CURRENTLY PLAYING September 11, 2008

Abigail’s Party. In Mike Leigh’s 1977 anatomy of a suburban social meltdown, we’re actually at a party hosted by Beverly (Nikki Glick), not the 15-year-old Abigail who’s hosting her own teen-oriented bash next door. Abigail’s divorced and distressed mother (Cerris Morgan-Moyer) is one of Beverly’s guests, as are the younger new neighbors (Phoebe James, Jonathan LaPaglia). The two married women are loud and chatty, but the men – especially Beverly’s workaholic husband (Darren Richardson, who looks too young) – are not natural party animals. Julian Holloway’s acidic staging initially seems swamped by suburban trivia but eventually explodes, wading into issues of life and death. Odyssey Theatre, West L.A. (310) 477-2055. odysseytheatre.com. Closes Oct. 19.

 

 

The Accomplices. Bernard Weinraub examines the activists who tried to persuade America to admit more Jewish refugees during World War II and the government bigwigs who thwarted those efforts. Our sympathies are largely with the hot-headed immigrant Peter Bergson (Steven Schub) and his cooler pal (William Dennis Hurley), while the chief villain is State Department assistant secretary Breckinridge Long (Brian Carpenter). But Weinraub argues that Long’s effort were abetted by some Jewish leaders including Rabbi Stephen Wise (Morlan Higgins), and that FDR (James Harper) was, at best, negligent. Director Deborah LaVine navigates the docu-dramatic details in a consistently lucid and fast-paced production. Fountain Theatre, southeast Hollywood. (323) 663-1525. FountainTheatre.com. Closes Sept. 14.

Assassins. Once again, the misfits who killed or tried to kill American presidents unite in the macabre chorus line of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical, produced by West Coast Ensemble. The script brilliantly demonstrates how the optimistic can-do platitudes of the American dream can become twisted into ghastly criminal acts. Director Richard Israel’s rendition includes an intermission, although no obvious break exists, and the pretty but predictable (and sometimes excised) “Something Just Broke.” It’s also the first Assassins that I recall with a female Balladeer (Dana Reynolds, whose voice isn’t big enough at the role’s climactic moment). Still, this production’s best moments achieve their inherent power. Shannon Stoeke is especially strong as a grinning Proprietor and as Lee Harvey Oswald. El Centro Theatre, Hollywood. (323) 460-4443. tix.com. Closes Sept. 28.

As U2 Like It. Troubadour Theater’s take on Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” with musical numbers inspired by U2, is a comic wildfire, done as just about anyone would like it. The laughs are huge, as is the wrestler Charles (Dan Waskom, on stilts). Some of the more potentially ribald elements of the original are brought to the forefront, as in a few raised eyebrows about the love between Rosalind (Breanna Pine) and Celia (Katie Nunez) – who pretends to be Selena, the Tejana pop star, while in the woods. Rick Batalla has sensational shtick in two roles, Matt Merchant is an especially dashing Orlando, and director Matt Walker also takes on Touchstone as a red-nosed clown. But no one can touch Beth Kennedy’s white-faced, Pierrot-like Jaques; her “Seven Ages of Man” speech works both as a broad caricature and an homage to the original. At one point the ensemble demonstrates how some of the U2 melodies sound, er, somewhat alike, and of course Shakespeare takes a few lumps as well – the previously unseen visitor in the finale is no longer a mortal with earthly tidings, or even Bono, but rather Jesus himself. Falcon Theatre, Burbank. (818) 955-8101. FalconTheatre.com or Troubie.com. Closes Oct. 12.

 

 

Beethoven, As I Knew Him. Actor/pianist Hershey Felder’s solo show views Beethoven through the eyes of Gerhard von Breuning, whose father was a friend of the composer’s. As a teenager, Von Breuning studied piano with Beethoven in the deaf master’s final years, and the now aging student recalls those years from the vantage of 1870. It’s an elaborate framework, and it almost inevitably lacks an air of authority about most of Beethoven’s life. In contrast to the music of Felder’s previous subjects Gershwin and Chopin, many of Beethoven’s works (the symphonies, for example) are not easily suggested by a solo pianist who occasionally sings, and lavish projections distract more than they help. However, Felder’s informal Q and A with the audience after the show is scintillating. Felder suggests that not only the Q and A but perhaps the show itself is still a work in progress. Geffen Playhouse, Westwood. (310) 208-5454. geffenplayhouse.com. Closes Oct. 5.

