AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS
NEW REVIEW: THE SEAFARER at the Geffen Playhouse
John Mahoney and Andrew Connolly in The Seafarer Photo by Michael Lamont
NEW REVIEW GO THE SEAFARER If you're seeking innovation in the theater, look elsewhere. Conor McPherson's Irish yarn is chip off the stock-block of Celtic-folklore – story-telling, bullshitting, scatological jokes, card playing and a visit by somebody from the metaphysical realm, which raises the not-trivial question: what on earth are we doing with our time? Thanks to a quintet of sharp-as-they-come performances, under Randall Arney's carefully calibrated production, the event holds up. McPherson's drama isn't as menacing as in New York; Arney gives it a lighter touch, which reveals some of its holes but also skirts around both melodrama and glibness. This is starkly moral universe, filled with causes and consequences, where somebody named Mr. Lockhart (Tom Irwin, in a spit-and-polished suit) arrives to collect an old debt at the North Dublin home-tavern of Sharky (Andrew Connolly) and his disabled brother, Richard (John Mahoney) – who blinded himself while scavenging in a trash canister. The drama slowly pivots on a poker game with life and death stakes as the men, including denizens Ivan (Paul Vincent O'Connor) and Nickly Giblin (Matt Roth) – who's the new husband of Sharky's ex-wife – try to bluff their way through the night, which is really the larger allegory for existence. Imagine Harold Pinter having re-written Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in an Irish brogue. Arney's gentle production can't mask or provide irony for the sentimental resolution, but the strength of his interpretation derives from the silent, brooding power of Connolly's victimized Sharky, and the perverse indulgences of Sharky's blind brother, played by Mahoney with a gleeful grittiness that renders him a weird blend of whining matron and the power-broker of the house. The marvelous, tawdry details of Takeshi Kata's set have little congruence with the actors' perfect teeth – one tiny reminder of how difficult it is to leave Hollywood on our stages, despite theater's magic. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 4 & 8:30 p.m.;Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; through May 24. (310) 208-54545. (Steven Leigh Morris)
For the latest new reviews of Bronzeville at LATC; And the War Came at Long Beach's Cal Rep; Apple at Theatre 40; Back to Bacharach and David at the Music Box @ Fonda; Dead, Therefore I Am at the Complex; Doomsday Kiss, presented by Rep Division at Bootleg; L.A. Views II, presented by Company of Angels at the Alexandria Hotel; and The Last Hippie: A Western Novel at the Whitefire; press the Continue Reading tab directly below.
COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS for May 1-7, 2009
(The weekend's New Reviews are embedded in “Continuing Performances”
below . You may also be able to search for them by title using your
computer's search program.)
Our critics are Paul Birchall, Lovell Estell III, Martin Hernandez,
Mayank Keshaviah, Deborah Klugman, Steven Leigh Morris, Amy Nicholson,
Tom Provenzano, Bill Raden, Luis Reyes, Sandra Ross and Neal Weaver.
These listings were compiled by Derek Thomas
LARGER THEATERS REGION-WIDE
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' Broadway tribute to jazz entertainer Fats Waller.
Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2
& 8 p.m.; Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.; thru May 31. (213) 628-2772.
ASSUME THE POSITION Comedian Robert Wuhl's history lesson. El Portal
Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 3. (866) 811-4111.
BACHARACH AND DAVID This splashy production provides a timely
reminder of just how much the songs of Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal
David (lyrics) have imbedded themselves in our consciousness. With
their 40 chart-topping hits, many written for Dionne Warwick, they
created an astonishing body of work. This production, with musical
arrangements by Steve Gunderson, direction by Kathy Najimy, and busy
choreography by Javier Velasco, features some 30 of their songs,
including “Close To You,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” and “What The World
Needs Now Is Love.” The four performers, Diana De Garmo, Tom Lowe,
Susan Mosher and Tressa Thomas are expert, energetic and vocally adept
(two of them are American Idol alums), but the production suggests a
cabaret show masquerading as a rock concert. The vast venue works
against intimacy and tends to homogenize the performers, while the
flashing, moving, sometimes blinding colored lights, cinematic
projections, and smoke machines can distract, particularly from the
less familiar songs. One is grateful for the moments, like Lowe's
rendition of “Alfie,” when someone is allowed to just sing, without
being overloaded with production values or cutesy choreography. It's a
fun show, and it goes down smoothly, but a little less might have
provided a little more. The Music Box @ Fonda, 6126 Hollywood
Boulevard, Hollywood; www.etix.com for schedule and tickets; thru May
17. (Neal Weaver) Back to Bacharach and David Photo by Robert Millard
EMILIE
Lauren Gunderson's true story of <0x00C9>milie du
Ch<0x00E2>telet's affair with Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire.
South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Tues.-Fri.,
7:45 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 2 & 7:45 p.m.; thru May 10. (714) 708-5555.
THE FANTASTICKS The world's longest-running musical, which is also
now running off-Broadway, with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by
Tom Jones. Directed by Jason Alexander. UCLA Freud Playhouse, Macgowan
Hall, Westwood; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 &
7 p.m.; thru May 17. (310) 825-2101.
GO GHOSTS There's nothing supernatural about Henrik
Ibsen's 1881 drama: his ghosts are our own bitter memories and the old,
dead ideas that continue to confine and stifle us. The form and the
language may be dated, but the issues are as fresh as ever. Mrs. Alving
(Deborah Strang) has crucified herself in the service of duty and
respectability that narrow provincial society and her own hypocritical
minister, Pastor Manders (Joel Swetow), have drilled into her. But her
efforts to do the right thing have back-fired because they were based
on lies, and her attempts to shield her son (J. Todd Adams) from hard
truths have almost destroyed him. Ibsen has structured his play like Oedipus Rex
— or a modern whodunit. On a seemingly ordinary day, inconvenient
truths keep emerging, inexorably, till everything and everyone is
morally compromised or destroyed. Director-adapter Michael Murray has
assembled a fine cast (including Mark Bramhall and understudy Rebecca
Mozo); he calibrates their performances with precision, and reveals a
sharp eye for Ibsen's dark comedy. If one wanted to quibble, one might
wish the last scene had been played for a bit less melodrama, but
overall it's a terrific, coherent, and always engrossing production.
Nikki Delhomme provided the fine costumes. (NW) A Noise Within, 234
South Brand Blvd., Glendale; in alternating rep through May 8; call for
schedule. (818) 240-0910.
LOOKING FOR NORMAL Gender-bender comedic drama by Jane Anderson about a
middle-aged Midwesterner who decides after 25 years of marriage that he
wants a sex-change operation. Malibu Stage Company, 29243 Pacific Coast
Hwy., Malibu; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.; thru May 24. (310)
589-1998.
LOUIS & KEELY: LIVE AT THE SAHARA I haven't seen this musical study
of '50s lounge-act crooners Louis Prima and Keely Smith since its
transcendent premiere at Sacred Fools Theatre last year, and oh, is it
different. Documentary and Oscar-nominated film maker Taylor Hackford
has been busy misguiding writer-performers Jake Broder and Vanessa
Claire Smith's musical. Taylor took over from director Jeremy Aldridge,
who brought it to life in east Hollywood. Smith and Broder have drafted
an entirely new book, added onstage characters – including Frank
Sinatra (Nick Cagle) who, along with Broder and Smith, croons a ditty.
(As though Cagle can compete with Sinatra's voice, so embedded into the
pop culture.) They've also added Prima's mother (Erin Matthews) and
other people who populated the lives of the pair. The result is just a
little heartbreaking: The essence of what made it so rare at Sacred
Fools has been re-vamped and muddied into a comparatively generic bio
musical, like Stormy Weather (about Lena Horne) or Ella
(about Ella Fitzgerald). The good news is the terrific musicianship,
the musical direction originally by Dennis Kaye and now shared by
Broder and Paul Litteral, remains as sharp as ever, as are the title
performances. Broder's lunatic edge and Bobby Darin singing style has
huge appeal, while Vanessa Claire Smith has grown ever more comfortable
in the guise and vocal stylings of Keely Smith. It was the music that
originally sold this show, and should continue to do so. With luck,
perhaps Broder and Smith haven't thrown out their original script.
(SLM) Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Thurs., 8
p.m.; Fri., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 3:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 & 7:30
p.m.; through May 24. (310) 208-54545.
LYDIA This L.A. premiere of Octavio Solis' poetical drama boasts
many of the same actors featured when the play premiered at the Denver
Theater Center. And staying with a production for so long is one
possible explanation for the dynamic and richly textured performances
by Stephanie Beatriz in the title role – a feisty teenage maid hired
from Mexico by a dubiously assimilated Latino-American family in mid
1970s El Paso. Her mirror image is the teenage daughter, Ceci (Onahoua
Rodriguez, equally enhralling), of a bitter short order cook, Claudio
(Daniel Zacapa, in a perfectly modulated interpretation of brutal
machismo and sensitive stoicism) and his vivacious wife, Rosa (Catalina
Maynard). Ceci suffers brain damage from an auto accident that left her
writhing and twitching, speaking with what one character calls a
“vegetable tongue.” But when Solis and director Juliette Carrillo spin
out some magical realism, Ceci rises like a dancer and speaks with
hidden knowledge in waves of thick poetry. At first, juxtaposed against
the gentle strains of a guitar and the family's daily rituals, the
effect has a transcendent beauty, but eventually this etherial device
simply imposes on the play's more rudimentary aspect: investigating the
mystery of what led to the terrible car crash. The answer involves a
pair of brothers, one a sensitive poet (Carlo Albán), the other a
fighter (Tony Sancho), and a cousin (Max Arciniega) who, early on,
shows up in an INS uniform — a sliver of foreshadowing that's every bit
as bludgeoning as the many mirror images are delicate. This is a hefty
play that's ultimately, without any intended irony, the kind of
tele-novella (with some dream sequences) that the characters watch in
their living room. Reaching for epic, it's mostly long – the difference
being in the quality of the secrets unearthed. (SLM) Mark Taper Forum,
135 N. Grand Ave., downtown; Tues.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 p.m.; Sun.,
1 & 6:30 p.m.; through May 17.
GO OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR Playwright Richard
Greenberg uses words very carefully, not only to a carve a tone of
erudition and lyricism but in order to avoid redundancy. So when the
line, “She was an average situational liar but not at all a maker of
fables,” is repeated in different scenes of his family drama/mystery,
one can infer added significance to that sentence. The slippery divide
between making fables and simply making stuff up lies at the heart of
this tenth Greenberg play to be premiered by this theater. The play is
bifurcated into two sections, each mirroring the other. The first part
is a kind of memory play, mostly narrated by each of the characters
directly to the audience and almost entirely spoken in the past tense.
