Theater review: 'Deathtrap' at the Davidson-Valentini Theatre

Greed, strangulation, and male nudity — just another day in bucolic Connecticut in Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap,” now receiving a frisky revival at the Davidson-Valentini Theatre in the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.

It’s 1978, and Sidney Bruhl (Brian Foyster), a thriller writer whose last Broadway hit ran during the Kennedy administration, has just received the first draft of a play by one of his workshop students, Clifford (Burt Grinstead). His acolyte’s manuscript is so promising, Sidney notes, “a gifted director couldn’t even hurt it.” (It’s the throwaway show biz trash talk that gives this play its charm.)

As Sidney muses on how convenient it would be to murder strapping young Clifford and steal his work, his fragile wife, Myra (Cynthia Gravinese), reminds him that psychic Helga Ten Dorp (Elizabeth Herron) has rented the cottage next door and may sense negative vibrations. Thus is launched a fiendish plot and, by Act II, a medieval crossbow’s bolt. 

The challenge of “Deathtrap” is to make its mechanical turns seem organic; Sidney himself would respect the intricate stage business required to pull off this thriller’s big shocks. Director Ken Sawyer delivers the boos with relish, though he has less command over the tone of performances — each cast member seems to be in a different play. This dissonance erodes our suspension of disbelief, particularly with Heron’s hammy turn as Helga.

PST, A to Z: ‘Cruising’ at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives

Pacific Standard Time will explore the origins of the Los Angeles art world through museum exhibitions throughout Southern California over the next six months. Times art reviewer Sharon Mizota has set the goal of seeing all of them. This is her latest report.

To see “Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980,” you have to do some cruising yourself — not necessarily in a libidinal sense, but between three small venues: two in Exposition Park and one in West Hollywood. Consequently, the exhibition feels a bit fragmented, with a single artist’s work often spread across multiple spaces, but it’s very much in keeping with the sprawling structure of Pacific Standard Time and the diversity of the queer community itself.

Drawn from the collections of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, the materials on view are a mix of art and documentation from a spectrum of artists, from relatively well-known names — Don Bachardy, Gronk, Sister Mary Corita Kent — to those who remain completely anonymous. The show also encompasses a wide array of sexual identities and movements whose aims and attitudes weren’t always aligned. The result is an unruly history of queer culture in Los Angeles that is inspiring in its depth and vibrancy.

The ONE Archives began as ONE Magazine, founded in 1953, and the display at USC's Doheny Library is largely devoted to the history of queer publications including PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education, which later became The Advocate), The Ladder, The Lesbian Tide, and more obscure titles like Edith Eyde’s Vice Versa: America’s Gayest Magazine, hand-typed in editions of 10 from 1947-48, and Transvestia, dedicated to straight-identified male cross-dressers, published by Virginia Prince (born Arnold Lowman) starting in 1960. There’s also some fascinating early 20th century sheet music from the collection of Ralph W. Judd with titles like, “My Regular Girl is a Feller,” and “I Only Want a Buddy…Not a Sweetheart.”

Theater review: 'Why We Have A Body' at Edgemar Center for the Arts

 

"For five decades I have struggled to say something more than 'Where could I have put my pocketbook?'" 

That line is an emblem of the epigrams of "Why We Have A Body," Claire Chafee's surreal 1993 comedy at the Edgemar Center for the Arts.

The aforementioned quip comes from ever-exploring Eleanor (Barbara Bain), a self-delineated "feminist, archaeologist, historian and bilingual student of the human brain." But "Body's" chief focus is on her daughters.

Mary (director Tanna Frederick) is a wild-eyed head case and serial convenience store bandit who obsesses over Joan of Arc. Lili (Alex Sedrowski) is a private investigator whose romance with the married Renee (Cathy Arden) gives "Body" what plot it possesses.

Theater review: 'The Color Purple' at Celebration Theatre

Everybody say "amen": The joint is jumping over at Celebration Theatre with its raucous, exultant staging of “The Color Purple.” Featuring a cast of 17 and a vibrant five-piece orchestra tucked behind an upstage planked wall, this L.A. intimate-theater premiere sweeps you along like an old-fashioned tent revival.

Set against the backdrop of the Depression-era Deep South, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of an ugly duckling’s journey to joyful self-acceptance has biblical sweep. Impoverished African American teen Celie (Cesili Williams) struggles to escape a cycle of abuse from her father (Corey Jones) and husband, Mister (Michael A. Sheppard); meanwhile, her sister, Nettie (the luminous Kelly M. Jenrette), travels across continents in search of her life’s mission.  