 

Bouncers. John Godber’s evocation of a night at an ‘80s working-class British disco, with five men playing all the roles, was a big hit for L.A. Theatre Works in the ‘80s. Cinda Jackson’s new production, 20 years later, is fun and stylish but difficult to imagine as a big hit. Without the same sense of contemporaneity, the sketchy text feels dated, and thick accents occasionally make it difficult to decipher. The cast (Chris Coppola, Ben Baker, Mark Adair-Rios, Dan Cowan, Phillip Campos) has the necessary driving energy, but the absence of women playing the women’s roles feels like a stunt that ends up caricaturing the women characters more than the men. Lost Studio Theatre, La Brea south of Beverly. (323) 933-6944. Closes Sept. 27.

 

Boyle Heights. Josefina Lopez’s early autobiographical script outlines the yearning of a young woman (Nicole Ortega) to escape her family’s tradition of out-of-wedlock pregnancies followed by coerced marriages. It’s sloppily structured, and its protagonist needs something to do beyond sitting on a rooftop reading her own juvenile poetry. But it vividly depicts how women’s choices can wither when their choices are circumscribed. Casa 0101, Boyle Heights. (323) 263-7684. casa0101.org. Closes Sept. 14.

 

Bury the Dead. Irwin Shaw’s 1936 antiwar play is set on a fantasy battlefield. A burial detail is suddenly confronted by a group of corpses of soldiers who refuse to take death lying down and start calling attention to the senselessness of their sacrifices. In order to avoid publicity that could undermine the war effort, the authorities call in the dead men’s womenfolk to try to persuade them to go gently. It’s an arresting set-up, and a couple of stark images stand out. Like the corpses themselves, however, the one-act play lingers a little too long in Matthew Huffman’s sometimes lugubrious staging. Actors’ Gang, Culver City. (310) 838-4264. theactorsgang.com. Closes Sept. 13.

 

 

Educating Rita. In 2003, Willy Russell “updated” his 1980 two-hander about a besotted, disillusioned English professor (Bjorn Johnson) and a 26-year-old fledgling student (Rebecca Mozo) who’s trying to escape her hairdresser job and a dead-end marriage. In an author’s note, Russell wrote that his primary goal was to eliminate specific references to the original era that might not be understood, without actually re-setting the play in the new century. OK, but it seems odd that they’re still using typewriters and rotary dial phones in this “update.” And, comparing the two texts briefly, I found a couple new jokes that had nothing to do with either this era or that one. Anyway, Cameron Watson’s U.S. premiere of the new version is well done, if you can look beyond the insular, schematic quality of Rita’s “education” (literature is her only course of study) and the play itself. Colony Theatre, Burbank. (818) 558-7000 x15. colonytheatre.org. Closes Sept. 21.

 

Fables du Theatre. I left the theater unsure of whether this was a satire of bad avant-garde theater or merely an example of it. As it turns out, the former is true – it’s a co-production between the Unknown Theater and the fictitious “Immanence Theatre Artists”; co-writer Brenda Varda even created a web site for “Immanence.” Supposedly an adaptation of three French tales by Varda and Marva Lewis, the fables themselves feel like half-baked drama school exercises without much point or polish. They’re surrounded by a thick layer of meta-theatrical clichés – backstage chaos before the show starts, a planted heckler who later joins the action. The problem is that it just isn’t very funny – or necessary, considering the world’s many more tempting targets. Chris Covics and Lewis co-directed. Unknown Theater, Hollywood. (323) 466-7781. unknowntheater.com. Closes Sept. 27.

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Terrence McNally’s portrait of a night spent together by an exuberant short-order cook (Thomas Fiscella) and a defensive waitress (Libby West) contains some of the most winningly romantic writing in the modern American theater, although the down-home characters temper the gushier aspects. Director Todd Nielsen downplays the initial nudity, but by the end of the performance it really doesn’t matter. These characters, and these actors, are glowing. International City Theatre, Long Beach. (562) 436-4610. ictlongbeach.org. Closes Sept. 21.

