Hunter Gatherer

It’s time for the annual dinner that Bay Area foodies Richard and Pam (Cassidy Brown and Kelley Ogden) are throwing for long-time friends Tom (Jonathan Rys Williams, who also directs) and Wendy (Katie Rubin) to celebrate their mutual anniversaries. This year lamb is on the menu.

There’s only one little problem – the lamb (Carl is his name) isn’t dead yet.

And thus starts the hilarious dark comedy of “Hunter Gatherers” by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, currently running at Capitol Stage.

Richard, a gourmet cook, needs to raise the bar each year at these dinners. Last year he cooked a turducken (chicken inside a duck inside a turkey) and this year he’s slaughtering a lamb, trying to follow the directions in his “Joy of Cooking,” which indicate that the very best lamb should be “as the blood has just stopped. Caught in the muscles. Swishing. Unsure. ‘Where do I go now,’ it wonders?”

Richard needs Pam’s assistance as the two lean into the box toward the unseen, but apparently resisting lamb. “The holder,” he tells her, “calms the lamb, much like a mother calms her babe. A soft caress, a scratch on the nose, stories of magic and happiness softly cooed into the ear steady the throat and relax the soul to help assure a clean cut.”

It’s such a great visual, that without any sight of lamb or blood, the audience is repulsed again and again, while all the while convulsed at the hilarity of the scene.

Character personalities are established very early. The decor of Pam and Richard’s apartment immediately puts us in a jungle-type motif, which perfectly complements Richard’s cave-man attitude about killing the food he is about to eat. Pam seems the exact opposite, a timid thing, appalled by the thought of actually killing a lamb, but falling into and participating in Richard’s fantasy.

Brown and Ogden are both making their Capital Stage debuts in this production and each is outstanding. Brown is bigger than life, striding about the stage making his he-man statements, while Ogden, who has the biggest eyes ever is at once repulsed by his ideas, but head over heels in love with him. She’s a great physical comedienne.

The doorbell rings and Wendy arrives, full of anger, stating that Tom is parking the car. She explains that she is still suffering “some residual road rage from the car” and adds that some of their worst moments as a couple are in the car.

Rubin is deliciously over the top as Wendy, earthy, sensual, and so much more attuned to Richard than Pam. She is positively orgasmic in her description of his cooking and in the reaction to the smell of Carl baking there in the kitchen. There is an obvious spark between Wendy and Richard, which we just know is going to explode later in the evening.

When Tom arrives, he is a Caspar Milquetoast-esque man, uncomfortable in his body, and still in the throes of his argument(s) with Wendy. There is great rivalry between Tom and Richard, an annual physical besting of Tom by Richard, which Richard sees as a contest, and Tom does not.

Wendy and Richard are the hunters, while Pam and Tom are the gatherers and the evening progresses in the best tradition of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” with some surprising revelations and some not so surprising revelations during the course of the evening. And what happens to poor Carl shouldn’t happen to...a lamb.

Steve Decker gets high marks for his opulent set and lighting design, which put us in mind of an African savannah before the action starts, all nicely complemented by Brad Thompson’s lush sound design.

Hunter Gatherers is a delightful evening sure to leave everyone laughing.

Moon Over Buffalo

The Winters Theater Company production of Ken Ludwig's 'Moon Over Buffalo' has one problem.

Doors.

Four doors are present in this play's set. The presence of so many doors suggests a farce involving doors, but in this production people go out one door and come in via another door, on the opposite side of the stage. Characters exit, saying they're going outside, but they don't use the door that leads outside, because someone else is entering through that door.

A character sees somebody depart through one door, and then tells somebody else that said character left through a different door. What should be very funny just becomes confusing.

As for the plot, 'Moon Over Buffalo' is kind of a 1930s-era 'Noises Off' meets 'Waiting for Guffman.' A second-rate theater company - 'The House of Usher Repertory Theater,' jokes one character - has been forced to reduce its ranks to only five actors, who are stuck playing the Erlanger Theater in Buffalo, N.Y. ('Scranton, without the charm.')

Just in passing, the set looks more like a living room than a theater green room ... but at least it's painted green.

The company's stars, Charlotte (Christine Schiesart) and George (Phil Pittman), are over-the-hill actors who feel they just need the right show to revitalize their sagging careers.

The company has two productions in repertory: the swash-buckling 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and the Noel Coward comedy, 'Private Lives.' Both are being mounted with a very small cast: one at the matinee and the other in the evening.

The company gets word that director Frank Capra is filming a version of 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' nearby, starring Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman. When Coleman falls and breaks his leg, George receives a telephone call - from a telephone that has an ear-shattering ring - and learns that Capra is coming to check out their productions, to see if George and Charlotte might be good replacements for Coleman and Garson.

This announcement sets off a frenetic series of events: getting ready to perform, the discovery of an affair or two, Rosalind's confusion regarding the man she used to love and the man she plans to marry, George's drinking and several repairs to Cyrano's costume. The tighter, faster-paced second act rests heavily on Pittman's ability to remain drunk throughout. He delivers like a champ, nicely handling the physical comedy of a sword fight and a wrestling match, in addition to being falling-down blotto.

Schiesart does a good job in a role that was originated by Carol Burnett. Schiesart is given considerable help by costumers Germain Hupe, Ann Rost and Joanie Bryant; a red dress complements her color beautifully, and she does great things with a dramatic hat that she frequently takes off and puts back on.

Ann Rost, who always tackles wonderful droll roles, plays Charlotte's mother here: a woman who is hard of hearing and a little forgetful, who performs with the group and takes care of costumes ... and people's lives. The part is right up Rost's alley.

Joanie Bryant is earnest as Charlotte and George's daughter, Rosalind, who is tired of all the drama and just wants to settle down and raise a family. Jim Hewlett is perfect as nerdy Howard, Rosalind's boyfriend and the local TV weatherman, who is star-struck at the idea of meeting her somewhat famous parents.

JoAnn May plays Eileen, an ingenue who is pregnant with George's child. Her solution to this 'condition' nicely wraps up a rather frazzled situation, and smooths the way for the show's finale.

Trent Beeby plays Rosalind's former boyfriend, Paul, the troupe's stage manager, who has been pressed into service as one of its actors. Beeby always gives a solid performance, and this one's no exception. He and Bryant are quite funny as a couple who've broken up, but somehow can't keep their hands off each other.

The cast is rounded out by Greg Lanzaro as Richard, the Hays' attorney, who also is in love with Charlotte, and hopes to convince her to leave George and run away with him.

The clearly delighted audience chuckled wholeheartedly during the performance.

Santaland Diaries

At a time of the year when the world seems full of sugarplum fairies, Tiny Tim, sappy TV Christmas shows and those ubiquitous ho-ho-hos, it's refreshing to stumble on a holiday program that shows the dark side of Christmas.

The Capital Stage production of 'The Santaland Diaries,' directed by Janice Stevens, is a one-act satire written by National Public Radio storyteller David Sedaris, and adapted by Joe Mantello (of 'Love! Valor! Compassion!'). This show is wickedly funny and guaranteed not to send you from the building whistling 'Jingle Bells,' but you may - somewhere - find the true meaning of Christmas.

Whether you like it or not.

David, played by Gary Alan Wright, is an aspiring actor who has moved to New York and expects to be working on 'One Life to Live' within weeks. He fantasizes about his introduction to the cast, and practices acting humble when told he has to get used to being the center of attention.

Instead, rejected by the soap opera and desperate for money - and not wanting to stand on the sidewalks, handing out leaflets while dressed as a taco or a digital camera - he answers an ad to be a full-time elf at Macy's Santaland.

The verbal diary follows David through his interview and hiring, his training - during which he is given a copy of 'The Elfin Guide' - and his work in Santa's House, as the elf 'Crumpet.' We learn about motivational cheers - 'Come on you elves, feel good about yourselves!' - and that 'it hurts the mouth to talk with such merriment.'

We get a tour of Santa's Village, including its 'vomit corner,' and learn about high-tech parents who force their kids to sit on Santa's lap to be photographed, even if the tots are screaming in fright. (Anyone who ever has stood in line to see Santa, whether as a parent or as a child, will find someone with whom they can identify here.)

'It's not about the child or Santa or Christmas or anything, but the parents' idea of a world they cannot make work for them.'

Sedaris made his comic debut with 'The Santaland Diaries' on National Public Radio, and was named humorist of the year in 2001 by Time Magazine. Wright is perfectly suited to bring Sedaris' words to the local stage. He's a man of many talents and many faces, and has a natural boyish charm that endears him to the audience. He can be at once sardonic, bitter and even cute.

