start of the show, Fleck bursts through a stage door and launches
into a lip-synch of portions of one of Judy Garland's final performances
— her famous turn at the Cocoanut Grove, where she interrupted her
performance to bawl incoherent, self-hating, drug-laced insanity. From
there, the story drifts into Fleck's memories of his own beloved mother,
as she slowly lost her mind and entered a world of dreams. At first,
it's unclear what the two stories can possibly have to do with each
other, but as Fleck's haunting storytelling unfolds, the parallel themes
coalesce into a simultaneously funny and melancholy meditation on the
nature of insanity, dreams and, incidentally, the creative spirit. At
one point, Garland's rambling actually subtly shifts into Fleck's
mother's unearthly monologue, and we find ourselves unsure which woman
we're actually listening to. In director Ric Montejano's breezy,
seemingly simple staging, Fleck almost convinces us that's he's just
hanging out with us and telling a story. However, the intimacy is
deceptive and the adroit performance gracefully dances through powerful
issues with emotional truthfulness. Many performers try to “do” Garland
in their show, but Fleck is less interested in impersonating the singer
(this isn't a drag show, except arguably for one short sequence toward
the end) than he is in trying to touch on her deeper meaning. Eyes
a-bugging and tongue a-waggling, Fleck himself mugs joyfully, peppering
the show with ad libs and unexpected asides to particular members of the
audience, but he's utterly on point when hitting precisely effective,
emotionally charged notes. (Paul Birchall). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through May 29, (702) 582-8587. Skylight
Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., L.A..
Magic Strings Bob Baker's marionette variety revue,
featuring puppet horses on a merry-go-round, an opera diva on roller
skates, a “Day at the Circus,” and an all-American grand finale.
Saturdays, Sundays, 2 30 p.m.; Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 30 a.m. Bob Baker
Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St., L.A., (213) 250-9995,
www.bobbakermarionettes.com.
Miss Coco Peru There Comes a Time The latest in
song and story by drag diva Miss Coco Peru, written and performed by
Clinton Leupp. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues
through May 22. Renberg Theatre, 1125 N. McCadden Pl., L.A., (323)
860-7300, lagaycenter.org.
The Mistakes Madeline Made Elizabeth Meriwether's
comedy about a woman who rejects “all things complacent, pampered and
clean — including showering.” Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues
through June 4, (323) 960-1054, plays411.com/mistakesmadelinemade.
Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A..
100 Saints You Should Know A priest's, a teenage
boy's and a young woman's confused destinies collide, by Kate Fodor.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through June 26,
(877) 369-9112,. Elephant Space Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.,
elephantstages.com.
GO Point Break Live! Jaime Keeling's merciless
skewering of the 1991 hyper-action flick starring Keanu Reeves and Gary
Busey is loaded with laughs, as well as surprises, like picking an
audience member to play Reeves' role of Special Agent Johnny Utah. It's
damn good fun, cleverly staged by directors Eve Hars, Thomas Blake and
George Spielvogel. (LE3). Fridays, 8:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 p.m., (866)
811-4111, www.theatermania.com. Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Blvd.,
L.A., thedragonfly.com.
GO Re-Animator: The Musical is based on Stuart
Gordon's 1985 film, and Gordon is on hand to direct the new musical. The
centerpiece is a love story (of course) that's a joke on every love
story ever written. Idealistic young hospital intern Dan Cain (Chris L.
McKenna) has a poor time accepting the death of patients. Standing by a
gurney, over the body of a woman who has flatlined, Dan administers CPR
in vain, prodding her with electro pads, until the chorus of medics has
to sing, “She's dead, Dan/Get it through your head, Dan.” His distress
over the cessation of life becomes an obsession that threatens his
impending marriage to beautiful Meg Halsey (Rachel Avery), daughter of
the local university's dean (George Wendt). Big Dean Halsey is an
amiable, conservative fellow who's accepting of Dan as a potential
son-in-law, despite his lack of old-money social credentials. Well,
amiable until he's accidentally murdered, as he later interrupts a gooey
romantic interlude between Meg and Dan by crashing through the door as a
psychotic zombie. The romance is wrapped around a conflict between
dueling scientists: self-proclaimed plagiarist Dr. Hill (Jesse Merlin,
in a mop wig, whose pinched facial expressions would creep out the most
openhearted social worker) and a newcomer to Hill's lab, Herbert West
(Graham Skipper, possessing the salty charm — and costume — of an
embittered undertaker). While Hill drools over Meg, West rents a room
from Dan (since Meg won't move in until they're wed). When the romantic
couple's pet cat disappears, then ghoulishly reappears post-mortem via
West's experiments (props by Jeff Rack), Dan enters a Faust-like
partnership with West, seeing the potential fulfillment of his
God-defying desire to harness the science of immortality. Mark Nutter's
music and very witty lyrics (recalling songs by Tom Lehrer) careen from
modern opera to light opera, from melodramatic wailing to — when the
story gets really gruesome — Gilbert and Sullivanstyle patter songs. The
special effects (by Tony Doublin, John Naulin, John Buechler, Tom
Devlin and Greg McDougall), such as a body decapitated with a shovel and
intestines unstrung from a corpse, are about as good as it gets — gory
without being so naturalistic as to bypass parody. The keys to this
kingdom, however, are the combination of the brilliant comic ensemble
and Gordon's pristine craftsmanship as a director, supplemented by Jeff
Ravitz's lighting and musical director/arranger Peter Adams' building of
suspense. Adams performs the score on a synthesizer tucked into the
side of the hall, creating the slightly cheesy ambiance that's the life
force of Grand Guignol. (Steven Leigh Morris). Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m.;
Fridays, 11:59 p.m.; Sundays, 3:30 p.m. Continues through May 29, (800)
595-4849. Steve Allen Theater, at the Center for Inquiry-West, 4773
Hollywood Blvd., L.A..
Rent: Downtown L.A. Jonathan Larson's rock opera,
West Coast style. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues through May 25,
rentsecretshow.com. Big Art Labs, 651 Clover St., L.A., (323) 559-3505,
bigartlabs.com.
Rent Jonathan Larson's Tony Award-winner about the
lives of idealistic starving artists, living in the squalor of
Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, is much better suited for presentation in a
small theater than one of those cavernous Broadway houses. A more
intimate venue, like the comparatively modest Hudson Backstage theater
that director Jerianne Banson uses in her otherwise uneven production,
allows the audience to better connect with the characters and the music.