It's a prose-poem, really, concerning the last deluded days in the life
of a New York City matriarch, Anna (Jenny O'Hara), who's in the mood to
be making confessions to her gay obit-writer son, Seth (Ayre Gross),
and his lesbian sister Abby (Marin Hinkle) – in for death-watch duties
from Laguna Beach, California. Keep in mind that there are no morbid
gurneys or hospital scenes. Under Pam MacKinnon's pleasingly blithe
staging, that drifts seamlessly between Beckettian and Wildean humors,
the characters are all parked comfortably on and around park benches in
some metaphoric autumn of Sybil Wickersheimer's set. Besides, Anna's
death may not be imminent but just another scare. This is the kind of
gnarly Jewish comedienne who can even invent her own demise. She tells
of a “brief affair” she once had, and the play feels like an
exploration of quaint family behaviors that somehow reflect on the
human condition. Then a bomb drops, which places the subject of her
affair (Matthew Arkin) on the stage of world horrors. It's a tricky,
tone shattering device meant to shift the scale of the play's concerns
from the domestic to the mythic – which seems right in a play that's
about how and why myths are invented. It sits right conceptually, less
so emotionally. When we're catapulted into Greenberg's world of larger
issues, it feels something like being jerked rudely up into a hot air
balloon from a comedy about behaviors to one about the psychology of
ethics. The play is supposed to get larger from its broader sense of
scale, but it actually deflates ever so slightly from the puncture of
Greenberg's pristine domestic universe, though this may be more an
issue of mechanics than concept. The ideas are so rich, and the
language so beautiful, the play's rude awakening certainly doesn't
diminish the credence of the event, and the ensemble is perfect. (SLM)
South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Tues.-Wed.,
7:30 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 2:30 p.m.; Sun., 7:30 p.m.;
through May 3. (714) 708-5555.
THE REHEARSAL Jean Anouilh's story of a jaded count and his jealous
court in 1950s France. A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale;
Sun., May 10, 2 & 7 p.m.; Through May 15, 8 p.m.; Through May 23, 8
p.m.; Through May 24, 2 p.m.. (818) 240-0910.
SABRINA FAIR Samuel Taylor's romantic comedy about a chauffeur's
daughter who returns from abroad a sophisticated young woman. Long
Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 2. (562) 494-1014.
NEW REVIEW GO THE SEAFARER If you're seeking innovation
in the theater, look elsewhere. Conor McPherson's Irish yarn is chip
off the stock-block of Celtic-folklore – story-telling, bullshitting,
scatological jokes, card playing and a visit by somebody from the
metaphysical realm, which raises the not-trivial question: what on
earth are we doing with our time? Thanks to a quintet of
sharp-as-they-come performances, under Randall Arney's carefully
calibrated production, the event holds up. McPherson's drama isn't as
menacing as in New York; Arney gives it a lighter touch, which reveals
some of its holes but also skirts around both melodrama and glibness.
This is starkly moral universe, filled with causes and consequences,
where somebody named Mr. Lockhart (Tom Irwin, in a spit-and-polished
suit) arrives to collect an old debt at the North Dublin home-tavern of
Sharky (Andrew Connolly) and his disabled brother, Richard (John
Mahoney) – who blinded himself while scavenging in a trash canister.
The drama slowly pivots on a poker game with life and death stakes as
the men, including denizens Ivan (Paul Vincent O'Connor) and Nickly
Giblin (Matt Roth) – who's the new husband of Sharky's ex-wife – try to
bluff their way through the night, which is really the larger allegory
for existence. Imagine Harold Pinter having re-written Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol in an Irish brogue. Arney's gentle production
can't mask or provide irony for the sentimental resolution, but the
strength of his interpretation derives from the silent, brooding power
of Connolly's victimized Sharky, and the perverse indulgences of
Sharky's blind brother, played by Mahoney with a gleeful grittiness
that renders him a weird blend of whining matron and the power-broker
of the house. The marvelous, tawdry details of Takeshi Kata's set have
little congruence with the actors' perfect teeth – one tiny reminder of
how difficult it is to leave Hollywood on our stages, despite theater's
magic. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Thurs.,
7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 4 & 8:30 p.m.;Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.;
through May 24. (310) 208-54545. (Steven Leigh Morris)
John Mahoney and Andrew Connolly in The Seafarer Photo by Michael Lamont
THE
TAMING OF THE SHREW Shakespeare's battle of the sexes. (Schedule
varies, call for info.). A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale;
Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru May 17. (818) 240-0910.
'TIL DEATH DO US PART: LATE NITE CATECHISM 3 Catholic nun offers
lessons on marriage, by Maripat Donovan with Marc Silvia. Laguna
Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.;
Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; thru May 3. (949) 497-2787.
SMALLER THEATERS SITUTUATED IN HOLLYWOOD, WEST HOLLYWOOD AND DOWNTOWN AREAS
/<3 Imagine what Tristan Tzara, co-creator of Dadaism, would have
done had he access to the Internet, cell phones, instant messaging and
video projection. In the midst of World War I, Dada protested bourgeois
culture and intellectual conformity, a mindset shared by the younger
brother of the groom who texts his screed against the post-9/11 world
to his blog as he mopes about a Los Angeles wedding reception. He,
along with the bride and groom's friends and their dates, make up the
group waiting for the happy couple to arrive in this collaboratively
developed play. Each of the 20-somethings has his or her own neurosis,
and most center on some aspect of love (the title of the piece if you
tilt your left ear downwards to look at it). Unfortunately, due to the
lack of through-line and character depth, the play ends up as episodes,
as though from a teen reality show. Director Jenny Byrd employs
creative blocking and gets a good effort from the cast, but even their
best can't compensate for the dearth of substance in the text. The
extensive use of digital projection and multimedia is interesting at
times, but somewhat ham-fisted in the attempts to mimic the “ADD
lifestyle” of the millennial generation. One exception is a projection
of the L.A. skyline, which is both picturesque and realistically
creates a rooftop view of the city. Aside from that great view, most of
the event had me wondering WTF? (MK) Studio/Stage, 520 N. Western Ave.,
L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; through May 9. www.restartyourheart.com A
Brimmer Street Theatre Co. Production.
ACME THIS WEEK ACME's flagship sketch show, with celebrity guest
hosts each week. Acme Comedy Theatre, 135 N. La Brea Ave., L.A.; Sat.,
8 p.m.. (323) 525-0202.
THE BIG RANDOM Just minutes into Dana Yeaton's road drama, you get
the unmistakable, justified feeling that the evening will be a long
one. Claire (Madison Flock) is a gangly teenager with an oddly charming
demeanor ; she's been confined to a mental institution because she is a
“cutter.” She is heavily medicated and seemingly trapped in an inner
world of lurid, violent fantasies, until a sudden visit by her
estranged godfather Roland (Eric Charles Jorgenson), whom she slyly
cons into helping her escape. At this juncture, the story starts to
take off but never quite leaves the ground. The pair head north to
Canada, stop to eat, stop to sleep, get stopped by a gendarme, camp out
in the woods, see the sights, and eventually wind up at a church where
something spiritual occurs – a heavenly grace that feels more like a
convenience for the playwright than a convincing transformation. That
Yeaton fails to tell much of a story here is just part of the problem.
Despite his neatly written script, he hardly scratches the surface of
Claire's pathology (one that is shared by many young girls), and leaves
too many questions lingering. Teenager Flock turns in a fine
performance under Sam Roberts' direction. (LE3) Attic Theatre and Film
Center, 5429 W. Washington Blvd., L.A., Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
& 7 p.m.; thru May 10. (323) 960-7776.
BILL W. AND DR. BOB Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey's story of
Alcoholics Anonymous. Theatre 68, 5419 Sunset Blvd., L.A.; Sun., 3
p.m.; thru May 31. (323) 960-7827.
NEW REVIEW GO BRONZEVILLE Tim Toyama and Aaron Woolkfolk's drama centers
around the Goodwins, a black family looking for a new life and respite
from southern racism in Los Angeles during the early years of WWII.
After their move into a home (an artfully designed set piece by J.P.
Luckenbach) formerly occupied by a Japanese family that was forced to
relocate to a camp, all seems well. Mama Jane (CeCe Antoinette) is the
sharp-tongued, devout matriarch who loves to garden and has vivid
memories of life as a slave. Her son Felix (Larry Powell), is young and
angry, and has hopes of becoming a musician, while his brother Jodie
(Dwain A. Perry), is a simple working man with a devoted wife (Adenrele
Ojo) and teen daughter (Candice Afia). But the Goodwin's soon discover
that they have a “guest,” when Henry (fine turn by Jeff Manabat)
tumbles into their midst, forming a bond with his new family, but also
forcing Jodie to make a troubling, fateful decision that impacts the
lives of everybody. Director Ben Guillory does a fine job directing
this provocative piece. Woolfolk and Toyama's script is well written
and subtly explores philosophical and moral issues that are as relevant
today as they were then. Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring St.,
L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 17. (213) 489-0994. A
Robey Theatre Company production. (Lovell Estell III)
Bronzeville Photo by Ed Krieger
THE
COUNTRY WIFE William Wycherley's 1675 cuckold satire. Hayworth Theatre,
2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru May
30. (323) 969-1707.
THE CRUCIBLE Arthur Miller's ageless tale of fear, greed and power
surrounding teenage girls trying to conjure witchcraft in the
17th-century town of Salem. Crossley Terrace Theatre, 1760 N. Gower
St., L.A.; Sun., 2:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 p.m.; thru
May 16. (323) 462-8460.
DADDY'S DYIN', WHO'S GOT THE WILL Director Jeff Murray has here
substituted the “white trash” clan in Del Shores' comedy about a
dysfunctional family in 1986 Texas with an African-American cast. For
most of the evening, it's funny watching this caustic mix of vipers
playing head games and sniping at each other. Shores<0x2019>
dialogue is blisteringly funny, but sometimes these qualities don't
emerge forcefully enough under Murray's understated direction. (LE3).
Theatre/Theater-Hollywood, 1625 N. Las Palmas Ave., L.A.; Sat., 8 p.m.;
Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 31. (323) 954-9795.