Gail Russell has designed a great elf costume for Wright.

'I wear red and white striped tights, a yellow turtleneck, a forest-green velvet smock, and a perky stocking cap decorated with spangles,' he explains. 'This is my work uniform.'

Jonathan Williams' set is reminiscent of a child's pop-up book, beginning in a very spare, colorless office. The walls open later to the wonders of Santaland, with lights encircling all the posts of the theater itself, putting the entire audience in Santaland as well.

This isn't a show for tiny tots. But for a wonderfully adult, nonsaccharine Christmas show to take your mind off the sugarplums dancing in your head, 'The Santaland Diaries' is just the thing.

Speech and Debate

Teenage angst has been fodder for authors for centuries, and geeky teenagers have been well served in films such as 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'The Breakfast Club.'

Now comes playwright Stephen Karam and his unlikely protagonists - Diwata (Lindsay Carter), Howie (Benjamin T. Ismail) and Solomon (Matthew Rogozinski) - who meet through the Internet and are drawn together by a shameful secret.

And more than a bit of blackmail.

Karam's 'Speech and Debate' is being presented by Capital Stage, at the Old Sacramento venue on the Delta King.

The inspiration for this play was a 2004 sex scandal, in which the then-mayor of Spokane was caught trolling in an online gay chatroom with an 18-year-old male.

The play's fourth character is the multi-talented, under-utilized Katie Rubin, who appears as a teacher in the first act and a reporter in the second. This marks Rubin's first appearance with Capital Stage, and one hopes it isn't her last.

Director Stephanie Gularte has created an amazing piece, wherein the twentysomething actors adopt all the quirks of adolescents, with all of them nailing their respective performances. Diwata and Howie have more quirks than the more repressed Solomon, and each sets the proper mood during early scenes.

Ismail's Howie, an 18-year-old openly gay transfer student, chats on the telephone with Solomon, whom he has never met, but who has read an Internet chat between Howie and an older man. Ismail's body language - twisting and turning into uncomfortable positions, pacing nervously, twisting his hair, his face sporting that bored look so many teenagers get - is spot-on.

Diwata's first scene comes as she sits in front of her laptop, recording a video blog entry. She's obviously a quirky, star-struck, would-be actress who overestimates her talent; she still smarts over not having been chosen for the lead in a production of 'The Crucible.' She blogs a diatribe against her drama teacher.

Solomon is angry that his school newspaper won't let him write an article about abortion, because it's too controversial.

'Half of our class is having real-life, actual sex,' he rails, 'and they're talking to us about our 'bathing suit areas.' Why don't they talk about stuff we actually want to know about?'

The three are brought together in the speech and debate club, which Solomon and Howie join only because they're blackmailed into it by Diwata, who threatens to expose each boy's dark secret. Diwata uses the 'club' - these three are its only members - as an outlet for her longing for the spotlight.

But being involved in the speech and debate club also is a means of allowing each student to get what he or she wants.

For Solomon, who fancies himself an investigative reporter, this will grant him access to a paper that will print his story on the sex scandal involving Howie and a teacher. Howie expects to persuade the others to support his proposed gay/straight student alliance.

Diwata, for her part, gets the spotlight hitherto denied her, when she produces her own musical version of 'The Crucible' (an excerpt of which definitely is one of this play's high points).

The camaraderie all three find, during their offbeat interactions, changes their lives: They become more full.

Sadly, the question left unanswered concerns whether the trolling high school teacher ever gets exposed, or receives any sort of punishment. That would, of course, move this story out of the realm of comedy and more toward drama, but it's nonetheless a missing piece of the picture.

'Speech and Debate' is a fresh, edgy comedy, and it should appeal to audience members of all ages.

Noises Off

The audience at the opening night performance of the Sacramento Theatre Company production of Michael Frayn's 'Noises Off' could have been enjoying a 'Where's Waldo' book, as we all tried to spot the actual goofs among the scripted goofs.

'Noises Off' is perhaps the funniest show ever written. This very physical comedy traces the actions of a hapless British touring theater company in three acts: from final dress rehearsal for a play called 'Nothing On,' to a performance a month later, and another performance two months after that.

And a lot of sardines are involved.

Act 1 begins on the set of 'Nothing On,' hours before the opening performance, at a point when the actors still don't know their lines and cues are missed. It would appear that this show hasn't a hope of going anywhere near smoothly.

Act 2 reveals what takes place backstage, while a somewhat more stabilized performance is presented to an audience out front. There are romantic tensions, substance abuse, vindictive battles among the actors ... and a stage manager desperately trying to hold everything together, despite her own problems.

Act 3 returns to the 'foreground' set, at a point when all pretense of putting on a smooth performance has evaporated, and the task is merely to get through to the end.

Nothing goes right in this play - by design - and the hilarity builds until the audience laughs nonstop.

I've often said that 'Noises Off' probably is the only play that could suffer on-stage disasters with no consequences. This cast proved that beautifully on opening night: A plate of sardines wasn't where it should be; a box of spilled food sent an orange rolling across the stage; an actor tripped over the edge of the set's turntable, and pulled off a large piece of it; and a door fell off the hinges, necessitating spontaneous dialogue and stage business.

Those who knew the show laughed at these mistakes, but I'm sure first-timers assumed it was all part of the show. The talented cast handled all the disasters with aplomb, and incorporated them into the script: a true testament to their professionalism.

And a first-rate cast it is, starting with Jamie Jones as Dotty Otley, an aging star who has put her money into this production in order to perform. Dotty is appropriately named, as she can't remember anything - neither lines nor stage business - but she's just so happy to be on stage again, that she doesn't realize the problems she's causing for everyone else.

Dotty is only one bane of the existence of director Lloyd Dallas (Matt K. Miller), who uses sarcasm and cajolery while trying to pull performances from his cast, when all he really wants to do is leave this group and direct 'Richard III.' This role is well-suited to the talented Miller, who can do anything, from exploding at a cast member to being part of the physical comedy in Act 2.

Brett David Williams plays Garry Lejeune, an eager young actor whose role is the most physical. Williams must lose a few pounds during each performance. The inarticulate Garry - who has suggestions for everything, but never actually finishes a coherent sentence - is secretly in love with the older Dotty, which causes great problems as the run of the play continues.

Katherine C. Miller is the vacant Brooke Ashton, who appears to have come fresh from the casting couch to a role for which she is woefully unprepared. Miller, a brunette, is a break from the traditional blonde who plays this part, but she nonetheless captures this 'dumb blonde' beautifully.

Michael RJ Campbell is Frederick Fellowes, a method actor with an aversion to violence, whose squeamishness about blood is quite funny.

Michelle Hillen is Belinda Blair, perhaps the most competent of the troupe's actors. Alas, Belinda's role is primarily that of company peacemaker and caretaker for her friend, Selsdon Mowbray (Patrick Murphy), an actor well past his prime, whose problems with the bottle are apparently legendary.

The role of Tim Allgood - handyman, bookkeeper and understudy - is shared by John Ramos and Jake Murphy.

Ramos had the part on opening night, and he handled it adroitly.

The perpetually frazzled Poppy Norton-Taylor (Lynn Baker), who tries to keep things running smoothly, has her own secret that she desperately needs to tell someone.

Everything is overseen by (actual) director Michael Stevenson, who delivers a fast-paced and hilarious production that will delight even the most discerning theater-goers.

One final comment should be made about 7-year-old Jackson Margolis, who gave the welcoming speech to the audience prior to the performance, while also explaining that he had been in theater 'for one-third of his life.' His ease on stage was a great testament to the strength of STC's young people's program.

Erratica: An Academic Farce

Remember the name Reina Hardy; I suspect you'll hear it again.

Hardy's play, 'Erratica: an Academic Farce,' premiered Friday at Old Sacramento's Capital Stage venue and was an unqualified hit.

'Erratica' is Capital Stage's first world premiere to emerge from the company's Playwrights' Revolution project. In 2007, Capital Stage was awarded a $40,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation, to create and develop the Playwrights' Revolution. Its goal: to celebrate new works and encourage the creation of bold new plays for the American theater.

Each year, several new plays are selected to participate in a series of round table and staged readings. 'Erratica' is the first of these plays to have been transformed into a fully mounted professional production.

A mere one to two minutes after the play begins, with hormonally charged Professor Samantha Stafford (Stephanie Gularte) speaking to Gregory, an unseen student admirer, the audience was howling with laughter. The pace continued throughout most of the play.