Banson's intermittently chaotic staging crackles with the very, vital
passion of youth. Some of the show, however, is an exercise in what
happens when a great deal of enthusiasm collides with a lack of
leavening experience. Larson's musical concerns a group of Hell's
Kitchen bohemians, residing either on the means streets or in a filthy
cold loft, who try to make ends meet while staying faithful to their
beloved art. Young filmmaker Mark (Anthony Michael Knott) finds himself
in a bizarre love triangle when his girlfriend leaves him for another
woman – while Mark's aspiring songwriter roommate Roger (Matt Pick)
falls for beautiful, but unwell stripper Mimi (Dominique Cox). Apart
from the show's most obvious question — how do these kids afford
wraparound head microphones, but not hot water — the strength of
director Banson's production is totally connected to the vivacity of her
youthful cast and their unabashed love for the material. On the other
hand, Shoshona Zisk's musical direction frequently falters: Although
some of the songs are powerful — particularly Pick and Cox's meet-cute
number “Light My Candle,” many of the other numbers suffer from
maladroit execution and weak harmonics. Notwithstanding the performers'
omnipresent mics, the band frequently upstages the singing, drowning out
the performers, who are forced to sing-holler louder to compensate. The
show is double cast. (Paul Birchall). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Continues through May 21, (323) 960-7822, plays411.com/rent. Hudson
Backstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A., hudsontheatre.com.
Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare's romantic tragedy.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues through May 28. The Attic Theatre
and Film Center, 5429 W. Washington Blvd., L.A., (323) 525-0661,
attictheatre.org.
Shoe Story After Nike released its Air Jordan
basketball shoe in 1985 at the then-astronomical price of $115 a pair, a
subsequent spate of violent muggings in which ghetto teens were
murdered for their shoes became a rallying cry for those who felt the
crimes were emblematic of the Reagan era's runaway materialism.
Playwright Ben Snyder revisits those headlines in an “urban fairy tale”
that begs the question, Does a news story slant carry the metaphoric
weight needed to hold down a full-length stage drama? Based on the
evidence of director Maureen Huskey's slick but indecisive staging, the
answer appears to be, well, no. The play features Justin Alston as O.G.
Mar, self-appointed street mentor to hapless Footlocker clerk PeeWee
(Norm Johnson). After PeeWee is dumped by a gold-digging girlfriend
(Nikki Brown), O.G. spins him a sad story of a shoe store in the 1980s
(Sibyl Wickersheimer's cleverly exploded storefront/NYC bus shelter set)
in which a similar clerk's inability to discriminate between matters of
the heart and styling kicks for the feet ultimately leads to tragedy.
Rather than allowing such slender satire to run its own course, Huskey
strains the proceedings with excessively broad physical shtick and
superfluous documentary video (by Bryan Maier and Anthony Puente) as if
to underscore that the play is meant to be both funny and socially
relevant. The gambit backfires when Act 2 takes an abrupt left turn into
muddled melodrama and the otherwise rock-solid ensemble is left
scrambling to get a foothold on the suddenly much darker register. (Bill
Raden). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through
May 22. Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., L.A., (323) 856-8611,
theatreofnote.com.
GO Small Engine Repair Laced with casual
expletives, John Pollono's one-act play packs a powerful punch. When a
trio of longtime mates from Manchester, New Hampshire get together for
some heavy drinking in Frank's car mechanic workshop ― David Mauer's
beautifully realized set ― they reminisce about old times and chat about
women, the internet and the virtues of social networking. The pals,
confident Frank (John Pollono), ladies man Swaino (Jon Bernthal) and
nervy guy Packie (Michael Redfield) indulge in trading insults and
mocking digs as they chew the fat. Inappropriate comments, harsh words
and hasty apologies are exchanged, but nobody's sure why Frank is
busting out the good whiskey. A young college kid (Josh Helman) arrives
to do a quiet drug deal with Frank and all of a sudden the scene erupts
into terrifying violence. Pollono's script is an exquisitely-modulated
gem of a play, gripping the viewer with a storyline that is both
shocking and sobering in its commentary on modern interactions in the
technological age. Director Andrew Block extracts such realistic
performances from his cast that we almost forget we are watching a play,
as the appalling action unfolds mere inches away. (Pauline Adamek).
Mondays, Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m.; Through June 4, 8 p.m. Continues
through May 29, (323) 960-4424, roguemachinetheatre.com.
Theatre/Theater, 5041 Pico Blvd., L.A., theatretheater.net.
GO Streep Tease If you're a fan of Meryl Streep
you'll like director Ezra Weisz's campy homage to the academy award
winning actress. The show debuted two years ago and is the brainchild of
stand-up comedian Roy Cruz, who has added a few tweaks without altering
any of its ticklish appeal. The show uses seven male actors who perform
monologues from a sampling of Streep's oeuvre.. This reviewer is a big
fan and has seen all of the movies selected (which helps in appreciating
the saucy humor on display), although even if you're not familiar with
Streep's work, Streep Tease offers lot of fun and laughs. In addition to
the performances, Cruz picks audience members to participate in a
contest to test their “Streep Wise,” worthiness, with a gift going to
the winner. Matthew Nouriel, does a riotously funny take on Sara
Woodruff, from the French Lieutenant's Woman (complete with the foggy
backdrop), and then does an even funnier version set in a Muslim country
with all the customary restraints. Miranda Priestly from The Devil
Wears Prada is brought to life by Cruz, who does a wickedly bitchy turn
salted with just the right tinge of icy detachment. And who could forget
the nun from hell, the bossy, fussy bullying Sister Aloysius Beauvier
from Doubt, here fully realized with knuckle-busting ruler, two rosaries
and bonnet, by Bryan T. Donovan. (Lovell Estell III). Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Bang, 457 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A., (323) 653-6886, bangstudio.com.
PostModern Family Sketch comedy by Rob Belushi,
Andy Cobb, Celeste Pechous, David Pompeii and Katie Neff. Fridays, 8
p.m. Continues through June 24. Second City Studio Theater, 6560
Hollywood Blvd., Second Floor, L.A., (323) 464-8542.
GO The Temperamentals The term NHI was a code word
used by Los Angeles police in their case files in the 1950s. It stood
for NO HUMANS INVOLVED, and referred to any cases concerning
homosexuals, African-Americans, Latinos or other minorities the cops
considered undesirable. In those days of virulent homophobia and
institutionalized repression, gay activist Harry Hay (Dennis
Christopher), designer and Viennese refugee Rudi Gernreich (Erich
Bergen) and their friends, Chuck Rowland (Mark Shunock) and Bob Hull
(John Tartaglia), organized the Mattachine Society, the first gay rights
organization in the U.S. They referred to themselves as
“Temperamentals” — a code word for gays. They also embraced the cause of
Dale Jennings (Patrick Scott Lewis), the defendant in the first legal
case to successfully challenge the LAPD's entrapment policies. They were
a colorful crew: Hay was married for 11 years, and fathered two
children before he came out. As a former communist, he was summoned to
testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and in his
later years he founded the Radical Faeries. Playwright Jon Marans
employs theatrical shorthand and presentational style to tell a
wide-ranging, complex tale, and director Michael Matthews gives it a
lively staging, assisted by an able and engaging cast. (Neal Weaver).