NEW REVIEW DEAD, THEREFORE I AM Writer-director Max Leavitt's furious passion
project tracks a suicidal 30-year-old named John (Leavitt), who lives
in his parents' garage where he's haunted by Sophie (Karen Jean Olds)
— the obsessive goth girl next door — and the sniping Egyptian god
Anubis (Nicholas Tucci). John's depressed, and since he enters the play
with his head severed by a guillotine, we know things aren't going to
end well, especially as his coping mechanisms are booze, pills, and
screaming at Sophie and Anubis. Both have John in their bondage:
Sophie, because they're furtively, allegedly in love (though tenderness
is missing from all of their interactions), while Anubis has John on a
physical and emotional choke chain to train him into thinking his
miserable life is nothing more than a doorway to the underworld. With
its subtleties overwhelmed in histrionics, and its comedy made glum by
all Leavitt's sincere agony, this is still a work in progress — a play
fumbling through the stressful business of discovering its strengths,
just like its protagonist. East Theatre at the Complex, 6468 Santa
Monica Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 24. (323)
960-7714. (Amy Nicholson)
Dead, Therefore I Am Photo by Ed Krieger
THE DESIGNATED MOURNER A drama by Wallace Shawn set in an
imaginary country explores the tension between the privileged and the
impoverished. Son of Semele, 3301 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; Mon.-Tues.,
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., May 16, 3 p.m.; thru May 23. (213) 351-3507.
GO THE DEVIL WITH BOOBS Director Tom Quaintance and
his cast work theatrical magic with this superb staging of Dario Fo's
bawdy satire (in a finely tuned translation by Jon Laskin). Fo is as
much a prankster and polemicist as he is a playwright, all of these
aspects are richly displayed here. The action takes place in a town in
Northern Italy where fraud, corruption and vice run amok. However, the
staunchly upright Judge Alfonso de Tristano (Michael Winters) is a
light amidst the darkness, a, man so pure he recoils at the sight of a
pair of tits. This situation is intolerable to Master Devil Francipante
(the stellar and dangerously funny Phillip William Brock) and his
apprentice (Herschel Sparber), so they conspire to possess the judge's
body and spirit. Unfortunately, the plan backfires and the judge's
buxom housekeeper (Katherine Griffith) winds up playing host to the
devil, which causes an eruption of comedy, naughty bits, and mayhem.
Quaintance provides fluid, intelligent direction, but the cast is
flawlessly funny. Even the musical ditties scattered throughout are
nicely done (one such number by Brock had me laughing so hard I thought
I'd pass out). Cristina Wright's period costumes and puppets are a
riot, and Adam Rowe's set piece (composed almost exclusively of doors),
adds just the right touch. (LE3) Open Fist Theater, 6209 Santa Monica
Blvd., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m, Sun. 3 p.m. thru. May 16. (323)
882- 6912.
GO DIVORCE! THE MUSICAL Erin Kamler's witty and
entertaining new musical satire (for which she wrote the music, the
lyrics and the book) takes apart almost every emotional phase of a
marital breakup, including the horrors of dating and the hollows of
rebound sex, and sets it to chirpy and wry songs that feature some
sophisticated musical juxtapositions and harmonies. (Musical direction
and arrangements by David O) Kamler skirts the apparent danger of
triteness (setting a too familiar circumstance to music) by cutting
beneath the veneer of gender warfare. This is a study of the decaying
partnership of a resentful Brentwood radiologist (Rick Segall) and his
aspiring actress wife (Lowe Taylor), goaded by their respective
attorneys. The lawyers are the villains here – one (Gabrielle Wagner),
a Beverly Hills shark, the other (Leslie Stevens), a swirl of confusion
from her own recent divorce and now “temporarily” based in Studio City.
These vultures collude to distort the grievances of their clients, who
both actually care about their exes, and would be better off without
“representation.” They might even remain married, the musical implies.
Director Rick Sparks gets clean, accomplished performances from his
five-person ensemble (that also includes Gregory Franklin, as the
Mediator – i.e. host of an absurdist game show.) Danny Cistone's cubist
set with rolling platforms masks the live three-piece band, parked
behind the action: This includes the ex-groom's impulsive decision,
based in his lawyer's misinformation, to removal all furniture from his
home, where he ex-bride continues to live — only to find his bank
accounts and credit cards frozen. In the song, “We Stuck It Out,”
there's a kind of Sondheimian ennui to the verities of life-long
partnerships. The song is ostensibly an homage to his parents, in whose
basement he winds up living. As the Brits would say, marriage is bloody
hard work. (SLM) Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd.,
Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; indef. (323) 960-1056.
DOLORES Edward Allen Baker's dark comedy about two abused sisters.
Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.; Sun., May 10, 8 p.m.;
Sun., May 17, 8 p.m.. (323) 960-7822.
NEW REVIEW DOOMSDAY KISS As you enter the lobby, you're greeted with an art
installation that reflects the theme of nuclear annihilation, complete
with a performance from a live band featuring a USO-style chanteuse.
The ambience of all this sets up an evening of four short plays
centered on visions of post-apocalyptic worlds. While three are
standalone pieces, the fourth, “Who is Randall Maxit,” about the crisis
of conscience faced by a retired nuclear scientist, is interwoven
throughout, though a bit haphazardly. “You Might Be Waking Up,” the
first of the trio, takes place in an office building turned Survivor
set where the workers scrounge for food, reveal their sexual fantasies,
and riff on aging, bodily functions, and relationships — among other
things. In “Fun Days at Sea,” the most entertaining of the lot, a pair
of newlyweds and a pair of swingers are lubricated by a steady stream
of alcohol from the cruise ship's bartender and try to enjoy themselves
despite constant radio transmissions about the crumbling world outside
the vessel. Finally, “The Class Room” features a teacher in remote
country schoolhouse interviewed by a strangely sexual reporter about
her success improving the temperament of young children. While the
concept is interesting, and there are funny moments along the way
(especially from Michael Dunn and Jessica Hanna, who play the swingers
in “Fun Days”), most of the evening lacks the stakes that go along with
doomsday scenarios as well as the character development that would
create audience engagement. Bootleg Theater, 2200 Beverly Blvd., L.A.;
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through May 10. (213) 389-3856. A
Repo Division Production. (Mayank Keshaviah)
ENTER THE SUNDAY All-new sketch and improv by the Sunday Company.
Groundling Theater, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A.; Sun., 7:30 p.m.. (323)
934-9700.
EURYDICE The myth of Orpheus and his bride, told from Eurydice's
perspective, by Sarah Ruhl. Hayworth Theatre, 2511 Wilshire Blvd.,
L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 16. (323) 960-7726.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE Weekly sketch comedy. Acme Comedy Theatre, 135 N. La Brea Ave., L.A.; Fri., 8 p.m.. (323) 525-0202.
FUBAR Life is all fucked up in Karl Gajdusek's play. Theatre of
NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.;
thru May 30. (323) 856-8611.
THE HIGH Teen-drama parody, “from OMG to LOL.”. ComedySportz, 8033 Sunset Blvd., L.A.; Fri., 10:30 p.m.. (323) 871-1193.
GO HOME SIEGE HOME With a calculated blend of
ancient lyricism and contemporary humor, Ghost Road Theater Company
rolls out its free-wheeling and substantively edited adaptation of
Aeschylus' trilogy, The Oresteia, told over two separate
bills. (Depending on the schedule, they can be seen in one day with a
dinner break, or on two separate evenings.) If you're not familiar with
the epic, you really should know that it hinges on a series of murders,
though the first is technically a sacrifice. Seeking to “rescue” his
brother's wife, Helen of Troy, from an “abduction” which triggered the
Trojan War, General Agamemnon (Ronnie Clark) sacrifices his own
daughter, Iphigineia, to the god Artemis in order to obtain favorable
sea winds for his Troy-bound ships. And in Part 1 (Clytemnestra),
though Agamemnon feels truly rotten about the deed (he slit his own
daughter's throat), his wife Clytemnestra (Trace Turville in Part 1,
Christel Joy Johnson in Part 2) feels even more rotten, obsessively
mercilessly rotten: Upon her hubby's heroic homecoming, she butchers
him in their bed. Excised from Ghost Road's interpretation are a couple
of characters who complicate our emotional attachments. In her
husband's absence, Clytemnestra took a lover, Aegisthus, who aided in
the murder and who doesn't appear here. Furthermore, Agamemnon pulled
into the driveway with Roman slave-mistress Cassandra in his chariot.
Such a publicly displayed sex toy would certainly put a kink in
director Katharine Noon's “Hi, honey, I'm home” '50s suburban
aesthetic. So Cassandra is also in absentia. What remains is a nuclear
family and a house, like the House of Atreus that could really be in
Covina, crumbling, slowly. Noon and company aim to conjure the
psychological and cosmic forces that lead to the end of an era, which
is pretty much what we're feeling right now in our sliver of history,
so it's not hard to find connective tissue. In Part 2 (Elektra),
the eponymous daddy's girl (a role shared by Mandy Freund and Christel
Joy Johnson) is the now seething daughter of Clytemnestra and the
murdered Agamemnon. She sets up camp in an alley, broadcasting her rage
against her mother's deed over a makeshift radio, like some ignored and
increasingly deranged revolutionary, while awaiting the return of her
brother Orestes (Ronald Wingate in Part 1, Clark in Part 2). Her bro
does eventually arrive, though still a little soft in the masculinity
department. With Elektra's goading, he blusters his way to murder his
mother, Clytemnestra, in order to avenge his father's death – that
would be killing number three, setting in place cycles of violence that
will spin for centuries. And if Orestes doesn't feel ambivalent enough
over what he just did, the Three Furies (the entrancing Sarah Broyles,
with JoAnna Senatore, and Madelynn Fattibene) torment him to the
margins of already precarious sanity in Part 3 (Orestes), when
they're not lounging around in cocktail dresses sipping martinis and
playing bridge. Noon's production grows increasingly absorbing as it
progresses. Among its strengths is the visual unity of Maureen Weiss'
set – a house that folds up into a suitcase. (Tattered suitcases and
their symbol of exile anchor Noon's lucid point of view.) By Part 3, as
their world is crumbling, the characters play their scenes in
allegorically constricted compartments. The performances are never less
than competent and often inspired. Though Turville's Clytemnestra
offers little of the magnetic force and comedy that Jacqueline Wright
brought to an earlier version of this project, Clyt at Home,
Turville comes into her own with wry authority as bitch-goddess Athena,
bossing around Apollo (Wingate) in Part 3. The dialogue careens from
petulant platitudes (“You murdered someone who was really important to
me” and “The world is fucking complicated. It's not black and white.”)
to snippets of exalted poeticism. Brian Weir plays Helen of Troy's
daughter Hermione in drag, yet without a trace of campiness. She's the
outcast, and our narrator. “I don't belong to this house,” she says
tenderly, “but it belongs to me.” As it does to all of us. (SLM)
[Inside] the Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood; in rep thorugh
May 3, call for schedule. (323) 461-3673. A Ghost Road Company
production.