Samantha is trying to write a book on Shakespeare, but distractions abound: Gregory is madly in love with her; her publicist (Jamie Jones) wants her to do something more commercial, which involves Cosmopolitan magazine; and she's persistently haunted by an entity claiming to be the ghost of Christopher Marlowe (Danny Webber).

Meanwhile, Jack Hooper (Eric Wheeler), a librarian who just might be a match for Samantha, has lost a prized manuscript to a mysterious thief.

And Gregory's roommate, Elspeth (Stephanie Altholz), is pursuing her own agenda.

It's all connected, but how?

The play, directed by Michael Stevenson, is blessed with fast-paced dialogue delivered with enough snap - particularly by Gularte - to make it sizzle. ('If someone had come along and written me Sonnet Number 53, for example, I would have jumped on him and wrapped my thighs around his neck.')

It's a huge role for Gularte, who is present in every scene. We've previously watched her in so many serious, meaty roles, that it's fun to see her in something really funny.

We're never quite sure what Marlowe is doing as Samantha's muse, but Webber is quite funny, particularly during his attempts to distract the professor as she tries to give a lecture.

Jones is perfect as the publicist, Lisa Minkman. She can't imagine what Samantha wishes to accomplish professionally, and instead sees only possibilities for how this Shakespeare tome could reach a broader audience if it's 'sexed up' a little, so it'll appeal to the Cosmo crowd.

'New material is the key,' she says breathlessly. 'New female material. Sexy new female material.'

Wheeler, last seen in 'The Complete History of America (Abridged),' is fine in a role that doesn't require so much frenetic energy. His part is smaller than the rest, but he gives a solid performance as a librarian who has discovered a rare document that might be the very thing that Lisa is seeking, to add a little oomph to Samantha's manuscript.

Altholz brings the rather odd Elspeth to life. On the surface, she's merely a love-stricken student ... but she turns out to possess a skill that becomes crucial to the plot.

Jonathan Williams constructed a good-looking and versatile set. Most of the show takes place in Samantha's office, and the strategic movement of a door changes the look of the room, and allows for a variety of meetings. The office bookshelves also are used well, to create the sense of a university library.

The 27-year-old Hardy reluctantly allowed herself to be called up on stage at the conclusion of the opening night performance; she was, unfortunately, decidedly uncomfortable. I hope she finds a way to become more at ease with well-earned accolades: Based on this play, she has many more such evenings in her future, if she maintains such a high level of work.

Complete History of America (Abridged)

You'll never think of the national anthem the same way again, after seeing Capital Stage's very funny production of 'The Complete History of America (Abridged).'

The play was written by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor of the Reduced Shakespeare Company - perhaps better known for 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)' - and is directed by Stephanie Gularte.

This production stars Eric Wheeler, Gary S. Martinez and Jonathan Rhys Williams. The three actors work well together, and their chemistry may be due, in part, to their previous collaboration on 'Every Christmas Story Ever Told,' presented at the Delta King in previous years.

Like Stan Freberg did in his 'Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America' back in the 1960s, Long, Martin and Tichenor adopt a 'take no prisoners' approach while closely examining the country that gave the world 'its first democracy, man on the moon, Mark Twain and 'America's Next Top Model.' '

(The 'first democracy' may not be quite right ... but let it pass.)

Where Freberg chose to start with Columbus and Isabella negotiating the price of sailing ships, Long, Martin and Tichenor begin with Amerigo Vespucci and his wife Sophia, as they debate the value of his world maps.

'I'm trying to make a name for myself,' he tells her.

And then he sets sail to fulfill his dream, 'in a vessel full of dreams, pastrami and cheap wine' ... to the theme from 'Gilligan's Island.'

From there, it's a quick trip - well, two acts - to sorta-kinda the present day, skipping a decade or two because nothing really happened.

You'll hear Betsy Ross (and her sister Diana) explain how the design of the flag happened to be chosen. You'll see witch-hunting Puritans in Massachusetts and the Rev. Feral Orwell, who leads his youthful parishioners in games of Pin the Blame on the Warlocks and (literal) Hangman.

Along the way, the play includes enough to delight (and offend) just about everybody. During the post-production chat with the actors after the show the night we attended, a woman expressed her discomfort with how the script treated Native Americans. Someone else was bothered by the treatment of the assassination of Lincoln. Someone else was offended by the depiction of a female Vietnamese spy (Jo Chi Minh, whose brother's name is Ho).

But it's all in good fun, and nobody is spared the playwrights' barbs, and the end result is hilarious.

Each actor plays many roles and literally wears many hats. Martinez, who did well in the slower, more child-like roles of 'Every Christmas Story,' pulls most of the female roles in this production, and plays them to the hilt.

Paulette Sands-Gilbert (costumes), Michael Coleman (props/set dressing) and the backstage assistants who helped with the quick changes deserve huge credit for this show's success. Without the outlandish costumes and props, it would be a very different experience.

The playwrights premiered 'The Complete History' in 1993, and updated the last half of the second act in 2004, before the Bush-Kerry election.

'Of course, we constantly update the pop culture references,' Tichenor said.

'A number of topical references are in the script. The humor and relevance of these will fade over time, so we encourage each production to change these references, to keep them as up-to-date as possible.'

With that in mind, it's not clear where Long, Martin and Tichenor leave off, and Capital Stage steps in. But the end result is delightful, no matter who wrote it!

Harvey

I would have thought everyone was familiar with Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning story of "Harvey," made into a now-classic movie with Jimmy Stewart back in 1950.

But judging from the sounds of surprise coming from some sections of the audience at the Winters Community Theater production that debuted last weekend, perhaps the story isn't as well known as I assumed.

Trent Beeby directs a charming little version of this saga of the gentle, clueless and probably more than slightly inebriated Elwood P. Dowd and his constant companion: Harvey, a 6-foot, 31/2-inch white rabbit that only Dowd can see. Harvey is a "pooka," you see: a mischievous Irish spirit. (Or, rather, you don't see.)

Tom Rost gives a wonderful performance as Dowd, the perfect gentleman for whom a tall rabbit seems not in the least odd, and who seems totally oblivious to the chaos and embarrassment that his invisible companion seems to cause. Rost is extraordinarily polite and extremely likable, and gives the character both a childlike innocence and a sense of dignity.

"I always have a wonderful time, wherever I am, whomever I'm with," Dowd says.

Elwood was the sole recipient of his mother's fortune upon her death, which gives him the freedom to spend his time visiting friends at various drinking establishments.

"Harvey and I sit in the bars ... have a drink or two ... play the juke box," Dowd explains. "And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine, and they smile. And they're saying, 'We don't know your name, mister, but you're a very nice fella.' Harvey and I warm ourselves in all these golden moments. We've entered as strangers ... soon we have friends."

Elwood is contrasted by his sister, Veta Louise — played by the always delightful Germaine Hupe — who was excluded from her mother's will, and so lives in Elwood's house and is supported by him. Veta Louise is a social climber, and her brother's imaginary companion is a source of great embarrassment, both to her and to her daughter, Myrtle Mae (Molly Davis).

How will Myrtle Mae ever find a proper husband, when her uncle is the town laughingstock?

(I must mention that Myrtle Mae has the best poodle skirt I've ever seen. Kudos to costumers Ann Rost and Germaine Hupe!)

Only one avenue is available to Veta Louise: She must commit her brother to the famous sanitarium run by Dr. William R. Chumley (Michael Barbour), to get Elwood out of her life ... and take over the trust fund.

But the sanitarium is a study in dysfunction: One nurse (Anita Ahuja) flirts blatantly with Dr. Lyman Sanderson (Jim Hewlett), while a sadistic attendant, Duane Wilson (Rodney Orosco), is only too eager to inflict painful procedures on new patients.

He's a male Nurse Ratched — from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" — but with a sardonic wit.

As a result of some confusion about who is the patient — and who is the person admitting the patient — Veta Louise is hauled off to be stripped and put in the baths, while Elwood is ignored.

Veta Louise calls in her attorney, Judge Omar Gaffney — Howard Hupe, whose performance is second only to that given by Rost — hoping to sue the sanitarium for all her indignities.

Meanwhile, Elwood has long discussions with Dr. Chumley about Harvey, as the two men — and the rabbit — make the rounds of various drinking establishments: "I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

The play has a dated feel, and occasionally moves very slowly. By the end, though, the audience (along with Dr. Chumley) believes in Harvey.

And gives him a nice round of applause at the curtain call (!).