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through June 5.
The Blank's Second Stage Theater, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A., (323)
661-9827, theblank.com.
Tiger Tiger Burning Bright If choice of text were
the sole determinant of a revival's success, then director Sam Nickens'
rediscovery of Peter S. Feibleman's all-but-forgotten curio of a 1962
Southern Gothic might be considered a coup. Written in the quirky key of
vintage Inge, Feibleman's tale of a hardscrabble black family in
early-1950s New Orleans is a surprisingly fresh and unsentimental
treatment of the self-deceiving hypocrisy of respectability. The
high-minded, widowed matriarch, Mama Morris (Regina Randolph), is so in
thrall to the memory of her criminally inclined eldest son as a WWII
battlefield martyr that she has made an altar of the government telegram
announcing his death in action. Eight years later, however, the strain
of living up to that legacy has produced a household where nothing is
what it seems. Son Clarence (Damien Burke) is apparently the home's
honest and hard-working breadwinner. Cille (DaShawn Barnes) is the
plain, migraine-plagued daughter whose frail health appears to be
dooming her to spinsterhood. The emotionally arrested Dan (Richard John
Reliford) is seemingly engaged to the ostensibly demure belle Adelaide
(Barika A. Croom). But when a Korean War draft notice for Clarence
punctures the family's carefully guarded fictions, self-knowledge rushes
in to exact a terrible toll. Despite outstanding performances by the
women, Nickens' lax and uneven staging (on lighting designer Chris
Covics' ramshackle kitchen-sink set) never gets beyond the play's
surface melodrama to plumb its far more tantalizing gallery of
psychological grotesques. An Upward Bound Production. (Bill Raden).
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through May 22,
(323) 960-7740, plays411.com/tiger. Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood
Blvd., L.A..
NEW REVIEW THE TRAVELING LADY Though revised
and abbreviated by the playwright and Marion Castleberry in 2005,
Horton Foote's 1954 drama still runs the risk of getting bogged down in
verbiage, unless deft performances are able to propel it. Accompanied
by her young daughter (Michaela Rose Haas), the title character,
Georgette (Tara Battani), arrives in a small Texas town to reunite with
her husband Henry (J. Scott Shonka), recently released after six years
in the penitentiary. Unlike the townsfolk who knew Henry as a boy,
Georgette – married after only a few months of a whirlwind romance —
knows little of his inner demons. Apprehensive but hopeful, she
secures overnight bed-and-board from a widower named Slim (David
Atkinson) and his older sister, Clara (Susan Carol Davis). From the
start, it's clear that Georgette's expectations for Henry will not pan
out; instead, the story's dynamic turns on the nuanced attraction
between her and Slim, held in check by propriety and the awkward
circumstances of their meeting. Unfortunately, there's little palpable
chemistry between these two pivotal players. Though Atkinson's spare and
focused performance is on target as Slim, a good man nursing the
secret of his own failed marriage, Battani, while sympathetic, lacks
urgency in relaying her character's desperate situation. Haas is
commendably professional as the little girl, and Brenda Ballard
furnishes skilled comic relief as an elderly neighbor happily relishing
her second childhood. Several other supporting performances are either
undistinguished or over the top. Under Linda Kerns' direction, the
performers sometimes appear stiff and static – as opposed to comfortably
at home – on set designer Mark Svastics' cozy period front porch.
Actors Co-op, 1760 N. Gower St.,Hlywd.; Fri-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30
p.m.; thru June 12. (323) 462-8460. actorsco-op.org. (Deborah Klugman)
The Unrequited (Between Two Worlds) Love
(especially the young, wild strain) thwarted by well-meaning parents
never ends well. Apparently, fictional characters heed George
Santayana's famous saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it,” as well as those in the real world do. In this
world premiere, playwright Lynn Manning takes on S. Ansky's 1914 play,
The Dybbuk. In Manning's version, Isela (Lisa Jai) and poor, spiritually
possessed Cris (Marcenus “MC” Earl) have an otherworldly attraction to
each other. But Isela's father, Hector (Juan E. Carrillo), promises her
to the man he believes can better provide for the girl, who's been
crippled by polio. The racial backdrop Manning has hung (in
Depression-era Watts, no less) is especially interesting — Hector and
Isela are Mexican, a Japanese woman runs their household, a black woman
is Isela's best friend, but Hector will not abide Cris, a black man, as
his daughter's husband, and deeper racism still is revealed when
reckoning is rained down on Hector. Spiritual contention is woven
throughout the script as Catholicism, born-again Christianity and Hoodoo
butt heads, colliding into “The sins of the father will be visited upon
the son.” The realities of economic strife play out in contrast to
snippets of FDR's New Deal speeches. Social prejudice remains despite
the Great Depression, as Deacon (George Gant) huffs, “I'd rather be a
half-naked jiggaboo in King Kong than a bum on skid row.” Yes, chunks of
fat need to be trimmed from the script, but obviously, the play
inspires contemplation. Nice performances from Carrillo, Earl, Gant and
Jai, and special nods to Meghan E. Healey's costumes and Cricket S.
Myers' effectively eerie sound design. (Rebecca Haithcoat).
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May 22,
(213) 613-1700 x113, CornerstoneTheater.org. Youth Opportunities High
School, Mafundi Auditorium, 1827 E. 103rd St., L.A..
Voice Lessons Laurie Metcalf, French Stewart and
Maile Flanagan reprise their original roles in Justin Tanner's romantic
comedy. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 & 9 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.
Continues through May 29. Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr.,
L.A., (310) 281-8337, sacredfools.org.
WordTheatre Lit by Lulu Stories by Charles Baxter,
from his new collection Gryphon, performed by Justin Chambers (Grey's
Anatomy), Edith Fields (Next) and others. The author appears in person
for a Q&A and book signing. Sun., May 22, 7:30 p.m., (310) 915-5150,
WordTheatre.com. Soho House West Hollywood, 9200 W. Sunset Blvd., No.
817, West Hollywood, sohohousewh.com.