 

Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Watching Eugene O’Neill’s long play’s journey into night outdoors, as darkness encircles the stage, isolates the characters in their angst more effectively than most versions. Heidi Helen Davis’s staging of O’Neill’s autobiographical tale of one day in August 1912, at the Tyrone summer home in Connecticut, features William Dennis Hunt as the aging matinee idol, Ellen Geer as his drug-addicted wife, Jim LeFave as their older, boozier son and Aaron Hendry as their younger, consumption-stricken offspring. The three-hour play requires a rested and alert audience, but its temperamental outbursts and quieter moments somehow seem more organic and less fatiguing in this charmed setting. Barring an occasional flubbed line or a few intrusive offstage noises, the actors successfully raise these iconic characters from the dead. Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga. (310) 455-3723. theatricum.com. Closes Sept. 27.

My Old Friends. The denizens of a retirement hotel sing (and occasionally dance) songs about old age, or at least old age as it was when this 1979 one-act musical first appeared. Several story lines make tentative appearances, but they’re so slender and pat that the show almost has the nature of a revue instead of a book musical. Which isn’t entirely a loss – some of the songs are quite affecting, and the cast performs them with professional aplomb and seasoning. The first half, in which the characters are tyrannized by an unseen supervisor and sing about their memories of watching an old movie Western, feels rather strained, but the second half is somewhat more persuasive. The romantic leads, Tom Ormeny and Betsy Randle, are appealing, but they look a little too young and vigorous. More at home are such troupers as Pat Hodges, Annie Abbott, Marc Elliot, Malachi Throne and Ruben Rabasa. Victory Theatre, Burbank. (818) 841-5421. victorytheatrecenter.org. Closes Oct. 12.

 

Once on This Island. The 1990 Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty musical about a poor Caribbean girl (Kristolyn Lloyd) who rescues and then falls in love with an aristocrat (Jesse Nager) gets a spirited revival from director Billy Porter and Reprise. But the material feels and sounds rather airy and simplistic compared to the Ahrens/Flaherty Ragtime. The subject of another revival in the L.A. area just three years ago, Island also doesn’t quite fit the Reprise profile of seldom revived shows. Freud Playhouse, UCLA. (310) 825-2101. reprise.org. Closes Sept. 14.

 

The Pavilion. Playwright Craig Wright and a narrator (Chris Smith) take us to a high school reunion where the former Cutest Couple (Kristin Chiles, Tim Hamelin) are the focus. Their parting, at age 17, was less than cute, and now he’s regretful and she’s resentful. Smith, playing everyone else of both genders, creates a chain of comic punctuation marks that’s reminiscent of Greater Tuna, but as the narrator he offers more cosmic observations reminiscent of Thornton Wilder. Director Obren Milanovic sets the reunion at 10 years after graduation instead of the 20 years in previous productions elsewhere. This somewhat dilutes the notion that these characters made irrevocable decisions at age 17. However, Chiles and Hamelin are convincing in their angst, and Wright’s no slouch at conjuring brief phrases that ponder big issues. Lyric Theatre, La Brea near Melrose. (323) 939-9220. LyricTheatreLA.com. Closes Oct. 5.

Point Break Live! The New Rock Theater takeoff on the 1991 Hollywood thriller Point Break adds a tsunami of comedy to the original story about an FBI agent (who’s cast nightly from the audience and gets to read cue cards) investigating a gang of bank-robbing L.A. surfers. Wicked caricatures and bare-bones action sequences abound. The Dragonfly, Hollywood. (866) 811-4111. theatermania.com. Closes Sept. 12.