The cast also includes Anne Castro DePonte as Miss Johnson, Valerie Whitworth as Mrs. Chauvenet, Ann Rost as Betty Chumley, and JoAnn May as the cab driver. Whitworth needs to work on her projection, as she could barely be heard, even in this small theater.

Although likely not the most polished play you'll ever see, this production of "Harvey" displays such charm that you can't help but like it.

The Scene

When the lights went up during the intermission for Capital Stage's production of "The Scene," the audience was exhausted.

Director Stephanie Gularte's handling of Theresa Rebeck's fast-paced, high-intensity, sharply biting comedy comes out of the gate at top speed and never lets up.

For starters, Capital Stage newcomer Elena Wright plays Clea, a vapid young woman who is, like, from Ohio, you know, and who is just, like, so excited to be a part of the New York social scene. ("I mean, mind-blowing, right? It's just so surreal, the lights and the water, it's like, unbelievable.")

Clea first meets Charlie (Scott Coopwood) and Lewis (Ken Figeroid) on the balcony of a rooftop apartment on Manhattan's upper west side, where all three have come for a breath of fresh air, to escape the party-goers inside.

Wright is mesmerizing as she babbles on and on and on and on in Valley Girl-speak about her infatuation with this new life in the Big Apple, while Charlie and Lewis roll their eyes and laugh behind her back.

Charlie is a bitter, down-on-his-luck, angst-filled actor who has come to the party against his will, to talk with an old acquaintance about a possible part in a new TV sitcom. Tony Shalhoub played this role on Broadway, but it's difficult to picture anyone else in the role while watching Coopwood's powerful performance ... especially TV's "Monk."

Coopwood bestrides the stage like a Colossus, and dominates any scene in which he appears. He has his own huge chunks of dialogue, including one very funny description of his eventual meeting with his old nemesis, a director, who was "on his cell phone a full five minutes before he can even say hello ... while I sit there grinning like a schmuck, it's OK, man, I know you got to hang on this endless phone call 'cause you're so f*ing important; you're a completely essential piece of the whole mind-numbing motor that keeps capitalism itself running."

Christina Anselmo, another Capital Stage newcomer, plays Stella, Charlie's wife. She's a TV talk show talent booker who has been supporting her husband for a very long time, and their marriage has suffered as a result. She hates her job, and the spark is long gone from the marriage, although they still get along and enjoy a laugh at the thought of Charlie's meeting with Clea.

"She looks good in black and can't speak the English language. She'll do just fine in Manhattan."

Figeroid's Lewis is the perfect perennial third wheel to Charlie and Stella. We don't really know anything about his life, other than that he's been secretly in love with Stella for years, but wouldn't dream of moving in on his friend's wife.

As the play progresses, we realize that these are four very unlikable people: all living shallow lives and feeding off each other, depending on their own needs.

The affair between Charlie and Clea is inevitable, as the sparks fly and passions ignite. Charlie is emotionally needy; Clea will sleep with anyone if she thinks it'll do her some good. When it all comes to an inevitable abrupt halt, she gives no thought whatsoever to having heartlessly destroyed Charlie's life.

It goes on like that.

Jonathan Williams created a clever set that rotates on a huge turntable on the tiny stage, creating three different apartments more or less seamlessly.

Theater groups all over the country are struggling during these difficult economic times; audiences are carefully picking and choosing where their entertainment dollars will be spent. Capital Stage gives a lot of bang for the buck, and this new show is no exception.

The company's ticket prices are some of the most reasonable in the area for an equity house, and the productions always are of the highest caliber.

"The Scene" definitely is a winner, and well worth the price of a ticket.

Fools

The village of Kulyenchikov is lost in a magical spell that has left its residents simpletons in Neil Simon's odd fable, 'Fools,' which continues through Feb. 8 at the Woodland Opera House.

The play, directed by Rodger McDonald, is described as 'a comic fable based on the traditional Russian folk tale, 'The Village of Idiots.' '

I can't remember seeing another play that I hated so much in the first five minutes, and the thought of sitting through two entire acts was unpleasant. This wasn't the Neil Simon we know and love. The dumb jokes and repetitive slapstick comedy made me groan. (How many times is forgetting how to open a door funny?)

From the subdued audience response, I assumed other patrons were having the same reaction.

But something happened as the play progressed. I began to chuckle, and soon everyone around me was laughing as well, as we became accustomed to the plot line and grew to know the characters.

McDonald's direction - and the skilled actors, who respected their characters - made them not only believable, but lovable. They were completely immersed in their fantasy stupidity.

The residents of Kulyenchikov literally live in 'blissful ignorance.' They know they're stupid, and have become content with it. It would be nice, for example, even to remember one's name; the shepherdess 'Something-something Snetsky' (Jean Swearingen) knows her last name, but never can remember her first name(s).

Or where she left her sheep.

Of course, none of the villagers really care all that much.

The unwitting outsider to enter this world is Leon Tolchinsky (Ben Moroski), a teacher who has been hired by the town doctor to try teaching his daughter. As it happens, if one person in the town can be taught, the spell will be broken.

Unfortunately, the teacher has only one day to make the attempt; if he can't teach her, then he, too, will come under the town's curse. Many teachers have tried, and all have fled before the end of the 24 hours, to avoid becoming fresh victims of the curse.

Moroski is a lot of fun to watch. As something of a Jon Cryer/Jerry Lewis clone, Moroski is appropriately befuddled at the townspeople, and gradually learns to accept the effects of the curse and adapt to it. But he also falls under the spell of the beautiful Sophia (Angela Read) and decides to stay with her, no matter what.

He's prepared to give up his love of learning, and the pride in his body of knowledge, if that must happen.

But he's also determined to teach her something ... even if Sophia sees no value in learning. Why should she learn that one plus one equals two, if Leon already knows it and can tell her? And why would she need to know in the first place?

Read has a marvelous ethereal demeanor: beautiful but blank, while still engaging enough to win the heart of the idealistic teacher.

Angela's parents, Dr. Zubritsky (Bobby Granger) and his wife Lenya (Shanna Sperry), are delightful, as they try to help each other like any married couple. She loses her train of thought; he tries futilely to guess what she meant to say.

Justin Kelley is great as the villain, Gregor Yousekevitch, who is determined to wed the beautiful Sophia himself. Indeed, he proposes to her every day.

Jessica Neufeld plays Yenchna, a mute who knows a secret that will help Leon. Her charade is just great.

The cast also includes Dan Beard as the Magistrate, Alan Smuda as Slovitch, and Bridget Maguire as Mishkin, the postman who has a special delivery for Leon. It might change everything. Or not.

'Fools' is a surprise: one that grows on you, thanks to the talented cast. If you need a good laugh, this show is highly recommended.

Cinderella

The Sacramento Theatre Company has brought back its wildly popular holiday run of 'Cinderella': Mrs. Baden-Rotten and her daughters are terrorizing sweet Cinder once again, and delighting audiences in the prospect.

This version of 'Cinderella' - book and lyrics by Kate Hawley, music by Greg Coffin - embraces the form of a traditional British pantomime, which often takes fairy tales and delivers them in a manner that can be enjoyed by both parents and children. The humor may go over the kids' heads while tickling adult funny bones, but children will be delighted by the slapstick comedy, colorful costumes and sets, and the opportunity to be included in the story.

It's a win-win situation for all. STC's production, directed by Peggy Shannon, does not disappoint.

This is an age-old story - Prince finds girl, prince loses girl, girl loses shoe, prince finds shoe, prince finds girl and almost everybody lives happily ever after - but with quite a few twists and turns along the way.

Heading the list is Tristan Rumery, as Prince Charming; he has a deliciously smooth voice that blends beautifully with Hilary Wells in the title role. (She alternates with Morgan Cook.) Wells' demeanor and innocence are in stark contract to her stepmother and stepsisters ... and it doesn't hurt that she has a wonderful voice, as well.

Cross-dressing roles are a traditional aspect of pantomime, and this production couldn't do better than the trio of William Elsman, as Mrs. Baden-Rotten; Michael RJ Campbell, reprising his role as daughter Goneril; and Brian Rodda, as daughter Regan,

The irrepressible Elsman towers above all in his impossibly high heels, camping around the stage in heavy make-up, and wearing an outfit that would put a Tiffany lamp to shame. It's 'La Cage aux Folles' meets Mother Goose, with the generous help of costume designer B. Modern.

Campbell is the whiny, pouty, zaftig sister, with kewpie-doll lips and wispy pony tails, who causes everyone on stage - and in the band - to bounce whenever s/he jumps.