CONTINUING PERFORMANCES IN SMALLER THEATERS SITUATED IN THE VALLEYS
GO Antiman In the patois of St. Croix, population
60,000, the insult “antiman” means girly and weak. But if it sounds like
it means “against humanity,” that's not far off from the brutally
bohemian upbringing of Sky Matthew Riel Paley, who as a baby was
uprooted from Canada to the Caribbean after his dad died of a drug
overdose. Paley's solo show howls with pain as he relives being a
5-year-old boy neglected by his hippie mom, Talia, and her abusive,
drug-running boyfriend, Georgia Joe. The island howls, too, at its
neglect by the Americans who shunned it after revolutionaries
machine-gunned eight tourists on a golf course, and the best advice it
can give young Sky is to simply try to stay alive. Director Michele
Lonsdale Smith helps Paley shape the piece's passion and poetry, though
it's the concrete details that resonate. It's hard to believe the
thuggish Joe would name-check Georgia O'Keeffe, but when mom screams at
Sky for not thinking about her needs, the memory stings like a sore
bruise. And when Talia declares she's going to raise Sky homeless so
he'll learn to appreciate nature, could he be keeping that next chapter
back for a sequel? St. Croix looks like paradise, but Paley argues that
its failed economy and burnout culture offer its people — especially the
young — no safe harbor. What lingers is a childhood and a culture with
zero hope. That Paley escaped to the mainland with a sense of
perspective and a sliver of humor about his misadventures makes this
slender, personal show feel like a triumph. (Amy Nicholson). Fridays,
Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Continues through May 22, (541)
517-3320, brownpapertickets.com/event/170468. Two Roads Theater, 4348
Tujunga Ave., Studio City, tworoadsgallery.com.
NEW REVIEW ARTIFACTS OF CONSEQUENCE So Minna
(LoraBeth Barr) is upset with Dallas (Adam Briggs) because every time he
leaves The Facility to check on a shipment or to visit one of the
outposts, he fails to return with FRPs or anything useful for survival.
Sure he has his Pretty Woman routine with young Ari (Dione
Kuraoka), who devours the pop cultural and literary diet Dallas has been
feeding her, but he's not helping Minna to keep the facility running.
Once Theo (Joel Raffee) enters the picture via the airlock, and becomes
pubescent Ari's new best friend and crush, Minna's patience truly wears
thin and things begin to fall apart. If you're confused, because I've
provided no context for these characters and relationships, then you
have a good sense of the play, because neither does playwright Ashlin
Halfnight. Yes, we eventually discover that FRPs are Food Replacement
Pills, and that The Facility is a giant warehouse where Minna, Dallas
and Ari spend their days collecting and cataloging artifacts from an
outside world that's submerged underwater. What we never discover is
why, nor how this “liquid Los Angeles” came to be. So despite funny,
well-crafted banter (rife with '80s and '90s movie quotes) and a few
emotionally resonant moments (both primarily courtesy of Ms. Kuraoka,
who brings vivacity and spunk to her character), the overarching story
and message of the piece are unclear. Director Evan Charest fails to
deepen the one-note characters of Minna and Dallas, and his frequent use
of blackouts merely adds to the disconnect already present in the
piece. Stokastik Theatre Ensemble at The Sherry Theater, 11052 Magnolia
Blvd., N. Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m., thru June 5. stokastik.org. (Mayank Keshaviah)
The Au Pair Man Hugh Leonard's comedy about an
Irishman in London seeking the position of live-in employee of a
mysterious wealthy woman. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.
Continues through June 12, (818) 760-8322. Raven Playhouse, 5233
Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, ravenplayhouse.com.
Becoming Memories Arthur Giron's ode to
grandparents, created in collaboration with members of the Illusion
Theatre of Minneapolis. Fridays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
& 7 p.m. Continues through May 29, (800) 838-3006,
brownpapertickets.com. Avery Schreiber Theater, 11050 Magnolia Blvd.,
North Hollywood.
Cat's Cradle Leslie Sands' murder mystery set in
the English village of Waverton Magna. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Continues through June 4. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87
W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, (626) 355-4318,
sierramadreplayhouse.org.
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz Steve and Kathy
Hotchner's interactive kids musical based on the L. Frank Baum story.
Presented by June Chandler's Fairy Tale Theatre. Saturdays, 11 a.m.
Continues through June 4. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre
Blvd., Sierra Madre, (626) 355-4318, sierramadreplayhouse.org.
NEW REVIEW GO THE
EMANCIPATION OF ALABASTER MCGILL After a startling revelation is made in
Act II of Jeff Goode's funny new comedy, two dumbstruck boys freeze as
one says to the other, “Don't say anything; maybe it'll just
disappear.” The setting might be Kentucky, 1863, but that good ol'
Southern methodology prevailed even in free lovin' California, 2008,
when Goode's editorial on Proposition 8 was rejected by a major
publication because it wasn't election coverage. That dismissal became
the springboard for this world premiere, which uses a 19th century
discussion over the imminent Emancipation Proclamation to draw parallels
between slavery and homosexuality. Goode's got a knack for clever
innuendo: Self-pleasure is as thinly veiled as “whittling,” and Jude
Evans' Klansman/Deputy has a tiny pocketknife. Director Eric Curtis
Johnson has found a cast with impeccable comic timing: In the Huckleberry Finn/Tom Sawyer
tradition, Brett Fleisher and Matt Valle puzzle over problematic
situations before announcing the most logical solutions. With a static
setting and a few too-frequent occasions of the pedantic dialogue, as
Deacon Chickory (a scene-stealing Nathaniel Stanton) drums into your
head, that “slippery slope” into preachiness, the play should lose a
good half hour in order to get deliver its message more strongly. “We
ain't got time to debate this or think about what we're doin'!” Frank
Ensenberger's grocer Baggot sputters on the eve before the Proclamation
takes effect. You might be for or against Prop 8, but kudos to Goode for
taking that time. SkyPilot Theater at T.U. Studios, 10943 Camarillo
St., North Hollywood; Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru June 19. (800)
838-3006. skypilottheatre.com (Rebecca Haithcoat)
Firehouse Unlike police officers, who are so often
feared or mistrusted, firefighters almost always engage the appreciation
and respect of the people they serve. Playwright Pedro Antonio Garcia's
message-minded melodrama jump-starts around the community's perceived
betrayal of that covenant, and the pressure brought to bear upon a
firefighter named Perry (Kamar de los Reyes) to make a bogus choice
between loyalty to his unit and loyalty to his Puerto Rican ethnic
group. A 20-year department vet, Perry is on the cusp of retirement when
a crisis erupts at the South Bronx firehouse after a colleague named
Boyle (Gerald Downey) rescues another firefighter from a burning
building but leaves behind a 12-year-old child. Boyle steadfastly
maintains he didn't see the girl for the smoke, but his credibility is
open to question — in no small part because of his personal history as a
former cop who was tried and acquitted for shooting an unarmed
civilian. Whereas the community, represented here by Perry's fiancée,
Aida (Jossara Jinaro), a criminal defense attorney, is up in arms, most
of Boyle's buddies give him the benefit of the doubt and pressure Perry
to do the same. Garcia gleaned aspects of his story from real-life
headlines in this effort to offer up an intrepid examination of how our
native prejudices cloud our judgment. Too often, however, the characters
seem mere profanity-riddled mouthpieces for one side or another's point
of view, a problem exacerbated by Bryan Rasmussen's overheated
direction. Most discrepant is Jinaro's counselor-at-law, unconvincing as
a perspicacious professional not only by virtue of her mini-skirted and
otherwise revealing attire but in her strident insistence that Perry
take her side for personal reasons rather than principled ones. (Deborah
Klugman). Fridays, 8 p.m. Continues through May 27, (323) 822-7898,
theatermania.com. Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.