GOHOWLIN' BLUES AND DIRTY DOGS The spirit of the
blues pulsates resoundingly throughout this stirring musical based on
the life of feisty, soulful singer Big Mama Thornton. The strengths in
class-act vocalist Barbara Morrison's performance lie not in her effort
to re-create the historical woman but in her expressionistic portrayal
of this talented but troubled figure's essence, captured in Morrison's
earthy, heartrending vocals. Carla DuPree Clark directs a top-notch
supporting ensemble, and the music is simply topflight. (DK). Stella
Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.; Sun., April 26, 3 p.m.;
Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sun., May 3, 3 p.m.; Sat., May 9, 8 p.m.; Sun.,
May 10, 8 p.m.; Sat., May 16, 3 p.m.; thru May 15. (310) 462-1439.
THE INTERNATIONALISTS The race to outer space told through
“movement, live music, sound and meta-theatrical performance.”
Conceived and directed by Jesse Bonnell, artistic director of Poor Dog
Group. PDG Performance Warehouse, 2485 Hunter St., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8
p.m.; thru May 9, www.poordoggroup.com…
NEW REVIEW L.A. VIEWS II: TALES OF PRESENT PAST A hundred years ago the Alexandria
Hotel in downtown L.A. played glamorous host to presidents and movie
stars; now faded, it's home to the Equity-waiver Company of Angels.
Their current offering — 15 short plays and/or monologues written and
directed by company members — takes the hotel as a common thread,
claiming inspiration from the silent screen luminaries who once graced
its corridors. In fact, the link between the material and the concept
is mostly tangential. Crisply introduced by bellhops Juanita Chase
and Joshua Lamont, the show opens with a promise that unfortunately
wanes. The pieces, a hodgepodge of lightweight segments set in both
past and present, offers some biographical information but doesn't
provide much revelation or insight (The dead celebs are talked about
but not depicted). Closeted homosexuality is a recurring, though not
exclusive, theme. In “Weekend Getaway,” by S. Vasanti Saxena, directed
by Tony Gatto, two married celebrities (Brian Rohan and Onyay Pheori)
bicker incessantly between photo ops; we soon learn they're both gay.
In Kyle T. Wilson's El Conquistador,” directed by Lui Sanchez, the
spirit of Ramon Navarro hovers over an encounter in a contemporary gay
bar between two friends (Eric Martig and Maurice Compte), climaxing in
a proposal of marriage (indignantly rejected). In “Fresh Cream Pie,”
by Damon Chua, directed by Gatto, two heterosexual security guards (Mel
Rodriguez and Xavi Moreno) share their sexual fantasies, one of which
involves a cream pie. Overall, this showcase fare, is mildly
entertaining, with some performers, including Chase, Lamont and
Rodriguez, displaying assurance. Alexandria Hotel, 501 S. Spring St.,
L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 & 7 p.m.; thru May 10. (323)
883-1717. A Company of Angels Production (Deborah Klugman)
GO LAND OF THE TIGERS Act 1 of the Burglars of Hamm's hilarious and thought provoking comedy outlandishly crosses Cats with Planet of the Apes.
In a whimsical world where felines walk upright and speak English (but
thankfully don't caterwaul “Memory”) a veritable Kingdom of Tigers
prance around in feathered wigs and top coats, while debating important
matters (to cats, anyway) in the Tigressional Congress. Amongst this
group, the great warrior Sabertooth (Hugo Armstrong) goes into lustful
cat heat for sultry she-tiger Sheba (Devin Sidell), which outrages
Sheba's fierce brother Fang Stalkington (Tim Sheridan), who has already
fathered several litters with the young beauty (remember, this is the
Tiger World, we're talking about). Full of bizarre cat mating dances,
and scenes in which characters shift instantly from conversing into
snarling Tiger-style, the Burglars' comedy is staged by Matt Almos with
acrobatic dexterity, a tongue-in-cheek tone, and perfect comic timing.
The reasons for slight touches of campiness become evident in Act Two,
however, which follows the cast of dimwitted and absurdly self
important actors as they are increasingly brainwashed by their
tyrannical, ego tripping director (a fabulous Dean Gregory, whose eyes
glitter with madness). Although the concept possesses slight echoes of Noises Off,
the Burglars cunningly explore a totally different avenue, elegantly
satirizing the sense of collective delusion that frequently befalls
performers in a mediocre show. The acting work is particularly
sprightly, and it's delightful how the bumbling tiger actors of Act 1
are subsequently revealed as the optimistic, dedicated, yet benighted
ensemble of Act 2. The end result, more than calculatedly dippy comedy
about cats, is an often compelling meditation on the creation of
theater itself, and how the audience will never glimpse the many dramas
within a play's production. (PB) Sacred Fools theater, 660 N.
Heliotrope Dr., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8, p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through
May 3. (310) 281-8337. A Burglars of Hamm, Sacred Fools Co-Production.
LUMINOUS BIRCH: AND THE SPLENDOR OF THE COLORLESS LIGHT OF EMPTINESS
Ever since the days of Artaud, the seemingly irreconcilable ontological
differences between the live stage and the motion picture have led to
an uneasy truce that can be expressed roughly as, “render unto cinema
the things which are cinema's . . . and let theater do the rest.”
Writer-director Randy Sean Schulman is having none of that. In this
deeply personal, solo-performance work (co-directed by Jane McEneaney),
Schulman attempts an audacious shotgun marriage of the two media by
interacting with a screening of his own, fully realized, widescreen
version of a Mack Sennett-styled silent film. Sort of a cryptic,
Hegelian meditation on time, mortality and the transcendent power of
love, the piece opens onscreen with the Chaplinesque castaway, Luminous
Birch (Schulman), separated from his true love, Tangerine (Delcie
Adams), by a sea mishap. Birch, who literally climbs out of the
onscreen pantomime into the theater, can only impotently prowl the
stage as Tangerine is harried by the nefarious Absurd Conquistador (Roy
Johns) in the movie. Unfortunately, despite lush production values
(John Burton's set, Cameron Lowe's cinematography and Ingrid Ferrin's
costumes are all outstanding), even Schulman's seductive stage alchemy
can't make oil and water mix. The filmed spectacle so overshadows its
live counterpart that the formal tensions upon which Schulman relies to
make sense of the proceedings are all but lost. (BR) Greenway Court
Theater, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m.;
thru May 10. (323) 655-7679.
GO MAGNUM OPUS THEATRE: LOVE WRITTEN IN THE STARS
The fury of reading through piles of crappy screenplays for exploitive
wages has to be what motivated this vicious comedy series. As
playwright Jon Robin Baitz once said, L.A. theater offers a response to
the “toxicity of living in a company town,” and Magnum Opus Theatre is
a very strong response to just that. In director Joe Jordan's crisp as
toast style, a company of nine performs this excruciating screenplay
with unfettered mockery, with Your Host Thurston Eberhard
Hillsboro-Smythe, a.k.a. “Thursty” (Brandon Clark, in red dinner jacket
and the droll pomposity of Alistaire Cooke in Masterpiece Theatre)
reading all the stage directions, including misspellings. This is the
story of a chubby girl named Amber (Franci Montgomery, who is not
chubby at all, which is part of the joke), abused like Cinderella by
her beer-swilling aunt (CJ Merriman), who curses her, slaps her and
calls her a pig — a Punch and Judy show by any other name. Amber has a
fantasy lover, the ghost of a Hollywood actor (Michael Lanahan)
accidentally slain during the filming of a gangster gun battle. Through
plot convolutions to tedious to enumerate, Amber winds up in Hollywood,
in a movie about her travails, for which she receives an Academy Award.
As the plot slid into its final trajectory, the crowd shouted out
“noooooh”, as it became cognizant of where this was heading. Any play
can be ridiculed simply by employing theatrical devices used here:
Whenever “Thursty” reads: “Jeff gives her a passionate kiss,” Lanahan
uses his fingers to withdraw a sloppy kiss from his mouth, which he
then palms off to Montgomery's hand, who then slips the “kiss” into her
blouse. But even this wildly presentation brand of theatrical ridicule
can't disguise the artlessness of the dialogue and stage directions.
What emerges through the event's cruelty, besides the mercifully
unnamed screenwriter's ineptitude, is a portrait of the writer, for
whom Amber is an obvious standin. As the lampoon wears itself out,
we're left with something underneath that's gone beyond parody to the
pathetic – the reasons that somebody would have written such a story in
the first place, and the hollow, generic fantasies that serve as balm
for her feelings of isolation. Watching this show is like watching well
trained runners pushing somebody out of a wheelchair. That's a comic
bit from old sketch TV shows, but 90 minutes of it leaves you feeling
that the company's comic fury is so strong, and its skills so sharp,
the joke has been propelled beyond its target to a very dark place
indeed. (SLM) Sacred Fools Theatre, 660 N. Heliotrope, L.A.; Fri., 11
p.m.; through May 1. (310) 281-8337.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE Write Act Repertory re-imagines Shakespeare's
play. Write Act Theater, 6128 Yucca St., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
thru May 23. (323) 469-3113.
GO MUNCHED Katie Paxton's two older sisters died
before she was born. When she became deathly ill, the nurses and the
law were convinced that her mother Marybeth (Andrea Hutchman) was
killing her slowly in a sordid, attention-seeking case of Munchhausen
by Proxy. Marybeth went to prison; Katie (Samantha Sloyan) recovered
immediately and went into the foster system. Kim Porter's spellbinding
and intimate play catches up with the Paxtons 20-years later when Katie
finds a Pandora's box of letters, from her mom and to her mom, in her
foster mother's attic. We're never sure if Marybeth is guilty, though
she admits to giving her daughter a poisonous dose of ipecac. But what
is clear is that mother and daughter share the same DNA — both face
the world with a bitter humor, Katie joking wryly about wrenching
trauma, and Marybeth channeling her self-righteous anger into a sarcasm
as sharp as a knife. Sloyan and Hutchman turn in two of the best
performances I've seen all year. Aided by Duane Daniels' direction,
they make comic agony out of deliberate pauses and askance smiles.