It’s tough to dramatize Celie’s internal liberation, so “Purple” charts her progress through encounters with female role models. Defiant Sofia (vocal powerhouse Constance Jewell Lopez) won’t kowtow to husband Harpo (Terrance Spencer) or the town’s white mayor; chanteuse Shug Avery (“American Idol” finalist La Toya London) encourages Celie to embrace her sensuality and true sexual orientation.

Marsha Norman’s respectful book inevitably simplifies Celie’s struggle, and some of director Michael Matthews’ scene work feels overstated. The strength of the production is its unabashed theatricality, and Matthews and company work wonders with the songs by Brenda Russell Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, including the gospel-inflected “Mysterious Ways,” the irresistible “Brown Betty” and the moody “African Homeland.”  (The choreography is courtesy of Janet Roston).

The up-tempo cast is terrific, led by the lovely, soulful Williams as Celie, whose wary smile breaks your heart. (And church ladies and local gossips Sixx Carter, Lorie V. Moore and Brittney S. Wheeler steal every scene they’re in.)

Above all, this exuberant “Color Purple” creates an opportunity to count blessings -- including 99-seat theaters that take on challenging shows with minimal budgets. Celebration Theatre’s raise-the-roof production shows up the bigger, better-funded venues in town. In L.A., less is so often more. Pantages, Center Theatre Group, La Mirada, are you watching?  

--Charlotte Stoudt

More theater reviews from the Los Angeles Times

“The Color Purple,” Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 26. $34. Contact: (323) 957-1884 or www.celebrationtheatre.com. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes. 

Photo: Cesili Williams, left, and La Toya London. Credit: Barry Weiss

Nathan Lane, Octavia Spencer, Dustin Lance Black talk prejudice

Dustin Lance Black is good at telling other people’s stories. The Oscar-winner penned the scripts for “Milk” and "J. Edgar," as well as "8,” an upcoming play that dramatizes the Prop 8 legal battle.

The screenwriter will share a story from his own life as part of “A More Perfect Union: Stories of Prejudice and Power” Feb. 15 at the Pacific Design Center. Black and four other storytellers, including Oscar nominee Octavia Spencer, will tell a 10-minute true tale about discrimination turned self-discovery at the invite-only event, which also will feature host Nathan Lane and a performance by John Legend.

The event is part of the USA Network's Characters Unite campaign, which aims to combat prejudice through live storytelling events and public service announcements and was created in partnership with the Moth, a nonprofit storytelling organization.

RELATED:

George Clooney joins L.A. cast of Prop. 8 play

Oscars 2012: Nods for 'The Help's' Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain

-- Jamie Wetherbe

Photo: Dustin Lance Black. Credit: Matt Sayles / Associate Press

Performance review: 'O(h)' at the Actors Company Theatre

Care for a little deconstruction with your dance show?  Wisecracking Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith take you under the tulle in “O(h),” their innovative if uneven hour of choreography and commentary now at the Actors Company Theatre in West Hollywood.

Part lecture, part striptease, part improv, “O(h)” plays like a TED talk with sweat. Smith’s strapping physique is the evening’s eye candy, but the subject matter is dance itself, that sublime, pretentious, elusive art form. If nothing else, Casebolt and Smith are cheeky enough to admit their chosen profession is rife with the ridiculous. That prima ballerina’s penchant for overacting? Running around in circles to indicate a long journey? Martha Graham angst? Lame. 

There’s nothing like hearing dish from experts, especially on their elegant playground of a set, a pristine box mapped with glowing, colored EL  wire created by architects Hadrian Predock and John Frane.

Theater review: Leslie Jordan's 'Fruit Fly' at the Celebration

Boys and their mamas. Theirs is a bond that Elmer's would be lucky to replicate.

Leslie Jordan clearly adores his mama. In a new one-man gab-fest he calls "Fruit Fly," the saucy actor-raconteur recalls accompanying her to the beauty shop, where he would absorb the banter and, back home, make her laugh with impersonations of the ladies -- a boyhood activity he much preferred to ball-playing.

His mother, he surmises, sensed right away that he would face some extra challenges while growing up in Chattanooga, Tenn. Quite young, he developed a flair for accessorizing with red cowboy boots, and his reading tastes ran to Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew, not "those rambunctious Hardy Boys." Mom began circling the wagons so that he'd have a safe place to become the person he was meant to be.