Hamlet, Prince of Darkness Zombie Joe's
Underground's Shakespeare-inspired “dark adventure-comedy-thriller,”
written by Richard Nathan . Fridays, 11 p.m. Continues through June 24.
ZJU Theater Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818)
202-4120, zombiejoes.com.
Having It All At Gate B26 in an airport
convincingly designed by Stephen Gifford, five women sit judging each
other's clothing. The lady in Prada pumps (Jennifer Leigh Warren)
assumes the woman in sneakers (Shannon Warne) must be an immature free
spirit; the woman in sneakers is convinced that Prada pumps is a rotten
mother. The entrance of a country girl in awkward heels (Kim Huber)
provokes condescension; a hipster with crutches (Lindsey Alley) moves
Warren to sneer she's a “30-year-old yenta dressed up like the cast of
Rent.” And when a dizzy hippie (the very funny Alet Taylor) bops in with
her yoga mat, the ladies are aghast that she's barefoot. Still, between
snipes, each looks at the others and sighs, “How I'd love to be in her
shoes.” The metaphor of footwear for femmepowerment is staler than the
olives at Carrie Bradshaw's fave martini bar, but at least David
Goldsmith and Wendy Perelman's well-intentioned musical about the
hair-pulling pressure to “have it all” is blessed with a gifted cast,
which Richard Israel directs with energy and bite. The ensemble sings
numbers about motherhood, marriage, J-Date and downward-facing dog. It's
all pleasant, but the show is held back by the homogeneity of the
songs, in both John Kavanaugh's music and Gregory Nabours' musical
direction, which takes five strong voices and molds them all to the same
Broadway bombast. The audience for the musical already knows everything
it aims to say; it's simply an excuse to rally a gang of girlfriends
for a night at the theater, which seems to suit this production just
fine. (Amy Nicholson). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.
Continues through May 29. NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North
Hollywood, (818) 508-7101, thenohoartscenter.com.
How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
There's much to admire in Fin Kennedy's sharp-witted, poetical drama
about valid causes of subterranean rage and despondency in our
hyper-marketed age. Charlie (Brad Culver) is a London-based marketing
exec plunging into madness from a supercharged, jet-propelled pace of
living that keeps authentic feelings and reflection at bay. It's the
life-defining smartphones and the sales pitches, and people around him
starting to move too slowly for his increasingly lunatic comfort zone.
Until he, or his soul, starts to unravel through dreams of his own
death. With a gentle-natured physician (Carolyn Ratterray) examining his
“corpse” — even while he remains mobile — Charlie envisions himself not
only separated from the culture but floating above himself. These
fissures lead him to outcast Mike (Tim Winters), an expert in the
minutiae of how the government (and corporations) track our birth and
our buying habits in order to keep us on a string. Mike also is expert
in how to unplug oneself from the roller-coaster surveillance, how to
erase one's former self and start again: new birth certificate, new
passport, new life. The play is a shriek of despair with our commercial
values, like an early poem by Bertolt Brecht via Sarah Kane, sleekly
directed by Nancy Keystone on her own stark set wherein an office and a
morgue are much the same place. It overstates its case viscerally, fully
revealing its philosophy in a mocking scene where Charlie (who has
morphed into his new identity as “Adam”) rolls his eyes when somebody
tries to explain how life's value lies in small, simple pleasures —
which actually happens to be true. The ridicule isn't an argument but an
attitude, marking the play as a somewhat juvenile exercise, despite
this marvelous production. Even jaded Samuel Beckett, like Brecht before
him, found currents of romanticism in his nihilistic vision. Minus this
paradox, we're just left with a poetically articulated, teenager's
schrei. (Steven Leigh Morris). Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
p.m. Continues through May 29. Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave.,
Pasadena, (626) 683-6883, bostoncourt.org.
It's Just Sex Jeff Gould's comedy takes the
underpinnings of sexual fantasy, fidelity and money and puts all of
those nuances onstage in a contemporary comedy about three married
couples. The wife-swapping plot is straight out of Hugh Hefner's pad,
circa 1975. That the play resonates today, in the ashes of the sexual
revolution, is one indication of how little has changed, despite how
much has changed. (Steven Leigh Morris). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Two Roads Theater, 4348 Tujunga Ave., Studio City,
(818) 762-2272, tworoadsgallery.com.
GO The Malcontent Malevole (Bo Foxworth), the
scruffy misanthrope at the nub of John Marston's 17th-century satire, is
the proud possessor of a scathing tongue. A frequenter of aristocratic
circles, he's tolerated by the reigning Duke of Genoa, Pietro (Mark
Doerr), for his bawdy wit and for the lacerating barbs that furnish
welcome relief from the dull obsequiousness of the court. Not the
plebeian jester he strives to appear, Malevole is really a duke — in
fact, he is the Duke of Genoa, Altofronto, the city's legitimate regent
before being maneuvered from office by a lecherous rapscallion named
Mendoza (Ramón DeOcampo). Labeled a “tragicomedy” by scholars, the play
is an outraged ethicist's critique of corruption and deceit (the tragedy
lies in the world's moral morass, I guess, since in the story itself no
one actually dies or suffers gruesomely). The plot, with its slapdash
details, spins out in intricate metaphor-studded syntax whose handling
requires enormous skill. Adapted from the original and directed by
Elizabeth Swain, this spirited production does not disappoint. While
Foxworth's splenetic cynic is all fire and spit, it is DeOcampo as the
treacherous toadying villain — utterly contemporary in his sociopathic
me-ism — who drives the comedy. In addition to Doerr's artfully finessed
Pietro, the accomplished ensemble includes Lynn Milgrim as an
unprincipled procuress and John Achorn as a clueless courtier prepared
to pimp his wife and daughter-in-law. Designer Tom Buderwitz's handsome
set replicates the Blackfriars Theater in which the play first
premiered, while A. Jeffrey Schoenberg's costumes add dashing flavor to
the farce. (Note: The show is double-cast.) (Deborah Klugman).
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Continues through June
19, antaeus.org. Deaf West Theatre, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North
Hollywood, (818) 762-2998, deafwest.org.