Shirley Jordan and Peter Breitmayer are quite fine as a whirlwind of
nurses, doctors, lawyers and do-gooders, each with their own agenda,
and unable to see the facts of Marybeth's actions through their
certainty of her psychosis or martyrdom. (AN) El Centro Theatre, 804 N.
El Centro Ave., Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru May 2. (323)
960-5771.
GO PHOTOGRAPH 51 This West Coast premiere of Anna
Ziegler's powerful yet subtle play, Photograph 51, concerns Rosalind
Franklin, the scientist who was instrumental in the discovery of the
structure of DNA. Set against Travis Gale Lewis' cleverly accretive set
and illuminated by Kathi O'Donohue's complex and variegated lighting,
the play takes us into a seminal period in biophysics. No sooner are we
introduced to Rosalind (Aria Alpert), her colleague Dr. Wilkins (Daniel
Billet), and her graduate assistant Maurice Gosling (Graham Norris)
than Rosalind declares in no uncertain terms, “Dr. Wilkins, I don't do
jokes. I do science.” Her confidence and professionalism leads to an
uncomfortable friction with Wilkins and the rest of the chauvinistic
male scientific establishment, including Watson (Ian Gould) and Crick
(Kerby Joe Grubb), who are simultaneously in search of the genetic
blueprint. While Rosalind remains the consummate professional, even
cold at times, she does reveal slivers of her inner life through
correspondence with American scientist Don Casper (Ross Hellwig). As
each side gets closer to the genetic blueprint, one of Rosalind's
photographs ends up becoming crucial to unlocking the mystery. Director
Simon Levy efficiently orchestrates the manipulation of time and space,
turning vast leaps into imperceptible segues, and inspiring powerful
performances from his actors. The entire cast sparkles behind Alpert,
whose portrayal of Rosalind's ruthless efficiency, biting wit, and deep
pain is a tour de force that brings to mind Meryl Streep's take on Anna
Wintour. This tribute to a woman who helped crack the Pyrex ceiling
reminds us of the need to reexamine “his”tory, and should not be
missed. (MK)The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood;
Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through May 31. (323) 663-1525.
PLAY WITH A KNIFE Zach Fehst's existential take on murder. Stages
Theatre Center, 1540 N. McCadden Pl., L.A.; Sat.-Sun., 8 p.m.; thru May
31. (323) 960-7784.
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). Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.;
Fri., 8:30 p.m.; Sat., 8 p.m.. (866) 811-4111.
THE REAL THING Tom Stoppard's wordplay and wit applied to the nature
of love. Skylight Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8
p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru June 7. (323) 960-7861.
RICHARD III REDUX: OUR RADICAL ADAPTATION The Veterans Center for the Performing Arts mashes up Shakespeare's Richard III and Henry VI, Part 3
as a study of post-traumatic stress disorder. Mortise & Tenon
Furniture Store, Second Floor, 446 S. La Brea Ave., L.A.; Mon., Sun., 8
p.m.; thru June 8. (888) 398-9348.
R.U.R. “Rossum's Universal Robots” revolt in Kael Capek's 1921 play.
Art/Works Theatre, 6569 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
thru May 16. (800) 838-3006.
SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, AND SOMETIMES … LOVE Monologues on all of the
above, by Joelle Arqueros. Actor's Playpen, 1514 N. Gardner St., L.A.;
Sun., 7 & 9 p.m.; thru May 10. (310) 226-6148.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS Explore art, psychopathy, love and intimacy in
Neil LaBute's drama centering on the lives of four young students who
become emotionally and romantically involved with each other. L.A.
Fringe Theatre, 929 E. Second St., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru May
23. (213) 680-0392.
SIN: A CARDINAL DEPOSED The 2002 deposition of Cardinal Bernard Law
had all the elements of great theater: small heroes, a giant villain,
and a troublesome morality that raised more questions than it answered.
But while all the pieces are there, they still need to be shaped, and
playwright Michael Murphy simply trims the transcripts and presents a
fictionally synthesized laywer (Steven Culp) and his inquisition of the
publicly disgraced (but Vatican-condoned) Cardinal (Joe Spano). It's
smart and interesting, but wearisomely literal. This leaves director
Paul Mazursky little to do but stage it as a stiff tableaux — the
Catholic Church's last ethically superior supper — centered on the
deposition table. At that table, the Cardinal is flanked by his lawyer
(Carl Bressler) and his fictionalized opponent. Add to this trio two
actors who read the letters of witnesses, truth seekers, and church
officials (Edita Brychta and Jack Maxwell, both great at shifting
through a dozen accents) and a molestation victim (Christian Campbell)
who oversees it all in silence. While the cast is quite good, that all
are reading from scripts adds to the inertia, leaving us restless
enough to wish that Murphy had dug beneath the surface and unearthed
questions he only gestures towards, such as the coexistence of good and
evil in priests whose six days of benevolence will never balance their
afternoons of selfish harm. (AN) Hayworth Theater, 2509 Wilshire Blvd.,
L.A.; Thurs., 8 p.m.; thru May 6. (323) 960-4442.
SOMEONE ELSE'S LOSS IS MY CHOCOLATY GOODNESS! This is a six-piece
assortment of new, short plays from Padraic Duffy, Joshua Fardon, Carey
Friedman, Nova Jacobs, David LM McIntyre and Tommy Smith, punctuated by
a free chocolate treat and a drawing for more chocolate after each of
the performances. Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., L.A.;
Fri.-Sat., 11 p.m.; thru May 30. (323) 856-8611.
GO STICK FLY Lydia R. Diamond's scintillating
comedy is set in the elegant and expensive summer home (gorgeously
designed by John Iacovelli) of Dr. Joseph Levay (John Wesley), in an
elite, African-American enclave of Martha's Vineyard. The family is
arriving for the weekend, and son Flip (Terrell Tilford), a successful
plastic surgeon, is bringing his white fiancée Kimber (Avery Clyde) to
meet the family. Writer son Kent (Chris Butler) also brings his
bride-to be, Taylor (Michole Briana White), who comes from a lower rung
on the social ladder. At first all is banter, horse-play and fun, but
gradually fracture lines appear. Despite their wealth and privilege,
the Levays are not immune to the stresses and prejudices of snobbery,
race and class, conflicts between fathers and sons, and brotherly
rivalries. Mom hasn't turned up for the family gathering, and secrets
about sexual hanky-pank lurk beneath the surface, waiting to erupt.
Meanwhile, young substitute maid-housekeeper Cheryl (Tinashe Kajese) is
seriously upset about something. Diamond's play combines complex
characters, provocative situations, and literate, funny dialog in this
delicious comedy of contemporary manners. Director Shirley Joe Finney
reveals a sharp eye for social nuance, and melds her dream cast into a
brilliantly seamless ensemble. They are all terrific. (NW) The Matrix
Theatre Company, 7657 Melrose Avenue, L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun. 3
p.m., thru May 31. (323) 960-7740.
13 BY SHANLEY FESTIVAL Seven full-length plays and six one-acts by
John Patrick Shanley. (Weekly schedule alternates; call for info.).
Theatre 68, 5419 Sunset Blvd., L.A.; Tues.-Fri., Sun., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2
& 8 p.m.; thru May 24. (323) 960-7827.
TNA ONESIES: THE FUTURE? The Next Arena's fourth annual comedy
one-act festival. Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.;
Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru May 23. (323) 960-5774.
THE TOMORROW SHOW Late-night variety show created by Craig Anton,
Ron Lynch and Brendon Small. Steve Allen Theater, at the Center for
Inquiry-West, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.; Sat., midnight. (323)
960-7785.
GO VOICE LESSONS Justin Tanner's very funny sitcom
shoots darts at a trio of characters who are tied to the dart board by
their transparent lunacies and hubris, which makes it an exercise in
almost pointless cruelty, though the broadness of Bart DeLorenzo's
staging may have contributed to the sense of this Punch & Judy Show
masquerading as a satire. In earlier plays, like Pot Mom,
Tanner stumbled onto an insight that unearthed the unseen side of a
stereotype. His skills at structure, one-liners and caricature are so
sharply honed, his persisting challenge is finding something worth
saying. Tanner's parody is directed at the vicious and deluded vanity
of a hopelessly obviously talentless and aging pop singer, Virginia
(Laurie Metcalf), trying to claw her way to TV fame. Can a target get
any easier? She cements her ambitions to a voice teacher, Nate (French
Stewart), whose initial mask of respectability and ethics slithers down
the greasy pole of his own personal desperation. Maile Flanagan further
inflates the farce, portraying Nate's zaftig live-in girlfriend,
setting up a catfight over the forlorn and increasingly sleazy teacher.
For all its petulant ambitions, the evening is wildly entertaining
thanks to the irrepressible talents of the cast. It's hard to see how
this play would survive without these actors. With a deep and slightly
nasal voice, and deadpan responses that should be copyrighted for the
mountain of silent thoughts they reveal, Stewart provides the perfect
foil for Metcalf's meticulously executed tornado of psychosis and
Flanagan's lovely cameo. DeLorenzo deserves credit for the comedy's
sculpted timing, and Gary Guidinger's set and lighting depicts with
realistic detail the frayed fortress of Nate's living room. (SLM)
Zephyr Theater, 7456 Melrose Ave., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun.,
7 p.m.; through May 17. (323) 960-7711.
VOX HUMANA PRESENTS “LITTLE THEATER” Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg, Trifles by Susan Glaspell, The Rope
by Eugene O'Neill. Hollywood Court Theatre, Hollywood United Methodist
Church, 6817 Franklin Ave., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 & 7
p.m.; thru May 10. (323) 769-5794.
THE VALLEYS
AND THE WINNER IS Mitch Albom's tale of an actor desperately trying
to get to the Oscars. Stillspeaking Theatre, 2560 Huntington Dr., San
Marino; Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 24. (626) 292-2081.
BENEATH RIPPLING WATER Sybyl Walker portrays three women in love.
Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena; Fri.-Sat., 8
p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; Through May 16, 8 p.m.; Sun., May 17, 3 p.m.; thru
May 3. (866) 811-4111.