New to STC is local favorite Jim Lane, who for some reason is left off the program's cast list as Baron Hard-Up, Cinderella's perennially inebriated father, who is totally smitten with his overbearing wife and has let her run him into ruin. Lane provides many chuckles, whether staggering around the stage with his foot in a bucket, or trying to remember ... well ... anything.

New to the traditional plotline of 'Cinderella' are many characters, starting with Caleb Salmon as Buttons, Cinderella's artistic best friend, who is not-so-secretly smitten with her. His woodland dance, with a lovable, large, picnic-basket-stealing bear (Jared Lee), is a lot of fun. Lee's definitely a favorite with younger audience members.

A bit of fairy tale crossover also brings in Bo Peep (Jessica Goldman). Peep is a rabid, anti-monarchy feminist with a Scottish brogue so thick she may spray a few folks in the front row, with her more throaty syllables. Peep herds a flock of sheep as agile as the Rockettes; they all sashay around the stage doing bumps, grinds and high kicks. It's a tour-de-force for choreographer Michele Hillen-Noufer and dancers Tayler Anderson, Maryann Good, Leah Hassett, Ella Isaguirre, JuliAnn Machschefes and Amanda Salmon.

Peep's independence is a real turn-on for the prince's best friend, Dandini (Kyle Welling).

No Cinderella would be complete without a fairy godmother, and Lucinda Hitchcock Cone is charmingly ditsy. Thanks to Giulio Perone's scenic design and Victor En Yu Tan's lighting design, Cone pulls off a pretty impressive transformation of pumpkin and sheep into coach and horses.

Rounding out the cast are Barry Hubbard as the King, and Orlana Klip as the Queen, both down-to-earth monarchs; she even dusts the castle in her frilly apron, and forgets to take it off when the time comes for the big ball.

The show includes plenty of audience participation, which is a lot of fun for the kids, especially during the search for someone to wear the glass slipper.

The company's small band - keyboardist/conductor Gerald Rheault, percussionist Jim Nakayama and trumpeter Tom Shorba - provides a smooth accompaniment for the songs. The musicians also interact nicely with the performers.

'Cinderella' may not be everyone's idea of the ideal Christmas show, but one thing cannot be denied: If you're seeking fun for the entire family, this production can't be topped.

Every Xmas Story Ever Told

We've seen the news reports; we've felt it in our pocketbooks.

There's no denying it: Economic times are tough. People are scaling back on all sorts of things, and seeing fewer Christmas theatrical productions may be one of the cost-cutting measures being considered.

Well, Capital Stage has come up with a solution. Why agonize over which productions to see ... when you can see all of them at once?

'Every Christmas Story Ever Told' is a hilarious show that covers everything from 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' to Charles Dickens' beloved 'A Christmas Carol,' with some surprising other stories in between.

This fast-paced show is written by Michael Carleton, John Alvarez and Jim Fitzgerald, with original music by Will Knapp. This production, directed by Greg Alexander, stars a delightful trio of weirdoes - Anthony D'Juan, Gary Martinez and Jonathan Williams - who play (oddly enough) Anthony, Gary and Jonathan.

In the same vein as the 'reduced Shakespeare' productions, the authors have taken just about every beloved holiday story in existence, added a bit of Christmas history from around the world - who knew that Christmas had such a black side? - and a few familiar classic Christmas commercials, and blended everything more or less seamlessly into about 90 minutes of laughter.


The play concludes with a zany rendition of every Christmas carol ever sung, complete with choreography. Sort of.

As far as the play's plot is concerned, Jonathan wants to put on a traditional version of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' the way it was written; he tries valiantly to do so, but his fellow actors are tired of doing only Dickens. They want to salute all the other 'BHCs' (beloved holiday classics) instead.

Jonathan finally relents, on the condition that he also be allowed to perform a straight version of 'A Christmas Carol.'

The trio elicits suggestions from the audience for favorite movies, television programs, Christmas foods, traditions, commercials and so forth. It doesn't stop at Christmas, but also gives a nod to Hanukkah ('It bears similarities to other Jewish festivals: They tried to kill us. We survived. Let's eat!') and Kwanzaa ('The best part of Kwanzaa is that you'll never see a special called 'A Very Brady Kwanzaa.' ')

The meat of this show, though, is its retelling of all the stories we know so well.

Jonathan is reluctantly dragged into the project when he dresses as the title character for a very funny send-up of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' He's also a fabulous Scotsman and shines as Hermie, the elf who wants to be a dentist in 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' (hilariously renamed, for copyright reasons).

In Act 2, Williams does a credible James Stewart imitation in a salute to 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

Zany D'Juan is hilarious, whether donning antlers and a shiny nose, or saying nothing at all - eloquently - as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Memories of his performance will keep you giggling throughout the holiday season.

As for Martinez, well, you just want to wrap him up and take him home. He plays all the lovable characters to the hilt, with the sincerity that he gives Linus reciting 'The True Meaning of Christmas.' You can't leave the theater after seeing his performance without Christmas in your heart.

Of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without fruitcake, and the trio gives salute with 'What the Hell's the Deal with Fruitcake,' which includes a salute to 'The Dating Game' ... 'where we learn all the latest facts and figures on that fruitiest and nuttiest of cakes.'

Nearly every well-known Christmas show is covered during the 60-minute first act, even if only through bad puns or passing comments.

Act 2, only 20 minutes long, is designed to be Jonathan's promised 'A Christmas Carol' ... until Gary realizes they've forgotten 'It's a Wonderful Life.' Until you see these two classics woven together, you may not realize how much alike they are.

Williams has designed a clever, utilitarian set that folds and unfolds. Rebecca Redmond is credited with costume design, and some of the quick changes are quite ingenious. Steve Decker's lighting design and Brad Thompson's sound design also are critical to the play's effectiveness.

And as you leave the Capital Stage theater, you'll definitely be ready for the holiday season ... and you'll likely go about greeting everyone with a cheery 'Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi' ('Merry Christmas,' in Icelandic).

A Tuna Christmas

Those quirky citizens of Tuna, the third-smallest town in Texas, have returned to the Woodland Opera House, to share their Christmas Eve celebrations with us in a show appropriately titled 'Tuna Christmas.'

Thurston Wheelis and Arles Stuvie are back at the microphones at radio station OKKK, ready to dispense all the local and world news:

'In international news today, Christmas violence flares, leaving thousands dead in Mag ... Mada ... Madg ... I can't even pronounce the name of the place. They're foreigners, so never mind.'

There's DiDi Snavely, who manages Didi's Used Weapons Emporium ('If we can't kill it, it's immortal'), and who is running her annual holiday sale - 'Wouldn't you rather shoot somebody, than watch 'em run off with your new toaster oven?' - and has a rather unusual collection of decorations for her shop's Christmas tree.

Elmer Watkins is inviting everyone to the local Klan's annual Christmas party and skeet shoot: 'Our theme this year is The Whitest Christmas Ever.'

As always, Bertha Bumiller is at her wit's end about her children and threatening to 'put on that Andy Williams album' if they don't shape up.

Sullen daughter Charlene and son Stanley, the town delinquent, are both in the town's production of 'A Christmas Carol' ... by 'Charlie Dickens.' Charlene is taken with the director, Joe Bob Lipsey - who is a bit 'odd' - while Stanley is hoping the production will help him finally get off parole, so he can leave town.

All Stanley wants from Santa is 'a bus ticket out of this black hole.'

But the production may not take place at all, if penny-pinching Dixie Dewberry has her way. The theater hasn't paid the electric bill, and she's threatening to pull the plug on the power, so the show can't go on.

Meanwhile, a town phantom is running around vandalizing the decorations of the homes vying for best Christmas displays, such as putting Fruit of the Looms on the figures in the nativity display belonging to Vera Carp, the town snob.

Sweet Aunt Pearl may know more about the phantom than she's saying, but she's busy looking for a weapon to kill the birds in her front yard.

'I haven't had a gun in my house since I accidentally killed my second husband,' she admits.

The Smut Snatchers of the New Order are trying to get 'Silent Night' banned, because they aren't sure people should sing about 'round young virgins.'

And so it goes...

In addition to all the favorite characters from Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard's first play, 'Greater Tuna,' 'Tuna Christmas' adds new characters, such as Lipsey and waitresses Inita Goodwin and Helen Bedd, among others.

All 22 characters are played by two wonderfully talented actors, the Woodland Opera House's Jeff Kean and the Sacramento-based Runaway Stage Company's Bob Baxter. Both are reprising their roles from the Woodland Opera House's 2001 production of 'Greater Tuna.'