New Eyes Yafit Josephson gives an accomplished
performance in her solo show about a Jewish actress facing down
Hollywood's cultural stereotypes. It's marred only by a poorly designed
slide show. Josephson slips easily into various personae, combining
characters with caricatures to good comedic effect. The opening has her
switching from a formidable military officer to her nervous young self
on her first day of compulsory military training in the Israeli army.
Highlights include a hilarious mime sequence where she uncomprehendingly
attempts yoga and another scene where she gives a goofy impression of a
macho guy in an Israeli nightclub. Josephson's tall, slender build,
piercing eyes and chiseled face lend her a commanding presence, but it's
her prominent proboscis that relegates her to the usual gamut of
villainous roles, from terrorist to evil witch — “And no, they didn't
have to use a fake nose,” she jokes. Her adult journey takes her from
the New World back to Israel, where she touches base with her culture,
returning to Hollywood with newfound strength of character. Beneath the
comedy lies a serious undercurrent stemming from the ongoing war in the
Middle East: Land equals identity. (Pauline Adamek). Thursdays,
Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through June 26, (310)
500-0680, neweyesplay.com. Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd.,
Sherman Oaks.
NEW REVIEW NO WORD IN GUYANESE FOR ME
Is
there a word to describe the paradoxical human yearning to belong to
the club that won't have you? If you're an Indo-Guyanese immigrant
living in Astoria, and you're also an observant Moslem and an out
lesbian struggling to retain your Islamic identity, that word might be
“conflicted.” Or so it might seem in playwright Wendy Graf's somewhat
hagiographic, single-character study of a woman torn between Western
tolerance and religious orthodoxy. Anna Khaja portrays the orphan Hanna
Jokhoe, who is raised by her nurturing Aunty Mommy and cab driver uncle
in her family's Moslem faith. With the onset of puberty comes the
religious head-covering that also marks her as different from her
American classmates. But it is her deeper stirrings, first for a best
friend, then later for a sympathetic high school art teacher, that
signal a more profound difference. It all comes to a peak when Hanna is
married off to her Moslem cousin; betrayed by her visceral repugnance of
her husband, she is both outed and made an outcast. Director Anita
Khanzadian's intimate staging (nicely accented by Matthew Richter's
lights, sound and projections) cleverly choreographs Hanna's
transformation with the various scarves of the hajib — a conceit
mirrored in the draperies lining Davis Campbell's set — which she dons
as a girl but strips off as a woman. Khaja skillfully and convincingly
navigates the 20-year transit with compelling pathos. And yet, one
cannot avoid the suspicion that in her simple, unblemished and almost
otherworldly guilelessness, Graf's heroine is less a portrait of a
plausibly flawed, complex woman than an airbrushed LGBT poster child for
gay pride. Sidewalk Studio Theatre, 4150 Riverside Dr., Burbank;
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.; thru June 12. (818) 558-5702. brownpapertickets.com. (Bill Raden)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue Though the material
feels a bit dated, Neil Simon's 1971 play about a man whose life nearly
crumbles after he loses his lifelong job in the midst of an economic
downturn rings a few timely bells about the average American's struggle
to survive a recession. Mel (Mark Belnick) lashes out at his wife, Edna
(Kimberly Lewis), when he and more than 40 of his co-workers are laid
off. Shuffling around his New York City apartment in pajamas while Edna
pounds the pavement and gets back to work, Mel lets millions of minute
discomforts — from the smell of trash in the street to the noisy
neighbor upstairs — invade his mind, until nervous breakdown ensues.
Lamenting over the crumbling middle class and eventually spiraling into
paranoid rage, Mel ends up medicated and mooned over by his meddling
siblings until Mel and Edna begin to find their way back to an imperfect
but stable life. Belnick gives Mel a rage that's infused with an
overabundance of camp, but that's perhaps more a byproduct of Simon's
writing than a reflection of Belnick's talent. Lewis is skilled at
playing both spirited and dispirited, but she likewise comes off as a
Simon relic, unflinchingly willing to sacrifice herself on the altar of
her husband's neurosis. (Amy Lyons). Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.
Continues through May 29, (323) 960-7862, plays411.com/prisoner. GTC
Burbank, 1111-B W. Olive Ave., Burbank, gtc.org.
GO Pursued by Happiness Sensible shoes and
charmingly dorky delivery aside, Frank Orlis (Mark St. Amant) cuts a
dashing figure during the courtship dance. “I have zero recollection of
any day but the day at hand,” he tells the object of his single-minded
pursuit, fellow biochemist Julie Moore (Avery Clyde), while
simultaneously informing her he's been watching her. The layup works,
even if Frank couldn't be less of a Romeo; women, even stoic, serious
ones like Julie, respond to feeling like they alone are worth
remembering. Keith Huff's new play wriggles in these insights
unobtrusively, even if the big-picture ideas (“We're not pursuing
happiness as much as happiness is biologically pursuing us”) are a
little too obvious. But the play is a nice change of scenery from
traditional rom-coms: The whirlwind romance is actually a practical
plot, and the measured Frank and Julie don't ride off into a fairy-tale
sunset. Family visits give the design team a chance to show off (Craig
Siebels' set, Adam Flemming's projection, and Jocelyn Hublau's costumes)
are so evocatively detailed, but they do feel a little device-y, and
leave too many unanswered questions, including one that leaves the
audience squirming as well. Still, agile in their double duty as both
sets of parents, Elizabeth Herron and Tom Knickerbocker easily could've
been Huff's sole motivation for writing the ultimately unsatisfying
scenes. Robin Larsen directs. (Rebecca Haithcoat). Fridays, Saturdays, 8
p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May 29, RoadTheatre.org.
Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818)
752-7568.
Rumors Neil Simon's farce about an affluent dinner
party and a dead body. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Continues through June 12. Covina Center for the Performing Arts, 104 N.
Citrus Ave., Covina, (626) 331-8133, covinacenter.com.
Sotto Voce Robert Riemer's thriller about
exorcising a young woman's demons. Saturdays, 8:30 p.m. Continues
through June 11. ZJU Theater Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North
Hollywood, (818) 202-4120, zombiejoes.com.
South of Delancey World-premiere play by Karen
Sommers, based on the true story of a Jewish arbitration court. Starting
May 21, Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through
June 26, (866) 811-4111. Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave.,
South Pasadena, fremontcentretheatre.com.
Three Sisters or Perestroika Pavel Cerny's
adaptation of the 1901 play by Anton Chekhov. Sundays, 3 p.m.;
Thursdays, 8 p.m. Continues through June 12, (866) 811-4111,
theatermania.com. Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.
