There are season openers . . . then there are sensational, terrific, pull-all-the-stops season openers.
This "professional world premiere" of Jim Christian's "The Pirated Penzance" is the latter.In one fell swoop, Christian parodies both Gilbert & Sullivan and Hollywood. He brilliantly mixes the mirth and music of a Savoy operetta with the finely tuned chaos of "Noises Off."
It's one historic (and hysterical) day on a musty soundstage of Tinseltown's Marshall Pictures studio. Guest scenery designer Rob Odorisio's stage-filling set masterfully captures the essence of a 1933 movie studio.
It could be Republic Studios or Monogram Pictures or any of a couple dozen legendary old "magic factories," where cheap movies with dubbed-in sound were cranked out by the hundreds when "talkies" were in their infancy.
By-the-book mogul Roger Marshall (a role perfectly suited to Max Robinson's comedic talents) meets his match in gossip columnist/gadabout Rita James (Anne Stewart Mark) and maverick studio singer Daniel Brown (Warren Kelley).
While the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus doesn't arrive until next week, this spectacular "Penzance" sendup has a busy "three-ring circus" feel to it. There's a stage filled with colorful period costuming (kudos to Carol Wells-Day), plenty of uninhibited clowning around and so much activity that your eyes are constantly darting here and there.
If you've ever wondered where the old phrase "All talking! All dancing! All singing!" came from, this is Exhibit A.
Yes, the "vocal actors" really are providing the lyrics and dialogue for the pantomiming "visual actors." And adding to the fun is watching the studio's busy gofers and gaffers go about their work.
"Marshall law" and "Roger's rules of order" set the tone here, with Robinson obviously having the time of his life in the role of the tyrannical studio chief.
Marshall has his own devious version of "central caste-ing." Maybe things are different over at Warner's or with revered Samuel Goldwyn. But Marshall Pictures has two distinct, never-the-twain-shall-meet groups of under-lock-and-key contract players:
- "The visual actors" merely mouth their dialogue and use exaggerated gestures. It's a fairly stagnant talent pool of misfits.
- "The vocal actors" are a fine group of singers . . . all worthy candidates for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but none of whom are "beautiful" enough for the covers of Modern Screen or Photoplay.
While the actors are hamming it up on the set for a production of "The Pirates of Penzance," the singers are cloistered in a stuffy, unventilated sound booth.
But one singer, Daniel Brown (Black? Gray?), is bent on breaking out. In a plotline paralleling the operetta's "slave to duty" theme, Daniel finds himself in a situation all too similar to that of hopelessly indentured pirate Frederic.
Marshall, until now the perfect Model of a Modern Movie Mogul, is about to see his dynasty crumble like "The Fall of the Roman Empire." Remember the date. His Ides of March is June 30, 1933.
There are no weak links in Christian's superb cast.
Guest Equity artists Warren Kelley and Ann Kittredge, who've performed with PTC before, are perfectly cast as feisty Daniel Brown and Marshall's daughter, Constance. You know their love will survive. This is, after all, the Hollywood of happy endings.
Maureen Sadusk is wonderful as one of the studio's two certifiable talking actors, Gloria Le Duc (who plays Fredric's aging nanny Ruth in the "Penzance" filming).
The only other "actor" on the lot is, of course, none other than Marshall himself, who is not only directing and producing "The Pirates of Penzance," but playing fatherly Major-General Stanley.
The "visual actors" ensemble includes Mark Gallaher as Peter Bruce/Frederic and Lego Louis as stuttering Dallas Randall (the Pirate King), along with Richard Mathews, Christian Adams, James T. Darling, Javier Cordoba, Cheri Pratt, Jennifer Rapp, Teresa Bramwell and Melissa Pond.
The "vocal actors," led off by Kelley and Kittredge, also include such well-known performers as Robert Peterson, Frank Gerrish, Bruce Bredeson, Justin B. Ivie, Narlena Mathie and Dorothy Briggs Arnold, along with Equity performer Patti M. Olsen.
Every show needs a show-stopper and here it's a phalanx of fleet-footed (as opposed to flat-footed) L.A.'s Finest. The cadre of tap-dancing cops is headed up by Max, the Police Sergeant (Mearle Marsh). They're great, if you want your predicament investigated by a team of Roxy ushers.
Marsh is joined by Rick Kerby, David Glaittli, Brian Bon, Timothy Letheic Goins and Philippe Hall, who collectively confide that "being rich and famous sounds like lots of fun, but a policeman's lot is not a happy one."
Jayne Luke choreographed most of this stylish production, with Christian himself choreographing the cops.
Credit for the show's success also goes to musical director/orchestrator James Prigmore (who created a jaunty overture for the piece), lighting designer Peter L. Willardson and hair/makeup designer Cynthia L. McCourt.