The School for Scandal. Richard Sheridan’s 18^th century comedy remains fresh as long as people still like to gossip. Ellen Geer’s staging features skilled turns from Franc Ross as Sir Peter and Willow Geer as his trophy wife. Susan Angelo sneers well as Lady Sneerwell, and Mark Lewis and Jeff Wiesen are excellent as the nephews of the wealthy Oliver Surface (Tim Halligan), who has just returned from India but continues to wear a turban in Shon LeBlanc’s lavish costume design. Snake, normally a male role, is now Widow Snake (Melora Marshall). A few extra verses have been added in between scenes. Still, this kind of comedy isn’t the best fit for a rustic alfresco setting after dark, or for the unadorned architecture of the Theatricum set. Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga. (310) 455-3723. theatricum.com. Closes Sept. 27.

 

Sissystrata. Playwright Allain Rochel adapts Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, setting the action in 2013, after gays are not only free to marry but are actively recruited for the military, which is still bogged down in the Middle East. With many of the more masculine gay men signed up for service, Seymore “Sissy” Strata (Michael Taylor Gray) decides to retire from the drag queen life to pursue a political protest in which West Hollywood’s “bottom boys” choose celibacy until the war is over. Why their husbands who are in Iraq would therefore be inspired and somehow enabled to end the war, simply because their guys back home aren’t having sex (presumably with other men?) is never explained. But if the premise makes little sense, the execution by Michael Matthews’s cast is lively and, uh, never drags. Celebration Theatre, Hollywood. (323) 957-1884. tix.com. Closes Sept. 28.

 

Sona Tera Roman Hess. Taking on the theme of stepmother/stepson lust previously explored by many classic playwrights, Dennis Miles imagines a rural American household vaguely in the past. The straying couple (Dawn Greenidge, Ian Crossland) apologetically returns to the patriarch/painter (Greg Wall) they betrayed. A visiting troupe of circus performers (huh?) leavens the mood, but grim currents resume when the son goes off to war. The wife/stepmother’s partly demented mother (Kathleen Mary Carthy, looking too young despite obvious aging makeup) also lives in the house. She starts the ball rolling with a rather opaque monologue that doesn’t do the play any favors. In Kiff Scholl’s staging the play never reaches the tragic grandeur Miles seeks, coming off as more pretentious than portentous. Lounge Theatre, Hollywood. (323) 960-7864. plays411.com/roman. Closes Sept. 21.

 

Suffer the Long Night. Not to be confused with Long Day’s Journey Into Night, this funny lark pretends to be a community theater production of an earnest crime drama, about a ‘50s family held hostage by two escaped convicts. Most of the “Merrillville Merry Art Players” are out sick, so their suddenly drafted replacements struggle with just about everything, generating big mishaps and big giggles. The director/co-writer Greg Glienna appears as the most hilariously wooden cast member. He and co-writer Mary Ruth Clarke created the original 1992 low-budget movie Meet the Parents, which was later remade and transformed into a giant comedy film franchise. Meta Theatre, Melrose district. (323) 960-7745. Plays411.com/suffer. Closes Sept. 14.

 

Vanities. Jack Heifner adapts his ‘70s hit play into a musical. In four scenes, we glimpse three friends – a super-organized leader (Anneliese van de Pol), a conventional follower (Sarah Stiles) and a free spirit (Lauren Kennedy). They grow from teenaged cheerleaders in 1963 to sorority sisters, about to leave college, to young urbanites to middle-aged women. This last scene, added for the musical version, feels like a phony happy ending. But David Kirshenbaum’s score helps bridge the chronological gaps and focus the emotions, and the characters seem strangely authentic despite the many missing details. Judith Ivey’s taut staging is more pointed than Heifner’s text. Pasadena Playhouse. (626) 356-PLAY. Pasadenaplayhouse.org. Closes Sept. 28.

 

Wicked. Teal Wicks and Erin Mackey now play Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, in the long-running musical steamroller about the formative years of Oz’s Wicked Witch and Glinda. They’re both fine, but the roles are so fixed at this late date that it’s difficult to imagine any actresses making themselves particularly distinctive in them. Still, the show deserves repeated viewings, with different details noticeable each time out. Powered by Joe Mantello’s propulsive staging, Stephen Schwartz’s score and Winnie Holzman’s script (from Gregory Maguire’s novel) are simultaneously tongue in cheek and heart on sleeve. Pantages Theatre, Hollywood. (213) 365-3500. BroadwayLA.org. Closes Jan. 11.