BEST WISHES The untimely death of a matriarch occasions a reunion of
disaffected siblings in Bill Barker's family comedy, first presented
locally in 1984. Del Shores used a similar scenario, with more comedic
panache in his Daddy's Dyin, Who's got the Will. A comfortable house in
tiny Liberal, Kansas becomes a battleground when Elda (Joanne McGee),
Crystal (Nadya Starr), Dorie (Carol Jones), Vera (Ann Bronston), Gil
(Dana Craig) and Denny (Barker) assemble to bury their mother and
settle the estate. It isn't long before familial fault-lines emerge.
Dorie, always the dutiful daughter, is bitter about her vacuous life
and wears her feelings on her sleeve. She constantly clashes with Vera,
who has escaped small-town anonymity and boredom for the big city, but
is a drinker and party girl. Wife and mother Elda is a good natured
pleaser, but a dingbat, and Crystal remains an emotional and
psychological mystery. There are stabs at humor and lots of squabbling,
much of it mundane and pointless. This may be the point, but still . .
. Either the play, or Hollace Star's staging of this revival, fails to
say much incisive about these characters or make them emotionally
accessible. Gil and Denny emerge as ciphers, and only Fanny (Peggy Lord
Chilton), the town quid nunc, is consistently engaging. (LE3) Crown
City Theater on the campus of St. Matthew's Church; 11031 Camarillo
St., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through April
19. (818) 745-8527
GO THE BIRD AND MR. BANKS Alternately ghoulish and
sweet, playwright Kevin Huff's darkly ironic tale is a pleasingly
twisted mix of romance and Grand Guignol horror. After she's dumped by
her louse-lover boss (Chet Grissom), corporate secretary Annie (Jenny
Kern) tries to kill herself. She receives emotional support from a
co-worker – the soft spoken, eerily staring accountant, Mr. Banks (Sam
Anderson), whom the other folks in the office have long considered
slightly creepy. After she moves into Mr. Banks' sprawling, dusty
house, Annie discovers that the co-workers don't know the half of it.
Still attached by a cast iron Oedipal apron string to parents long
since dead, Banks has furnished the home in a dusty style that can
charitably be called “Norman Bates Modern.” When Annie's boss stops by
and attempts to rape her, Banks pulls out a cudgel and events take a
gruesome turn. Although the plot slightly bogs down during a needlessly
long Act Two road trip, Huff's writing is otherwise smartly edgy, full
of vituperative charm. Director Mark St. Amant's comedically tight
production punches the weird, Addams Family tone with brio,
nicely balancing horror with genuine sympathy for the characters. From
his deep, soft, insanity-steeped voice to his shambolic gait and his
half baked “drunk crazy uncle” stage persona, Anderson's turn as the
crazed killer-accountant is utterly compelling. (PB) Lankershim Arts
Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun.,
2 p.m.; through May 16. (866) 811-4111. Road Theater Production.
BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE The Black Gents of Hollywood present
Layon Gray's world-premiere drama about African-American fighter
pilots. Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Blvd., North
Hollywood; Sat., 7:45 p.m.; thru May 2. (818) 754-5725.
GO CAPTAIN DAN DIXON VS. THE MOTH SLUTS FROM THE
FIFTH DIMENSON The Magellan spaceship has a conservative crew onboard,
but Captain Dan Dixon (Matthew Sklar) and the rest of his men can't
resist the Vulvulans <0x2014> green, pasties-clad go-go dancers
with pneumatic exoskeletons. Playwright Sklar and director Zombie Joe
know the heart of their show beats near the Vulvulans' gyrating curves,
but they've generously gone on and given us sharp comic timing and even
a half-serious philosophical theme. (AN). ZJU Theater Group, 4850
Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; thru May 16.
(818) 202-4120.
THE CATERER LeVar Burton stars in Brian Alan Lane's drama as a
vendor of “appropriate” death. Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd.,
Sherman Oaks; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 & 8 p.m.; thru May 10,
www.thecatererplay.com. (818) 990-2324.
THE COLUMBINE PROJECT Paul Storiale examines the Colorado high
school massacre. Avery Schreiber Theater, 11050 Magnolia Blvd., North
Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru May 9. (818) 766-9100.
GO A DON'T HUG ME COUNTY FAIR. This crowd-pleasing
cornball musical, by Phil and Paul Olsen, suggests a home-town talent
show combined with a sort of Minnesota Folk Play, full of bad jokes,
and set in a bar called The Bunyan, on the first day of the Bunyan
County Fair. Proprietor Gunner Johnson (Tom Gibis, who also plays
Gunner's man-hungry sister Trigger) is so uncomfortable talking about
feelings that he can't pronounce the word “love.” His frustrated wife,
Clara (Judy Heneghan)m seeks attention by becoming a contestant in the
Miss Walleye Contest, whose winner will have her face carved in butter.
Also in the running are Trigger and Bernice (Katherine Brunk), a
scatty-but-shapely gal who longs to star on Broadway. And there are
other competitions: karaoke-machine salesman Aarvid Gisselsen (Brad
McDonald) and camping supplies tycoon Kanute Gunderson (Tom Limmel) vie
for the hand of Bernice, while Kanute and Gunner compete in the fishing
contest. The songs, by the Olsens, are rinky-tink and derivative,
borrowing melodies from everywhere, but somehow they work. The giddy
tone is set by Doug Engalla's direction, Stan Mazin's choreography, and
an astonishingly detailed set by Chris Winfield, featuring a karaoke
machine with a mind of its own. (NW) Lonny Chapman Group Repertory
Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, N. Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.,
Sun., 2 p.m., thru May 2. (818) 700-4878 www.lcgrt.com.
GO DRACULA Director Ken Sawyer, who recently helmed the delightful Lovelace: A Rock Opera
at the Hayworth, has scored again with this stylish adaptation of Bram
Stoker's vampire tale. Co-writers Hamilton Deane and John L.
Balderston's liberties they take on the story in now way diminish the
quality of the production. Robert Arbogast is splendid as the creepy
count, first seen rising from his grave to put the bite on the lovely
Mina (Mara Marini), upon his arrival in England. When Lucy Seward
(Darcy Jo Martin), contacts a mysterious illness, her mother, Lily
(Karesa McElheny), who runs an asylum, enlists the expertise of Abraham
Van Helsing (Joe Hart) to find a cure. Thrown into the mix are Lucy's
betrothed Jonathan Harker (J.R. Mangels) and the mad, bug-eating
Renfield (Alex Robert Holmes). This one's all about atmosphere. Desma
Murphy's alluring set design is cleverly accented by an enormous
backdrop of an incubus sitting on a sleeping woman, inspired by Henry
Fuseli's painting “The Nightmare.” Luke Moyer's lighting schema is
perfectly conceived. Sawyer uses an arsenal of haunted house special
effects here, including lots of rolling fog and wolf howls, but they
never come across as cheesy or overdone; and there are a few scary
moments during this 90-minute show, amidst the well-placed humor. (LE3)
NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd.; N. Hlwyd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
Sun., 3 p.m.; through May 17. (818) 508-7101.
THE FOOD CHAIN Nicky Silver's sex comedy about former gay lovers, a
married couple, and eating disorders. Raven Playhouse, 5233 Lankershim
Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru May 3.
(323) 860-6569.
GOTHMAS Kerr Seth Lordygan and Laura Lee Bahr's goth (or really, nu
metal) musical opens on Halloween when depressive Helena (Bahr) slits
her wrists. The debut production itself would benefit from its own
cruel cuts. At its black, festering, wonderful heart, Gothmasis a love
triangle between self-absorbed best frenemy roommates — hetero Helena,
gay Garth (Lordygan) and their selfish bisexual hustler lover Joe
(Kadyr Gutierrez, who capitalizes on the duo's need for freakdom by
suggesting they share him. Clocking in at three-hours, this bleak charm
of this 12-member ensemble's behemoth would be better served if every
element were chopped in half. There's a fantastic piece buried in here,
especially once director Justin T. Bowler doubles the cast's narcissism
and hysteria, which would help the play find consistent footing between
songs that ache with betrayal and ones that sting with unrepentant,
grim glee. (And once Joel Rieck's choreography eases away from the
literal — when Helena sings she's got “nothing to lose, nothing to
grab,” the entire cast clutches at the air.) This run is worth seeing,
however, as a midnight cult fave-in-process with some inspired axe
murders. (AN) Eclectic Company Theatre, 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd.,
Valley Village; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru May 17. (323)
960-7712.
NEW REVIEW THE LAST HIPPIE: A WESTERN NOVEL Performer-designer Vincent Mann's
claims that his solo show (directed by Rachel Rebecca Roy) “began as an
(almost) finished novel.” Those origins are clear in his epic,
autobiographical performance, that runs over two-hours with
intermission. Mann's saga starts during his youth in mid-'70s San
Antonio Texas, centering on his and his high school pals' magnetic
attraction to mind-altering drugs and the personal-metaphysical
explorations that were part and parcel of the Hippie movement, which
was fading even then, in the wake of the subsequent pre-Reagan,
greed-is-good generation. Among the performance's many virtues are
ability to take a personal story and attach it to the sensibility of an
era – and Mann accomplishes this with erudition and literacy.
Eventually, as his friends fall by the wayside, he flees his town on a
kind of spiritual quest from Texas to Colorado Springs, working as a
janitor for minimum wage. Here, the Quixotic essence of the Hippies'
scrambled ideals, and Mann's stake in those ideals – including
enlightenment through hallucinagenic drugs – unravels into mere
autobiography, a stream of events that represent little beyond
themselves. Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks;
Tues., 8 p.m.; through May 12. (818) 783-6784. (Steven Leigh Morris)
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE John Lahr updates Richard Condon's
political thriller. Chandler Studio, 12443 Chandler Blvd., Valley
Village; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 2,
www.theprodco.com. (800) 838-3006.
MR. MARMALADE Noah Haidle's black comedy about a 4-year-old girl's
imaginary friend, a combative, cocaine-fueled porn addict. Two Roads
Theater, 4348 Tujunga Ave., Studio City; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7
p.m.; thru May 17. (800) 838-3006.
NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY Serial-killer musical, adapted by Douglas J.
Cohen from William Goldman's novel. Part of the 2009 Festival of New
American Musicals. Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Toluca Lake;
Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru
May 17. (818) 558-7000.
NOSTALGIA AND DREAMS White Buffalo Theatre Company presents Brett
Holland's poetic drama. Deaf West Theatre, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North
Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru May 24. (818) 569-3037.