GO Turbo Tartuffe! Director Denise Devin certainly
wasn't kidding when she dropped “Turbo” into the title of her
adaptation of Molière's timeless attack on moral hypocrisy. Happily, it
is the only thing about this rollicking, supercharged commedia staging
that isn't played strictly for laughs. In radically boiling down
Molière's five-act farce to a head-spinning 55 minutes, Devin has lopped
off subsidiary subplots and eliminated enough of the text's
footnote-mandatory, 17th-century erudition to give any self-respecting
French classicist heart palpitations. For the rest of us, however, she
has delivered a concise, inventive and deliriously ribald slapstick
worthy of Hal Roach, and one that deftly conjures Molière's anarchic,
subversive comic spirit. Roger K. Weiss portrays Orgon as just the kind
of befuddled, moralistic dunderhead capable of being gulled out of
family and fortune by the transparent posturing at piety practiced by
Tartuffe (a lecherous Tegue S. DeLeon). As the hard-pressed object of
his lust, Ashley Fuller plays Orgon's voluptuous wife, Elmire, with
equal notes of sauciness and cunning. Sofia Ruiz's spoiled princess of a
daughter, Mariane, is a burlesque of pampered, tempestuous privilege.
Mike Angelo is all heat and little head as the impetuous son Damis,
while Jonica Patella (who is quickly emerging as one of this town's most
versatile comic talents) is hilarious as the household's exasperated,
clear-eyed maid Dorine. Costumer Jeri Batzdorff's elegant collection of
silks, velvets, brocades, ruffles and jabots effectively flavors the
period setting. And Sean Curran steals every scene he's in, channeling
Charley Chase as the powder-wigged brother-in-law Cléante. (Bill Raden).
Fridays, 8:30 p.m. Continues through June 24. ZJU Theater Group, 4850
Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 202-4120, zombiejoes.com.
Urban Death Horror show by Zombie Joe's
Underground. Saturdays, 11 p.m. Continues through May 28. ZJU Theater
Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 202-4120,
zombiejoes.com.
The View From Here Margaret Dulaney's story of
anxiety in a small Kentucky town. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7
p.m. Continues through June 12. Actors Workout Studio, 4735 Lankershim
Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 506-3903.
CONTINUING PERFORMANCES IN SMALLER THEATERS SITUATED ON THE WESTSIDE AND IN BEACH TOWNS
Bedtime Stories Roadkill Productions presents 10
short plays that all take place in a bed. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Psychic Visions Theatre, 3447 Motor Ave., L.A., (310) 535-6007,
psychicvisionstheatre.com/.
DaddyO Dies Well Murray Mednick's poetic,
philosophical comedy, the fifth in his series of eight Gary Plays, seems
to take place in several spheres at once, ranging from the Amazonian
jungle, to the Andes, to Santa Monica to the afterlife. Salty, aging
hipster DaddyO (Hugh Dane) has been run down by a hit-and-run driver,
and now he's dying. He summons his actor step-son Gary (Casey Sullivan)
to participate in an Indian soul-cleansing ritual involving the
hallucinogenic, vomit-inducing drug Ayahuasca. Also somehow present,
physically or spiritually, are DaddyO's deceased wife, the ruefully
benevolent Mama Bean (Strawn Bovee), his kindly-but-misanthropic shrink
(Jack Kehler), and Gary's two ex-wives, Gloria (Elizabeth Greer), who is
on a vision quest in the Andes, and the forbidding and judgmental
Marcia (Melissa Paladino). Presiding over all is the angel of death,
Antonio (Peggy Ann Blow), who appears as an ice-cream vendor in a red
jump-suit, and as a masked Indian shaman. Mednick's play is always
interesting as it circles, playfully and endlessly, around various
life-and-death issues, but it's sometimes so personal as to be hermetic.
Dane is engaging and funny as the play's most fully-developed
character, and the cast skillfully fleshes out the other inhabitants of
his drama. (Neal Weaver). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.
Continues through May 22, (323) 960-7724, plays411.com/DaddyO. Electric
Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice, electriclodge.org.
Dracula Staged reading of Charles Morey's
adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel. Through May 20, 8 p.m.; Sat., May
21, 2:30 p.m.; Sun., May 22, 4 p.m., latw.org. Skirball Cultural Center,
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood, (310) 440-4500, skirball.org.
The Indian Wants the Bronx/Tom & Jerry Actors
Circle Ensemble presents two one-act plays: Israel Horovitz's story of a
bewildered East Indian in urban America, and Jim Geoghan's comedy set
in a sleazy nightclub run by the mob. May 25-28, 8 p.m.,
ActorsCircleEnsemble.com. Ivy Substation Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd.,
Culver City.
GO Juno and the Paycock In director Allan Miller's
emotionally deft production of Sean O'Casey's powerful Irish drama,
“The whole world's in a state of total chassis.” And whatever you make
of such a statement, this staging of O'Casey's play artfully mixes
blarney and despair in almost equal measure. Set in a squalid Dublin
tenement, circa 1920, O'Casey's play focuses on one of the great tragic
figures of the theater: amiable, gloating, lying loafer “Captain” Jack
Boyle (John Apicella), as lovable as he is overweening. Instead of
finding a useful job to please his frustrated wife, Juno (Kitty Swink),
Captain Jack boozes it up with his wastrel best pal, “Joxer” Daly (Armin
Shimerman). Jack is delighted when he learns he has inherited a small
fortune — but outside their tenement, alarming dangers lurk that destroy
his daughter Mary (Jeanne Syquia) and son Johnny (Josh Zuckerman).
Miller's staging of this most character-driven of plays commendably
showcases personality, and the acting work is both vivid and convincing.
In Apicella's blustery turn as “the Paycock,” Boyle's not just a lazy,
genial sod, he's “King Baby,” a strutting alpha male, whose sense of
entitlement is noticeably at odds with the squalor of his reality. An
equal pleasure is Swink's tightly wound, brittle Juno: In this tough,
melancholy performance, the long-suffering, hard-bitten wife clearly
knows that she has turned into a hag as a result of picking up after her
hubby's irresponsible fecklessness. Jack's true mate, of course, is his
reprehensible boon companion Joxer Daly, played with irresistible
rattiness by Shimerman, whose oily bonhomie is matched only by the
character's spite when Boyle's back is turned. The shabby furniture of
Chuck Erven's set in Act 1 turns into slightly fancier furniture in Act 2
(when the family's fortunes look to be made). There's even a working
stove downstage, where Juno cooks up a delicious-smelling Irish sausage,
which (no insult to the cast of this engaging and moving drama)
inevitably steals the scene in which it appears. (Paul Birchall).
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Wed., May 25, 8 p.m.
Continues through June 5. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.,
L.A., (310) 477-2055, odysseytheatre.com.