With the help of bouffant hair pieces, a variety of colorful costumes - designed by Laurie Everly Klassen - some interesting set pieces that hide half of the body here and there, and an incredible crew, the actors accomplish the transitions from one character to another so smoothly that the audience isn't aware of what certainly must be organized pandemonium backstage.

The entire crew deserves recognition: Chris Medina, Joseph Franklin, Charene Lauritzen, Ryan Mannie, Dana Smuda, Michael Smuda, Curtis Stupp and Chris Taloff.

Dave Hushbeck is the sound designer, a crucial job in this production.

Kean is credited with set design, which the program notes is based on the original show's production design.

It allows for characters to disappear in one door and emerge seconds later out another as a different character, for curtains to hide parts of the body that are moving into place behind a counter, and so forth.

While the play has a semblance of story from beginning to end, it's really more of a collection of vaguely related skits.

So, gather up your funny bone and head to the Woodland Opera house for a good chuckle and a few guffaws, to get you in the proper mood for the coming holiday season.

On the Razzle

Tom Stoppard’s “On the Razzle,” currently presented at the Veterans Memorial Theater by Acme Theater Company, is the story of two store clerks who decide to go out on the town (“on the razzle”) while their boss is going to a parade and then meeting his fiancee who runs a women’s dress shop. Accidentally, the two guys stumble into the very same dress shop, while trying to hide from their boss. They misrepresent their identities to the dress shop owner and her friend, the women convince them to take them out to dinner at a big fancy restaurant (for which they have no money to pay).

Uh. Haven’t we seen this before? With music?

Well, yes, we have. Actually the original idea for this play came from a 19th century Austrian farce (“Einen Fux will er sich machen “) which spawned Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” in 1938 which again spawned Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman’s “Hello, Dolly!”in 1968. “On the Razzle” (1981) takes much of the plot of “Matchmaker,” but eliminates the matchmaker herself, so you will find no Dolly Levi, but much of the rest of the plot elements will be very familiar, with a little “Shop Around the Corner” (or “You’ve Got Mail,” depending on your age) thrown in for good measure.

The production, directed by Daniel “Pheelyks” Guttenberg, marks the new era in Acme history, with the retirement of founder David Burmester, who (wrote and) directed his last Acme play in May. In fact, this was the very first opening night of an Acme play I’ve attended where Burmester was not in the audience.

The Stoppard play is very funny, replete with puns and spoonerisms. Crystal clear diction and impeccable timing are necessary to get maximum effect and sadly, this was not always the case with the young cast.

Egypt Howard has the role of Herr Zangler, the tongue twisted shop owner going off to meet his fiancee in the big city. Ms. Howard did well conveying the part of a gruff old man, but so much of her dialog was rushed and muffled that one had to strain to get the humor, much of which was unfortunately lost. This is particularly disappointing in the opening scene, which needs to be performed with the timing and clarity of a stand-up comedian.

I thought perhaps her problem was that the lines were too rushed until Alex Kravitz came on stage as Weinberl, Zangler’s top clerk. Kravitz’s delivery was equally as rapid fire, but every word crystal clear, every joke hitting the mark.

Kane Chai, as Christopher, Weinberl’s assistant, is likewise wonderful, skillfully handling the lines and successfully getting the most out of the humor of his role.

Delany Pelz as Melchior, the “new man” that Zangler hires, occasionally muffles her lines, but her stage presence is so electric that it really doesn’t matter. We get the humor whether the words are crisp or not...and most of the time her delivery is just fine.

Torin Lusebrink, playing Sonders, the debt-ridden suitor of Zangler’s niece, Marie, is a very promising young performer. He has an easy manner on stage and is one of those actors you enjoy watching.

Emily Tracy, always lovely to watch, plays Frau Fischer, the widow who has her eye on Weinberl and who has a surprise or two up her sleeve.

Pabo Frias has the small role of the lecherous Coachman, lusting after every woman he sees (“is she a go-er?”) with an inordinate fascination for breasts (“are they round like apples, or pointed like pears?”). He was funny in the role, but I would like to have seen it played a bit broader.

Vivian Breckenridge is very funny as the French maid Lisette, who is having a liaison in the kitchen with the Coachman, but we only know it from her assorted stages of dishabille as she runs to answer the front door.

Others in the cast include Carrie Miller as Madame Knorr, Kathleen Johnston as Zangler’s niece Marie, Anna Eckert-Kramer as Gertrude, Emma Kurtz as Miss Blumenblatt, Hannah May as the Foreigner, Sean Olivares as the tailor Hupfer, Danielle Wogulis as Phillipine, Jeremy Reinhard as the Constable, and GG Gilbert-Igelsrud as the Ragamuffin.

John Ramos’ set design consists of a huge white platform with a building wall in the middle, which allowed easy change of scenery by rotating the platform (also fun to see the colorful costumes against the white while the cast was changing scenes)

This first outing without Burmester at the helm shows that its founder has left Acme in good hands. The show could use a little work on delivery in spots, but is still a very funny, very enjoyable production.

The Typograher's Dream

As I stood in the lobby at the end of opening night of “The Typographer’s Dream,” currently at Capital Stage, a group of people next to me were asking each other “What in the world was that all about?”

In truth, I was asking myself the same thing about the one-act Adam Bock play, directed by Stephanie Gularte. I wasn’t sure what it was, but what I was sure of was that I had enjoyed it very much.

Bock’s inspiration for his play was his developing love of typography – the designing of text and its placement on a page – while working at a design firm. He thought he should write a play about a typographer, and then, carrying the idea to the absurd with rhyming words, decided to add a geographer and a stenographer as well. He thought it would be interesting to explore the extent to which people’s jobs affect who they are in real life. (E.g., a geographer is concerned with boundaries – political boundaries, historical boundaries, social boundaries. Is she concerned with boundaries in her real life? Boundaries between people?)

There is no plot line in this comedy and for it to work a strong cast is essential. Fortunately for the audience, Gularte has a stellar cast who know how to wring the most out of every nanosecond on stage.

The show opens in silence for several minutes. Stenographer Dave (Davis’ Peter Mohrmann, who has also served as Capital Stage’s managing director for the past four years) enters hesitantly from the back of the theater, pulling a small suitcase on wheels. He proceeds to the stage set up for what looks like a panel discussion, and appears appalled to discover an audience out front, and no other people on stage. Mohrmann’s travels around and behind the stage are hilarious. He has the comedic timing of a Charlie Chaplain.

Eventually Dave settles himself at the speaker’s table, behind the sign which says “Stenographer.” He carefully pulls his a machine out of the little suitcase and meticulously sets it up on the table.

The door bursts open and in comes Annalise, the geographer (a welcome return to the Sacramento stage of Saffron Henke). Still in silence, Annalise quickly takes over the stage, moving Dave around, and settling herself in.

The two wait, impatiently (Annalise) and nervously (Dave), for the Typographer, who eventually rolls in. Literally. Gail Dartz is wonderful as Margaret, clearly the least forceful of the three, and easily interrupted as she attempts to speak In fact, her lines for most of the first quarter of the play consist of “Um”... “Um”... “Um. Ah.” However, timing is crucial and her delivery is impeccable.

The three are apparently at this event to describe their jobs. Clearly all three are passionate about their work and proud of the good job they do.

Without interaction with each other, they take turns talking about their jobs. Dave waxes poetic about the importance of stenography (technically court reporting, he reminds us many times, in struggling to identify exactly what his job should be called. “You call yourself a court reporter,” he says. “It’s a little more glamorous.”) He stresses his importance as the witness of record in court cases, and swells with pride at the skill required. “Those who can't quite achieve the necessary manual dexterity can always become surgeons.”

Annalise is excited about her profession, but upset that “geography” gets buried in the larger heading of “social studies” in school and wants it to be recognized for the significant stand-alone job that it is.

Margaret is in love with the beauty of typography, the design of words on the page, the page itself, the colors, the typefaces, the letters (though numbers trouble her, she admits). “I am my job,” she says. “I don’t care. I know that. It’s what I do all day. I am my job.”

As the play progresses, it become apparent that these three have personal reactions with each other and the effect their professions have on those relationships are brought out. Are they all happy having their very being set by what job they do?

Bock’s crisp dialog, Gularte’s skillful direction, and the actors’ impeccable timing make this a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes entertainment. Even if you aren’t sure what it is when it’s all finished!

Magdalene

There's no way to put this gently: I hated 'Magdalene,' which continues through May 11 at the Sacramento Theatre Company.