The world now knows that person as the actor who portrayed the Tammy Wynette-channeling Brother Boy in Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," the sexually ambiguous Beverley Leslie on "Will & Grace" and the harried, muttering newspaper boss in "The Help." He's a stitch, forever innocent and boy-like at just shy of 5 feet, yet with a penchant for blue-flamed chatter that scandalizes polite society even as it triggers shrieks of laughter.

Family snapshots flash onto a screen at the back of a tastefully fussy, charmingly old-fashioned living room designed by Jimmy Cuomo. Jordan's recollections seem off the cuff, yet under David Galligan's pinpoint direction, they cycle subtly through light and dark, drawing Celebration Theatre audiences ever deeper into the story's depths.

Oh, yes, there are depths, from losing the father who "was better looking than anything Hollywood has ever put out" to the problems that Jordan created for himself -- for as much as his mother tried to smooth his way, he stubbornly roughed it up again, he confesses.

From time to time, Jordan is a bit too concise, failing to fill in details that would provide a completer picture. But one figure shines through, perfectly formed.

You're quite a mama, Peggy Ann. Thank you. And to all mamas: Thank you. We love you.

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Confessions of a Character: Leslie Jordan's Bumpy, Offbeat Life

-- Daryl H. Miller

"Fruit Fly," Celebration Theatre, 7051-B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends Feb. 18. $34. (323) 957-1884 or www.celebrationtheatre.com. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Photo: Leslie Jordan, in his solo autobiographical show "Fruit Fly," tells us why he loves his mama. Credit: Matthew Brian Denman

 

George Clooney joins L.A. cast of Prop. 8 play

George Clooney is throwing his considerable star power behind the fight against Prop. 8 by signing on to appear in a reading of the  play "8" in Los Angeles. The play, by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is scheduled to have a staged reading at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on March 3.

The play "8" is based on research and transcripts from Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the 2010 federal court battle that dealt with the legality of Prop. 8, the controversial ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California. The judge in the case ruled that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional, but the decision has been appealed.

The reading of "8" will serve as a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, an advocacy organization that has fought to overturn the initiative. Clooney is the first actor to be announced for the L.A. reading.

A spokesman for Clooney said the actor was traveling in Australia this week and was unavailable for comment. But in a release sent by the foundation, Clooney said: "It is astonishing that gay and lesbian Americans are still treated as second-class citizens. I am confident that, very soon, the laws of this nation will reflect the basic truth that gay and lesbian people -- like all human beings -- are born equal in dignity and rights."

An artistic dialogue about Proposition 8 at SFMOMA

Since 2008, the issues of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, have been clamorously debated, but at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the topic is addressed with what is meant to be quiet deliberation in the exhibition "The Air We Breathe."

Curator Apsara DiQuinzio watched the debate over Prop. 8 develop.  "So often events unfold around us in the world and artists don't often get to actively participate," she said. The show evolved from her book proposal in response to a Teiger Foundation solicitation for ideas that were "outside of the box."

Theater review: 'Who's Your Daddy?' at the Little Victory Theatre

Unemployed, promiscuous, a recreational drug user and, worst of all, Irish: Johnny O’Callaghan isn’t exactly Ward Cleaver. But an African orphan transforms this genial reprobate in “Who’s Your Daddy?,” O’Callaghan’s buoyant solo show celebrating the adoption of his son, now at the Little Victory Theatre.

After his rocker boyfriend dumps him, O’Callaghan takes an impromptu trip to Uganda, helping a friend document conditions at a mosquito-ravaged orphanage. There he falls for the 3-year-old boy abandoned by HIV-positive parents, a tough toddler O’Callaghan names Odin, after the Norse god. It’s love at first hug, but the would-be dad first has to overcome gun-wielding rebels, corruption, bureaucratic red tape, rigorous home inspections and the dysfunctional legacy of his own family. His battling parents, he notes, are “still together 50 years later … maybe that’s why I have sex with so many people I don’t like.”

O’Callaghan is a charmer — think Denis Leary’s puckish younger brother — and his infectious comedy helps distract from the bumpy storytelling. The show can feel scattershot, and O’Callaghan and director Tom Ormeny might take another pass to give the piece more dramatic shape. But this writer-performer’s irreverent insights keep the evening sharp: “Some people wonder if me raising [Odin] might make him gay. Why aren’t they concerned I might make him Irish?”

Now sell your sweet, saucy adoption story to the movies, Johnny, and put that kid through college.

-- Charlotte Stoudt

“Who’s Your Daddy?” The Little Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 18. $24-$34. Contact: (818) 841-5422 or www.thevictorytheatrecenter.org. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Photo: Johnny O’Callaghan. Credit: Nancy Savan.