GO Locked and Loaded Ever hear the joke about the
two guys with terminal brain tumors who decide to beat death to the
punch? A Jew and a WASP dress up in tuxes, rent a presidential suite
stocked with their favorite booze and call some hookers to help them go
orgasmic into that good night. OK, so the subject matter and setup of,
and even the quietly heartbreaking backstories in, actor-playwright Todd
Susman's play are a little derivative — Leaving Las Vegas and Marsha
Norman's play 'Night, Mother spring to mind — but some very clever
writing and smart performances make this West Coast premiere much
funnier and more mystical than the approach its predecessors took.
Particularly interesting is Susman's deliberate trafficking in
stereotypes. Old-monied Dickie Rice (Andrew Parks) is haughty as he
hurls three strikes in quick succession at an African-American hooker,
sniffing, “Do you know who I am?” and referring to her “Aunt Jemima”
style of speaking. Sad-clown sitcom writer Irwin Schimmel (Paul Linke)
turns his poison pen on himself and his Jewish heritage, and Catorce
Martinez's (Terasa Sciortino) inability to understand English subtleties
is the source of many jokes. But in electing Princess Lay-Ya (a very
sharp Sandra Thigpen) queen pin, Susman gives the underdog the upper
hand, which Lay-Ya uses to force the superficialities aside to reveal
the very real, raw pain coursing beneath. After such deep diving, the
resurface at play's end is a little easy; nevertheless, the whole
shebang is a much more entertaining evening than the premise portends.
Chris DeCarlo directs. (Rebecca Haithcoat). Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.;
Sundays, 3:30 p.m. Continues through June 26. The Other Space at Santa
Monica Playhouse, 1211 Fourth St., Santa Monica, (310) 394-9779.
Luv Murray Schisgal's spoof of avant-garde drama.
Starting May 21, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2
p.m. Continues through June 26. Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova
Theater, 241 Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 364-0535, theatre40.org.
Mr. Marmalade Noah Haidle's story of a 4-year-old
with an imaginary friend with a cocaine addiction. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8
p.m. Continues through May 21. Garage Theatre, 251 E. Seventh St., Long
Beach, (866) 811-4111, thegaragetheatre.org.
Mutant Olive Katselas Theater Company presents
Mitch Hara's one-man show. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Continues through
May 28. Beverly Hills Playhouse, 254 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills.
Nazi Hunter – Simon Wiesenthal Tom Dugan's one-man
play honoring the life of the late concentration-camp survivor. (No
perfs May 30 & June 5.) Starting May 22, Mondays, Tuesdays, Sundays,
7:30 p.m. Continues through June 21. Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova
Theater, 241 Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 364-0535, theatre40.org.
NEW REVIEW SAND IN THE AIR It's difficult to
get a fix on exactly what's at issue in playwright Brian Raine's
scattershot stab at a John Grisham-esque legal potboiler. Beset by
baffling logical contradictions, plot and character implausibilities and
enough red herrings to stock a Scandinavian supermarket, Raine's tale
of an earnest young doctor caught up in a small-town sex scandal is a
maddening test of patience. The story follows Baltimore doctor Howard
Bogatch (Devin Williamson) and wife Lindy (Anya Warburg) as they set up
practice in the fictional, West Texas factory town of Yaktaw on the
Mexican border. Ostensibly hired by the town's main employer, a shady
plastics factory, Howard soon learns that local, good-old-boy lawyer
Billy Rafferty (an oily Larry Gesling) is the power behind the kind of
corrupt business/political establishment that would make Dick Cheney and
Halliburton seem paragons of corporate/civic virtue. When Howard is
subsequently prosecuted by bottom-feeding lawyer Nola Montgomery (Diane
Alayne Baker) for alleged improprieties with his patients, he retains
Rafferty, who seems less interested in proving Howard's innocence than
in draining his bank account. If this sounds like the stuff of an
engaging comedy of the grotesque, director Terésa Dowell-Vest's creaky
staging plays it as more-or-less straight melodrama, which only
exacerbates the play's fatal lack of focus. Thomas Brown's banal set and
William Wilday's incomprehensible lighting only add malpractice to this
dramaturgical mistrial of a production. Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627
Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m., through May
28. (310) 828-7519. morgan-wixson.org. (Bill Raden)
Smutopia Highways' 22nd Birthday “Party”: To
celebrate 22 years, Highways transforms into “an erotic hypnotic
hysteric frenetic midway, featuring festival stages, private booths,
stag film sets and The Palace of Peep.” Fri., May 20, 8:30 p.m.; Sat.,
May 21, 8:30 p.m. Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa
Monica, (310) 315-1459, highwaysperformance.org.
Sylvia A.R. Gurney's comedy about a man, his wife
and his dog. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Continues
through July 10. Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main St., Santa
Monica, (310) 399-3666, www.edgemarcenter.org.
Thicker Than Water Six Short Plays About Family:
Barbara Bain and D.B. Sweeney star in Dale Griffiths Stamos's collection
of one-acts. Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Continues through May
22, (323) 960-5772, plays411.com/thickerthanwater. Promenade Playhouse,
1404 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, promenadeplayhouse.com.
GO UnScripted Rep Rampant alcohol abuse, closeted
homosexuality and shrill Southern belles nervously walking the line
between hysterical rage and catatonic collapse: This is Tennesee
Williams territory and the folks at Impro Theatre traverse the Southern
Gothic terrain with hilarious authenticity. No, it's not The Glass
Menagerie or A Streetcar Named Desire, it's a spontaneously authored,
full-length play crafted to capture the style, mood and thematic
leanings of a given playwright. Last Saturday, that playwright was
Williams (in rotating rep, William Shakespeare and Stephen Sondheim also
get the improv treatment), and a boozy family saga emerged after
audience members agreed upon two simple items to launch the story: A
family heirloom (a vase with horses on it) and an animal (a Chihuahua).
The particulars of the play are not important, because the troupe never
replicates the same show. What is notable is their collective knack for
creating characters and scenarios we recognize in an instant as
quintessentially Williams. The vase is introduced as a wedding gift for
an excitable June (Kari Coleman), who initially squeals with joy over
the charmingly upbeat journey of the horses. By play's end, however, the
horses race in a hopelessly circular trajectory that serves as a
metaphor for the futility of marriage. Darnell (Stephen Kearn), June's
teen brother, dreams of escaping on horseback from his sexual longings
for his art teacher (Brian Lohmann, who also directs with a clear grasp
of the requisite atmospheric touches) and his overbearing, hard-drinking
father. Lisa Fredrickson's quick-witted portrayal of a matriarch
bearing an uncanny resemblance to Amanda Wingfield was a delight.
Textual mining and fast thinking marry with ease in the ensemble's
hands. (Amy Lyons). Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 & 8
p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through May 29. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S.
Sepulveda Blvd., L.A., (310) 477-2055, odysseytheatre.com.
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