Singer/songwriter Katie Ketchum wrote and performs her one-woman musical translation of the 'Gospel of Mary of Magdala,' as seen through the eyes of a 1950s rockabilly singer. The show toured throughout California for the past two years, before coming to Sacramento, which made me wonder how it survived long enough to get here in the first place.

I searched the Internet and discovered that it has received rave reviews wherever it has played.

So why did I loathe it so much?

Well, at some point, someone got the bright idea to add additional people: Jessica Goldman, to portray Ketchum's dream visions of Mary Magdalene; and musicians Myke Kunkel (percussion) and Michael LaPlante (electric bass).

The expansion of the cast was so recent that an insert had to be placed in the program, to explain that this no longer is a two-act/one-woman show, but a one-act/ multi-performer production.

I assume the changes also were so fresh as to 'justify' Ketchum's need to have a script in front of her, from which she read for a good portion of the performance.

This also would explain all the lines she stumbled over, in a show she already has performed for many months.

Ketchum's narration is just plain stupid, whereas Goldman - who positively sparkles when on stage, and makes the hour bearable - seems to have the best parts of the show. I question whether this was intended, but that's the result of dividing the script.

It does not help that the few plot elements, onto which Ketchum attempts to hang the role of Mary Magdalene in modern Christianity, are so convoluted.

Basically, Ketchum plays a trailer park chick named Marlene, who tries to hold her band together after the leader, Joe (also her partner), is murdered. She's having a hard time; the boys in the band don't want a female leader, even though this is what Joe wanted. Pete, the bass player, is especially confrontational, she tells us, because he's what Marlene calls 'mishomogenized': He doesn't like women.

Get it? Joe and Mary, and then Pete, who really wants to be head of the band?

Goldman pops in from time to time, to play Magdalene in the various roles she has been assigned throughout history. One finds her as Jesus' wife, who leaves Jerusalem to go to France ... a country that didn't exist at the time.

Some of these stories, Marlene tells us, come from 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary Magdalene,' which may explain a lot.

With two exceptions - a lovely brief duet between Marlene and Magdalene, and the closing number - the music is forgettable. The lyrics sound like something you'd get if a bunch of kids started singing songs on a long car trip, without any sense of rhyme or reason, but just to tell some sort of story.

I detested the fact that the small theater house lights never came down, which put me under a spotlight for the entire show. To add insult to injury, the patrons were expected to sing - in English and Yiddish - and clap along.

And were scolded if they didn't do so enthusiastically enough.

I can only assume, from the Web reviews, that Ketchum's original work was outstanding ... but has been ruined by the suggested changes at STC. Sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone.

I'll give Ketchum the benefit of the doubt: She seems to be a genuinely talented singer and musician.

But I wouldn't recommend the show - in its current state - to anyone.

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

It is a sad fact that over the years I have been reviewing for The Davis Enterprise, I have seen that a mediocre musical will consistently get a bigger audience than a first rate play. I have often left a half-full theater thinking what a shame it is that people in this area just don't seem to come out for straight plays any more, and how sad that they don't realize what they are missing.

A case in point is Davis Musical Theater Company's new comedy series, which opened with one of Neil Simon's funnier plays, “Laughter on the 23^rd Floor.”

“Laughter” is Simon's homage to the time he spent working on “Your Show of Shows,” the old Sid Caesar weekly variety show, in the waning days of the golden era of television variety shows, and in the middle of the McCarthy era, when the networks were afraid of topical humor and were “dumbing down” shows to be more “family friendly.” The writing staff included some of the greats in comedy – Caesar himself, of course, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart, among others. (Reiner would go on to create his own homage to this period, in the form of “The Dick Van Dyke Show”)

Director Michael McElroy has hit a triple (not quite a home run, but close) on his first directing effort with a fast-paced, funny, well acted production that features a top notch cast.

Joshua Smith is Lucas, the Neil Simon character, who acts as both the narrator, introducing each writer in turn as he or she enters the room, and is also a participant in the action. Smith's Lucas is a fresh-faced, wide-eyed, innocent looking young man who is somewhat in awe of the company in which he finds himself on this high powered writing team. Sadly, actor Smith's lines aren't always distinct enough, so that you miss pieces of dialog or narration here and there, but overall he turns in a believable performance.

The group is writing for “The Max Prince
Show,” and Kevin Caravalho turns in an inspired, frenetic performance as Max, a comic genius whose insecurities cause him to throw up before each show, who pops pills and drinks too much. He rants and raves, throws the telephone, and punches holes in the wall, but he is intensely loyal to his writing staff and is in constant battle with the network to keep the show on the air. Caravalho always gives 110% and this role is no exception.

While this is a generally above-average cast, there are some, like Caravalho, who stand out. Paul Fearn as the head writer, Val, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, who is taking elocution lessons so that he can pronounce curse words properly, is another who lights up the stage when he makes his entrance, transforming “OK” performances into something electric. Val's exit line, at the end of the show, is one of my favorites.

Jeff Labowitch plays the hypochondriac Ira (based on Woody Allen), who arrives late each day and who seems to suffer from the malady du jour, everything from a heart attack to a brain tumor, and dreams of having a virus named after him.

Darryl Strohl is Milt, the womanizer who revels in his flashy dress. It's hard to know which is the more notable—his all white suit, or his red plaid pants (kudos to costume designer Jean Henderson).

Clocky McDowell is the chain-smoking Brian, who is always just about to make it big in Hollywood, once he writes that perfect script. His “shoe fight” with Ira was a very funny moment.

Lauren Miller is Karen, the lone woman on the writing team, who has been around so long she really is “one of the guys” (think RoseMarie in the Dick Van Dyke Show). Kris Farhood is Helen, Max's long-suffering secretary.

Kenny (Brennen Cull) is the peacemaker, the one who seems to be the solid rock of the group, constantly trying to talk sense into the other writers. By Act 2, when it becomes obvious that the show is on the way out, Kenny remarks, poignantly, “Maybe we'll never have this much fun again in our entire lives.”

Kenny was probably right, but Simon made sure that the fun didn't die entirely by recreating it in “Laughter on the 23^rd Floor,” which will give the audience a taste of what it was like to turn out one of the best variety shows in the history of television.

Fortunately, Davis Musical Theater Company has done well by the script. Treat yourself to something other than a musical and revel in the humor of a bygone day—and remember what television was like when the likes of Sid Caesar and his writing team ruled the airwaves.

N*W*C*

I wish I could tell you the name of the play I saw at the Mondavi Studio Theater last night, but it can’t be printed in a family newspaper. “N*W*C*” stands for the racial slurs that are used for African Americans, Latinos, and Asians, but most newspapers use the shortened form to avoid being offensive. Publicity material from the University cautions, “Patrons should be advised that the production uses offensive language.”

The reaction to the title of the piece pretty much explains the purpose of writing and performing it in the first place.

The production was scheduled for only three performances, but brisk ticket sales necessitated adding a fourth performance, January 26th at 10:30 p.m.

N*W*C* is a 90-minute original work for the stage produced by L.A.-based Speak Theater Arts that co-writers Rafael Agustin, Allan Axibal, and Miles Gregley say “traces the origins and evolution of three derogatory terms that shaped our lives and took the place of a genuine understanding of our distinct cultures.” N*W*C* mixes comedy with the real-life stories of three young men from different ethnic backgrounds to deconstruct the notion of race in America.

It won the 2003 award for “Best Play” from the American Readers Theater Association, as well as the Audience Prize and four other major awards.

Gregley, Agustin and Axibal were all best friends (in itself an unusual thing, given their mixed racial ethnicity, the actors told the audience at a Q&A following the show) who developed N*W*C* as a one-night senior project while attending UCLA. It was so successfully received that a six-week engagement in downtown Los Angeles followed, and then they were booked for a national tour. It has now been touring for four years and has been playing to sell-out crowds across the country.

Neo-Nazis threatened one performance in Olympia, WA, while the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent out fliers condemning their use of the ethnic slur against blacks at another one (proving that the show really does bring people together, joked one of the actors).

The show begins with Axibal, dressed in a blue satin outfit you might find on any mannequin in Chinatown, stepping out from behind a panel chanting the Asian epithet over and over again. He is joined by Agustin dressed in stereotypical Latino garb joining in the chant with his own particular epithet, and finally Gregley, wearing a flowing full-length coat and a red feathered hat chants the “N-word” over and over. By the time the chant has finished, the audience is already starting to become inured to the terms.

