Monday, August 10, 1998
Curtain Calls
"Peter Pan"
Through Aug. 16
Pantages Theatre
Tickets:$22-$28
(213) 365-3500
Just because a good chunk of the audience can barely peer over
the velvet seats in front of them doesn’t mean a show (especially
one charging $22 and up) can’t deliver to the over-12 crowd as
well.
Stephen Sondheim knew this when he reworked fairy tales in "Into
the Woods." The lavish "Beauty and the Beast" and the mythic "The
Lion King" assure that, for all of Disney’s faults, they know this
too. And certainly the puppeteers behind the Mabou Mines production
of "Peter and Wendy" at the Geffen Playhouse last winter epitomized
this.
Glittering with fairy dust and tinkling with soft, haunting
Irish music, the Geffen production brought to life novelist J. M.
Barrie’s dark fantasy, ignoring neither the sexual tension between
the title characters nor the innate creepiness of a boy who never
loses his baby teeth.
But the Barney-ized revival of Jule Styne’s "Peter Pan" seems
almost completely immune to the tale’s potential. Styne’s melodies
and Carolyn Leigh’s lyrics are simplistic without being especially
catchy, though veteran Pan Cathy Rigby delivers them with spritely
gusto.
As the fussy, silver-limbed pirate, Paul Schoeffler is a
delightful Captain Hook. Doubling as the brood’s proud-but-bumbling
father, he gets indirect laughs when his deadpan wife announces he
has literally taken up residence in Nana’s doghouse.
As the show’s title indicates, Wendy, the third main character,
remains virtually forgotten. UCLA alum Elisa Sagardia receives only
a shell of a Wendy to work with and fluffs her up with sugar and
air. Wendy’s budding sexuality and delicate position on the brink
of adulthood drown in syrupy vocals and ladylike manifestoes. It’s
no wonder that the sassy, jealous Tinkerbell (played by a bell and
a beam of light) emerges as the most cathartic character.
Some complain that the elementary themes in the Tony
award-winning "The Lion King" don’t hold up to its elegant staging.
The opposite holds true for "Peter Pan." Flashes of Barrie’s quirky
dialogue shine through but don’t jive with cartoonish sets and
costumes.
Only late in Act II (of three) does the production seem to
recognize and make the best of its camp qualities. The Indian
ensemble leaps, kicks and drums out Patti Colombo’s energetic
choreography during "Ugg-a-Wugg." A slew of pirates pair off for
the silly, jubilant "Hook’s Waltz."
Yet even the surprisingly still-breathtaking flight scenes
cannot reconcile the brash, heavily miked production with its
whispering, bittersweet story. The awkward result is akin to
McDonald’s offering "Ma Vie En Rose" Happy Meal toys.
Cheryl Klein
"Danny and the Deep Blue Sea"
Through Sept. 6
Beverly Hills Playhouse
Tickets: $20
(818) 789-TIXX
As friends of Lorena Bobbitt know, the line between love and
violence is often as thin as a knife blade. But for the two
life-hardened characters in "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," an
unlikely whirlwind relationship provides the only shelter from a
world of bruised knuckles and shameful family secrets.
But what Robert Walden’s spicy direction and John Patrick
Stanley’s thoughtful script reveal – poignantly and sometimes sadly
– is that love doesn’t conquer all, though it certainly smoothes
life’s rough edges.
Danny, whose hair-trigger temper Martin Marino captures with
both humor and intensity, walks into a hole-in-the-wall bar fresh
from yet another fight. The dive’s sole occupant is Roberta (Nanea
Reeves), a reluctant single mother whose sexual activity with her
father has built a wall of guilt.
What follows is more of a sensitive, psychological tango than
the Rock Hudson-Doris Day courtship the premise might suggest.
Indeed, Walden interrupts the dialogue with an "Apache dance."
Abrupt, violent, black-lit, a near strangle for every dip,
Francisco Viana’s fight choreography underscores just how dangerous
emotional release is for Danny and Roberta. Unfortunately, these
dark, stylish interludes disappear without explanation midway
through the performance.
After a passionate night together, Danny and Roberta revel in
the start of an new morning, playing house with giddy innocence.
This fusion of naivete and suppressed pain takes Reeves from her
heavily accented, over-the-top early moments to a more natural
performance that alternates between dorky laughter and the whiplash
of reality. Both Danny and Roberta have trouble believing that they
deserve love and approach the possibility of happiness with angrily
guarded hope.
Ultimately, they must forgive themselves before they can take on
the grown-up world that has abused and exiled them (both still live
with their parents). The production, then, is a warm, rare, if
somewhat uneven love story along society’s fringes.
Cheryl Klein
"Stalag 17"
Through August 29
Coleman and Smith Artistic Company
Tickets: $15
(213) 660-TKTS
Comraderie goes hand-in-hand with barrack life, but the Coleman
and Smith Artistic Company’s "Stalag 17" is a bit too chummy.
Instead of watching POWs triumph over adversity, the audience is
relegated to seeing a bunch of actors goofing off.
The play follows seven soldiers in a German camp whose plans to
escape have leaked out via an agent amongst them. Under camp clown
Stosh, most of them believe the traitor is the brooding Sefton.
Soon they are joined by newcomers, Reed and Dunbar, who reveal that
they set fire to a German train. The secret out, and they must work
together to protect Dunbar.
Though predictable, the story manages to keep the audience’s
interest. However, the production’s lack of focus is distracting,
especially some of its inexplicable costume pieces. Stosh prances
around the barracks in fuzzy bunny slippers while his pal Harry
dons green pastel long johns.
In the same vein, the buddy-buddyings look ridiculous. The
actors’ playful fighting is so poorly choreographed that they end
up just punching into the air unrealistically. J.R. Bailey’s Stosh
is reminiscent of an annoying Scrappy the dog from "Scooby Doo."
The others are also forgettable with the exception of Jake
Johnson’s ad libs and Denver Dowrdige’s intentionally bad
impressions of old movie stars.
Despite their immense energy and enthusiasm, the boys from
"Stalag 17" fail to create a believable of POW camp life.
Stephanie Sheh