SONG OF ST. TESS Chris Collins' tragedy about a San Francisco
divorc<0x00E9>e. Secret Rose Theater, 11246 Magnolia Blvd., North
Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 10. (323) 960-7735.
TEN TO LIFE As Lodestone Theatre Ensemble prepares to close its
doors after 10 years, it will present four one-acts from veteran
writers of its own ranks (Nic Cha Kim, Annette Lee, Tim Lounibos, and
Judy Soo Hoo). GTC Burbank, 1111-B W. Olive Ave., Toluca Lake; Sun., 2
p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru June 7. (818) 238-9998.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK Stephen Mallatratt's ghost story, adapted from
the novel by Susan Hill. Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd.,
Sherman Oaks; Wed., 8 p.m.; thru May 13. (866) 262-6253.
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's comedy
classic about a kooky clan. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre
Blvd., Sierra Madre; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m.; thru June 6.
(626) 256-3809.
WESTSIDE AND BEACHES
THE ACCOMPLICES Bernard Weinraub's documentary drama about an
activist's efforts to rescue Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe. Odyssey
Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
p.m.; thru June 14. (310) 477-2055.
NEW REVIEW AND THE WAR CAME As the global economic meltdown continues to cast its
pall over the land, it's easy to forget about those other Bush-Cheney
contributions to human misery still raging in Afghanistan and Iraq. For
this reason alone, director Joanne Gordon's sentimental stage memorial
to the sacrifices made by Iraq War veterans and their families deserves
the sincerest of salutes. Through a collage of interwoven sketches and
onscreen projections (supervised by J. Todd Baker), Gordon, nine
writers and a fine ensemble attempt to convey a sense of the sometimes
whimsical but usually tragic experiences of the serving Americans
touched by the war. The best of the pieces are predictably those that
stray the least from their source material. These include writer David
Vegh's “Nicole,” in which a young, newlywed enlistee (Beth Froelich)
matter-of-factly recounts how her marital bliss is cruelly cut short
when her childhood-sweetheart husband ships out only to become a combat
fatality, and Brian Addison's “All Quiet,” in which an American Moslem
serviceman (Arber Mehmeti) describes the conflict between family, faith
and duty engendered by the war. All too often, however, the narratives
simply get tangled in Gordon's overly elliptical structure and taste
for the maudlin. And would it really have been a disservice to veterans
for Gordon to have included some antiwar voices or, god forbid, those
of the Iraqis themselves? National Guard Armory, 854 E. Seventh St.,
Long Beach; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; May 8-9, 8 p.m.; thru May 9. (562)
985-5526. A Cal Rep production. (Bill Raden)
NEW REVIEW APPLE Emotional bonfires crackle around the infidelity of an
ordinary, married guy, Andy (Albie Selznick), with a beautiful woman,
Samatha (Carmit Levité), who just happens to be a medical technician
whom Andy's wife, Evelyn (Ellyn Stern), sees frequently during her
breast-cancer diagnoses and treatments. Evelyn is dying, there's no
question, and her philandering husband lies stretched on a rack of
grief and self-loathing – careening between his physical passion for
his healthy mistress and his torment as a care-taker for his fading
wife. Does his expressed adoration of his spouse stem from something
larger than guilt and self-recrimination? “I'm rotten,” he confesses to
her. She knows what's going on, and thank goodness she's no peach
herself. Foul-mouthed and sometimes petulant, she reveals a
mean-streak, telling hubbie that she never loved him. That could be
true, but it's more likely to be the only kind of revenge she can
inflict. The larger question explored in Canadian Vern Thiessen's
absorbing play hangs in the murky territory between lust and love, and
Rachel Goldberg's wisely abstracted and seductive production tries to
clarify that distinction, despite stretches of gratuitous poetical
narration that tilt the tone towards the mawkish. Jeff G. Rack's park
bench set and the projected images of Benjamin Goldman's animation
design contribute to the sense of a poem in motion. On opening night,
the ensemble was just starting to find the play's unspoken truths, and
will doubtless unearth more through the production's run. Levité's
smart, charming mistress finds herself smitten with Andy for reasons
still vague, though in one scene at the clinic, her defiant defense of
Evelyn's wishes, overriding Andy's will, could be a kind of punishment
of him. Stern's ill Evelyn is further along, handily negotiating cross
currents of wisdom and peevishness, while Selznick nicely handles
Andy's sometimes cloying yet convincing earnestness and he tries to man
up. The production invites no easy moralizing, though there is the
suggestion that the vow “till death do us part” probably shouldn't be
rushed along – the parting or the dying. Theatre 40, 241 Moreno Dr. (on
the Beverly Hills High School Campus), Beverly Hills; in rep, call for
schedule; through May 24. (310) 364-0535. (Steven Leigh Morris)
Apple Photo by Ed Krieger
BETRAYAL
Harold Pinter's bizarre love triangle. Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre
St., San Pedro; Wed.-Thurs., 8 p.m.; thru May 14. (310) 512-6030.
GO THE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME You'd think, from
reading the world press, that racism and, by extension, classism, had
suddenly been vanquished from the nation – overnight, by a stunning
national election. Such is the power of symbolism and hope. Sooner or
later, we will settle into a more realistic view of who we are, and
were, and how we have evolved in ways perhaps more subtle than the
current “we are the world” emotional gush would lead one to believe.
It's in this more self-critical (rather than celebratory) frame of mind
that Molière's 1670 comedy – a satire of snobbery and social climbing –
will find its relevance renewed. For now, however, Frederique Michel
(who directed the play) and Charles Duncombe's fresh and bawdy
translation-adaptation serves up a bouquet of comedic delights that
offer the caution that — though celebrating a milestone on the path of
social opportunity is worthy of many tears of joy — perhaps we
shouldn't get ahead of ourselves with self-congratulation. The Bourgeois Gentleman was first presented the year after Tartuffe,
and it contains many of the hallmarks of its more famous cousin: a
deluded and pompous protagonist (Jeff Atik); a con man (Troy Dunn)
aiming for social advancement by speculating on the blind arrogance of
his patron; and the imposition of an arranged marriage, by the insane
master of the house, for his crest-fallen daughter (Alisha Nichols).
The play was originally written as a ballet-farce, for which composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully performed in the production before the court of
Louis XIV. Michel's visually opulent staging features scenery (designed
by Duncombe) that includes a pair of chandeliers, and costumes (by
Josephine Poinsot) in shades of red, maroon and black. Michel employs
Lully's music in a nod to the original. (The singing is far too thin
even to support the jokes about its competence.) Michel also includes a
lovely ballet by performers in mesmerizing “tears of a clown” masks, a
choreographed prance of the fops, and she has characters bounding and
spinning during otherwise realistic conversations, in order to mock
style over substance. Comedy has a maximum refrigeration temperature of
75 degrees, and when that temperature was exceeded during Act 1 on the
performance I attended, the humor ran off the tracks – despite the
broad style being sustained with conviction by the performers. By Act
2, the heat problem had been remedied and the comedy started playing
again as it should. In fact, I haven't seen a comic tour de force the
likes of Atik's Monseiur Jordain since Alan Bomenfeld's King Ubu at A
Noise Within. As Jourdain is trying to woo a countess (the striking
Deborah Knox), Atik plays him attired in silks and bows of Ottoman
extravagance, with a blissfully stupid expression – every dart of his
eyes reveals Jordain's smug self-satisfaction that's embedded with
delirious ignorance. (SLM) City Garage, 1340½ (alley) Fourth Street,
Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m.; thorugh May 8. (310)
319-9939.
BURN THIS Lanford Wilson's drama about four New Yorkers and a
funeral is a slippery portrait of love and loss. Staged with a warm
cast, it's flush with hope; just as easily, though, a more aloof
ensemble can flip it into a play about emotional isolation where the
polite relationship between Anna (Marisa Petroro) and perfect-on-paper
boyfriend Burton (Jonathan Blandino) casts a cold shadow across all
dynamics, making her devotion to callously funny roomate Larry (Aaron
Misakian) and temperamental lover Pale (a wrenching and infuriating
Dominic Comperatore) seem nearly like pathological self-punishment.
Director John Ruskin sees this as a love story — the scene breaks
twinkle with sentimental music — however his cast isn't up to it and
hasn't even been instructed to at least pretend to be listening to each
other. (Burton's confession of a random blowjob from a strange man
rolls off Anna like he was droning on about the weather.) Comperatore's
combustible Pale has four times the spark of the rest of the ensemble
— when he bursts into the scene, we see the gulf between what Wilson's
play could be and what this staging actually is. (AN) Ruskin Group
Theater, 3000 Airport Dr., Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
p.m.; through May 9. (310) 397-3244.
CINDERELLA: THE MUSICAL Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie's
family-friendly fairy tale. (Resv. required.). Santa Monica Playhouse,
1211 Fourth St., Santa Monica; Sat.-Sun., 12:30 & 3 p.m.; thru Dec.
27. (310) 394-9779.
GO DESPERATE WRITERS: THE FINAL DRAFT This demented
farce by Joshua Grenrock and Catherine Schreiber should be catnip for
those who love Hollywood in-jokes. Ashley (Kate Hollingshead) and David
(Brian Krause) are lovers and writing partners; though they've been
writing for years, they've never sold a script. Ashley's convinced that
producers never actually read their scripts, so she kidnaps three of
them (writers Grenrock and Schreiber, and Andrew Ross Wynn) at
gunpoint, locking them in a wire cage in her living room (built before
our eyes by trusty techies). She prepares a gourmet meal for the
producers, while David reads to them — despite their protests — a new
script. The reading is punctuated by phone calls from agent Vanessa
(Jennifer Taub), a death by apoplectic fit, an earthquake, a
resurrection, and a home invasion by a pair of robbers (Scott Damian
and Stephen Grove Malloy) who drop off their pix and resumes on their
way out. And, oh, yes, the rental agent (Vivian Bang) arrives to show
the house to prospective tenants (Damian and Eden Malyn). The actors
are game and skillful, and director Kay Cole keeps the action spinning
along on Francoise-Pierre Couture's set, cleverly designed as an
architect's blueprint. (NW) Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main St.,
Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2 & 7 p.m., thru May 10.
1(800) 838-3006 or https://desperatewriters.com.