Gregley lets the audience know how many times they have heard the N-word during the piece, Agustin repeats with how many times he has said the W-word, and when Axibal says that he has said the C-word 270 times, the other two complain that he always has to overachieve.

This sets up a section where the three men list the various stereotypes attributed to each of their ethnicities (such as the overachieving Asian).

They compare their individual experiences growing up, and learning first that they were different and then how those differences would set them apart in a predominately white world. (“You don’t know how to hate yourself when you’re 8 years old,” says Axibal. “That’s what school is for!”)

They talk about the things that they tried to do to blend in with their surroundings. In a funny monologue, Gregley talks about growing up in California and the culture shock he received when his mother moved the family to Georgia, where he had to learn to “be black,” when he was not accepted by his peers because looked and sounded too Californian.

Axial recalls how his mother promised him she would raise the money so he could have “the operation,” which he explains is the slitting of his eye-lids to make his eyes look more rounded, and more “western.”

Agustin shows headshots of himself as a blonde, when he bleached his hair to give himself a chance at being cast in shows when directors felt he looked too Latin.

In the end, the audience sees how we are all more alike than we are different, if we open ourselves to dialog with others.

N*W*C* is a funny show with a powerful message, the message being that everything really is all about race: the human race.

Imaginary Invalid

Warning: Attending a production at the Woodland Opera House any time between now and February 10 could be hazardous to your health. I’m serious. I will not be responsible for anybody who suffers convulsions of laughter, splitting of sides, or inability to breathe because of laughing.

The Opera House is presenting a madcap production of Moliere’s classic “The Imaginary Invalid,” translated and adapted by James Magruder and directed by Rodger McDonald, who also plays the title role.

The fun starts as the audience enters the opera house, along with costumed actors, who take their places in the box seats, and along side members of the audience and interact with each other and audience members.

A Nurse Maid, Jenn Smuda-Cotter begins the production with a speech comparing “classic” playwrights Wm. Shakespeare and Moliere and then all hell breaks loose with perhaps the most energetic opening you are likely to see on stage.

The members of the cast are anticipating the arrival of Argan, “the imaginary invalid” and the nonsense begins.

There are not enough superlatives to describe the Rodger McDonald’s Argan, the hypochondriac to end all hypochondriac who revels in reciting the ailments of and treatment of his bowels. Moliere takes lowbrow humor and raises it to new heights, and this translation uses just about every euphemism for the act of emptying one’s bowels as one can find. McDonald handles the slapstick humor beautifully and has a catalog of facial expressions that seems endless.

Amy Vyvlecka is Toinette, Argan’s servant, whose caustic relationship with her master is dependent on the chemistry between the two actors, and it’s a chemistry which works well in this instance. Toinette is the person in the house who really runs things, who knows everybody’s secrets, how to keep them and how and when to reveal them. Vyvlecka is delightful to watch, a real pro at work. She is the character that everyone seems to trust, thus she is enlisted to help Angelique (Marissa Gamble), Argan’s eldest daughter in winning Argan’s permission to marry the love of her life, Cleante (Ben Moroski).

Argan has betrothed his daughter to the son of his doctor, Dr. Diafoirus (Phillip Pitman), Thomas Diafoirus (Mark Garbe), a man repulsive to Angelique, but chosen by her father because, as he freely admits, he wants to be sure to always have a doctor in the house. Garbe beautifully handles the role of the bumbling simpleton trying to remember the flowery speeches his father has written for him, but failing miserably, while his personal mannerisms are grossly distasteful to just about everyone.

Gamble is adorable and spends most of the show lip-locked with Moroski. The two perform an impromptu “opera,” when Cleante poses as a music teacher in order to spend time with his love. In the “opera,” they are able to speak their love to each other, hoping Argan will not be aware of what is transpiring. Moroski is also very funny, with the woebegone look of a lovelorn loon, as he sighs for the love of his lady.

Argan’s second wife, Beline, is played by Anne-Marie Trout. The gold-digging Beline has married the miserly Argan to get his money after his death, but flutters about him like a dutiful wife. He calls her “Mommy” and she speaks baby talk to him until her duplicity is revealed. Trout is very funny and plays the exaggerated Beline to perfection.

Franchesca Jimenez as Louise, Argan’s youngest daughter, is cute as a button and has little to do in Act 1, but gets her chance to shine in Act 2, and shine she does as she feigns terror at her father’s anger.

The hilarity and nonsense of Act 1 is dulled a bit in Act 2, where Moliere takes the chance to present his views of the medical profession of the day (perhaps with good reason, since the playwright died shortly after “Imaginary Invalid” opened!). Jeff Nauer gives a solid performance as Argan’s brother, Beralde, but gets the unhappy task of delivering much the “serious” material and doesn’t get a lot of laughs, because there are none to be had.

However the show ends with a zany ceremony, arranged by Beralde and headed by Smuda-Cotter, and all ends happily.

The feel of this production is greatly enhanced by the fabulous costumes of Laurie Everly-Klassen and wigs of Klassen, Chris Medina, Rachel Klassen.

This a sparkling gem, from first to last. As the Nurse Maid states at the outset, Moliere doesn’t get as much attention as Shakespeare. Based on this Woodland Opera House production, it’s hard to understand why.

Those seeking something fun to do this rainy weekend need look no further than the Acme Theater Company's production of 'A Thurber Carnival.'

How often do you get a chance to see someone wear a lampshade for a hat?

With Acme founder Dave Burmester gradually divesting himself of company responsibilities, longtime patrons have been concerned by what would happen to the company when he's not around.

'A Thurber Carnival' - directed by Emily Henderson, Daniel 'Pheelyks' Guttenberg, Alicia Hunt, Joshua Nielsen, Anthony Pinto, Jennifer Provenza Wallace, Betsy Raymond, Lisa Voelker and Dara Yazdani - leaves no doubt that Burmester has trained his actors well over the years. The alumni are more than competent to take over the reins of the company, after he directs his final play this summer.

'A Thurber Carnival' consists of 17 sketches based on a selection of Thurber's stories and cartoon captions, including the famous 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' and 'The Unicorn in the Garden,' along with lesser-known works. The show ran on Broadway in 1960; Thurber performed - as himself - in the sketch called 'File and Forget,' which rings even more true today, as the ultimate customer service nightmare.

The setting for 'A Thurber Carnival' is a raised scaffolding; a jazz combo - Hannah May, JT Rakitan, James Blake and Jonathan Kelly - occupies its center and performs before the show and during scene changes.

Large versions of Thurber's drawings hang at jaunty angles on the scaffolding, and make a perfect backdrop for the action on stage.

The cast has no weak links: Alex Kravitz, Hope Raymond, Kate McFarland, Delany Pelz, Elliana Bisgaard-Church, John Ramos, Sean Olivares, Vivian Breckenridge, Nathaniel Guttenberg, Emily Tracy and Ethan Jaffe all appear in several sketches.

While each sketch is excellent, little jolts of pleasure here and there raise the experience to 'outstanding.' Raymond, for example, is hilarious as an American woman trying to explain the 'real' plot of 'The Macbeth Murder Mystery' to McFarland. This brief bit could have been one of the less interesting sketches, but Raymond's accent and character make it a total delight.

Kravitz, taking on the Thurber role in 'File and Forget,' is exceptional. Tracy appears here briefly as Jeannette Gaines, and she almost steals the sketch.

Pelz is charming, but as a little girl in 'The Little Girl and the Wolf,' and as a termite in 'The Elephant Who Changed the World.'

Tracy is wonderful as the wife in 'A Couple of Hamburgers.' Jaffe is very funny in 'The Pet Department,' as a television host giving advice for pet owners. (The fireplace in this scene may be the most inventive part of the evening.)

In addition to the major cast, the 'Magic Hands Ensemble' - Geoffrey Albrecht, Kane Chai, Rachel 'Duckie' Cherones, Brandon Raphael, Celsiana Warwick and Genevieve Whitman - portrays everything from tables and ottomans to a potted plant, the flames in a fireplace and, yes, the standing lamp (with a lampshade on someone's head).

The Magic Hands Ensemble also presents an 'Improv Fable' at the start of the second act, during which they act out a sketch chosen at random from a fishbowl.

The opening and closing pieces - 'Word Dance, Part I' and 'Word Dance, Part II' - will be familiar to fans of 'Laugh-In'; this dance and stop-motion for one-liners (actually the captions to Thurber cartoons) was the inspiration for the weekly opening dance party on the 1960s television show.

Once again, Acme delivers a sparkling evening of gentle humor, expertly directed and acted.

Now in its 27th year, the Davis company just gets better and better.