DID YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK? Writer/performer Aaron Braxton has passion
and talent – both amply evident in this promising work-in-progress
about the difficulties of teaching in the urban classroom. A 13-year
veteran with L.A. Unified, Braxton builds his piece around his early
experience as a substitute teacher filling in for an old-timer – 33
years on the job – who one day ups and quits. A gift for mimicry brings
the performer's characters into clear comic focus: himself as the
beleaguered Mr. Braxton, several colorful problem students, their even
more colorful and problematic parents and another staff member — a
well-meaning elderly bureaucrat in charge of the school's
counterproductive testing program. At times Braxton steps away from
dramatizing the action to speak to the audience directly about the
frustrations of trying to make a difference, contrasting his own
upbringing as the son of a teacher, taught to respect education, with
the imperviously disdainful attitude of his pupils. He also sings 4
songs, displaying a beautiful voice. The main problem with the piece is
its disjointedness and discontinuity; the songs, reflective of
Braxton's message, are only tenuously connected to the narrative,
itself a patchwork collection of anecdotes juxtaposed against addresses
to the audience. This gives the show a hybrid feel – part performance,
part moral exposition, part musical showcase. Yet there's plenty of
power and potential here. Kathleen Rubin directs. (DK) Beverly Hills
Playhouse, 254 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.;
through April 18. (310) 358-9936.
FENCES August Wilson's story of an African-American family's unyielding
struggle to overcome the barriers of bigotry in the 1950s. (May 15 show
is by invitation.). Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Blvd., Santa
Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 30. (310) 828-7519.
FIFTH OF JULY Lanford Wilson's farm-family drama. Long Beach
Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
p.m.; thru May 23. (562) 494-1014.
HAY FEVER Noel Coward's 1924 comedy. Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre
St., San Pedro; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., May 17, 7 p.m.; Thurs., May
21, 8 p.m.; thru May 23. (310) 512-6030.
INCORRUPTABLE Michael Hollinger's Dark Ages farce. (In rep with Apple,
call for schedule). Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova Theater, 241
Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills; Sun., 2 p.m.; Mon.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2
& 8 p.m.; thru May 21. (310) 364-0535.
IS HE DEAD? In the West Coast premiere of a newly discovered comedy
by master of American humor Mark Twain, a struggling artist stages his
own death to drive up the price of his paintings. International City
Theatre, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
p.m.; thru May 24. (562) 436-4610.
LIONS Vince Melocchi's new play features nine men and a woman
decaying slowing in a private watering hole during an major economic
slump — this major economic slump. Set during the 2007/2008 football
season, Melocchi's story centers on John Waite (Matt McKenzie), an
unemployed metalworker whose desire to see the Detroit Lions win the
Super Bowl supplants all other priorities in his life. As his immutable
pride keeps him from opportunity, he grows sour and angry, a textured
and nuanced transformation that McKenzie performs poetically, even at
explosive heights of cursing and fighting. The rest of the denizens
seem to spiral around him, perhaps sinking into his black hole of self
worth. Director Guillermo Cienfuegos allows us to spend time with each
of the hopeless, revealing the play's pith and brutality with a
sensitive hand. But this tends to expose the play's relatively minor
weaknesses: the conveniently contrived exits and entrances, the
shapelessness of some of the relationships — especially considering
the large cast, clumsy dialogue that sometimes spills awkwardly into
scenes. The strong ensemble, though, piles through these uneven aspects
to deliver an all around touching portrait of middle America, a
reminder that “real Americans” need not be so reductively characterized
as simply Joe the Plumber. (LR) Pacific Resident Theater, 705 ½ Venice
Blvd., Venice; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; thru May 2. (310)
822-8392.
MADE ME NUCLEAR On March 1, 2006, singer-songwriter Charlie Lustman
was informed by his doctor that he had a rare OsteoSarcoma (bone
cancer) of the upper jaw. What followed was a grueling and painful
siege of therapies, involving radiation injected into his body, surgery
removing three quarters of his jawbone, surgical reconstruction, and
extensive chemotherapy. When, after two years of treatment, he was
declared cancer free, he created this touching 12-song cycle about his
experiences. He sings about the bone-numbing shock and terror of being
told he had cancer, his fear of death and sense of helplessness, the
solace provided him by his loyal wife, his children and his doctors,
memory problems caused by his chemo (mercifully temporary), and so on.
But the tone is more celebratory than grim: he's determinedly
life-affirming, full of hope and gratitude, and his songs are pitched
in an intimate, jazzy, bluesy style. He's an engaging and personable
performer (thanks in part to his skillful doctors), who brings rueful
humor and mischief to a tale that might have been unrelievedly grim. If
anything, tries a bit too hard to keep things light. We need a bit of
scarifying detail if we're to appreciate his remarkable resilience and
optimism. (NW) Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th Street, Santa Monica;
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., through May 30. (866) 468-3399 or
https://www.MadeMeNuclear.com Produced by the Sarcoma Alliance.
GO MISALLIANCE Be warned that G.B. Shaw's wordy
comedy of manners lopes for along for almost the entire first act
before finally taking off. And then it really flies. It's Set in 1909,
in the plush home (artfully realized by designer Stephen Gifford) of a
successful underwear retailer named Tarleton (Greg Mullavey), whose
daughter Hypatia (Abigail Rose Solomon) has become engaged to a whiny
aristocratic nerd (Orestes Arcuni). At first the play totters under the
weight of Shavian didactics: a plethora of chitchat about generational
and class conflicts, the experience of aging and the liberation of
women. The bright spot in this intermittently sleep-inducing stretch is
Solomon's captivating turn as a sharp young gal chafing under the
strictures of her gender; she's seconded in her charm by Maggie Peach,
endearing as her wise, albeit mildly ditzy mother. Happily, Act 2 gets
a lot livelier when an airplane piloted by a dashing young aviator
(Nick Mennell) and a liberated lady acrobat (Molly Schaffer) crashes
into the family greenhouse, followed by the clandestine entry of a
pistol-packing gunman (David Clayberg) determined to do Tarleton in.
The confrontation between the merchant and his would-be assassin forms
the nub of the second act's considerable humor, and it's heightened
further by the on-target performances of Mennell as Hypatia's new love
interest and Schaffer as the latest object of Tarleton's philandering
affections. By play's end, under Elina de Santos' direction, the
production has redeemed its dullish beginnings, delivering up more than
our ticket's worth of laughs. (DK) Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda
Blvd., West L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 30. (310)
477-2055.
A NUMBER Caryl Churchill's meditation on identity. Odyssey Theatre,
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A.; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru
June 21. (310) 477-2055.
OUR TOWN Thornton Wilder's slice of Americana. Actors' Gang at the
Ivy Substation Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City; Fri.-Sat., 8
p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru May 30. (310) 838-4264.
PAY ATTENTION: ADHD IN HOLLYWOOD, ON THE ROCKS WITH A TWIST Frank
South's hypomanic, alcoholic one-man show tells how a New York
waiter/performance artist unleashes all his issues and finds himself
capapulted onto the TV-writing fast track. The Other Space at Santa
Monica Playhouse, 1211 Fourth St., Santa Monica; Sun., 6 p.m.;
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru June 7. (310) 394-9779.
GO THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES The central character in
Molière's comedy, here translated and adapted by Frédérique Michel
& Charles Duncombe could be and often is a punching bag. But not
here. Arnolphe is another in a stream of Molière's aging, patronizing
nitwits (like Orgon on Tartuffe) who presume that they can control the devotions and passions of young women in their care. In Tartuffe,
when Orgon's daughter protests his insistence that she break her
wedding plans to her beloved suitor in order to marry the clergyman he
prefers, Orgon figures her rebellion is just a impetuous, child-like
phase. In The School for Wives, there's a similar mind-set to
Arnolphe (Bo Roberts), who has tried to sculpt his young ward, Agnes
(Jessica Madison), into his future wife. He's known her since she was
4, and he's strategically kept her closeted, as though in a convent,
hoping thereby to shape her obedience and gratitude. Just as he's about
to wed her, in stumbles young Horace (Dave Mack) from the street below
her window, and the youthful pair are smitten with eachother, soon
conniving against the old bachelor. Horace, not realizing that Arnolphe
is the man keeping Agnes as his imprisoned ward, keeps confiding in the
older man about his and Agnes' schemes, fueling Arnolphe's exasperation
and fury. Perhaps it's the use of director Michel's tender, Baroque
sound-tracks, or the gentle understatement of Roberts' performance and
Arnolphe, but the play emerges less as a clown show, and more as a
wistful almost elegiac rumination on aging and folly. Arnolphe tried to
create a brainless wife as though from a petri dish, an object he can
own, and the more she rejects him, the more enamored he becomes of her,
until his heart breaks. The pathos is underscored by the obvious
intelligence of Madison's Agnes – an intelligence that Arnolphe is
blind to. The production's reflective tone supersedes Michel's very
stylized, choreographic staging (this company's trademark). The ennui
is further supported by a similarly low-key portrayal by David E. Frank
as Arnolphe's blithe friend and confidante, Chrysalde. In In fact, when
lisping, idiot servants (Cynthia Mance and Ken Rudnicki) keep running
in circles and crashing into each other, Michel's one attempt at
Commedia physicality is at odds with the production rather than a
complement to it. Company costumer Josephine Poinsot (surprising she
doesn't work more) provides luscious period vestments and gowns, and
Duncombe's delightful production design, includes a gurgling fountain,
a tub of white roses, and abstract hints of some elegant, Parisian
court. (SLM) City Garage, 1340½ Fourth Street (alley entrance); Sat., 8
p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m.; through May 31. (310) 319-9939.
TUNA DOES VEGAS Texan townsfolk head to Sin City in Jaston Williams,
Joe Sears and Ed Howard's fourth installment of their “Greater Tuna”
satire. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada
Blvd., La Mirada; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 &
8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; thru May 3. (562) 944-9801.
THEATER SPECIAL EVENTS
BEHIND BARBED WIRE Some 50 teenage actors and writers collaborate
with playwright Virginia Grise and bring in their personal experiences
to explore issues surrounding immigration in this country. Will be
continued at REDCAT May 23-24; call for info: (213) 237-2800. PLAZA DE
LA RAZA, 3540 N. Mission Rd., L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., May 9,
2 p.m.; thru May 9. (323) 223-2475.
CIRCLE X FREE READING SERIES Full schedule at
www.circlextheatre.org. Studio/Stage, 520 N. Western Ave., L.A.; Wed.,
8 p.m.; thru May 27. (323) 463-3900.
DEBBIE REYNOLDS: AN EVENING OF MUSIC AND COMEDY . El Portal Theatre,
5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3
p.m.; thru May 10. (866) 811-4111.
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