The former Lillian Theatre on Lillian Way, now The Broadwater, home to Sacred Fools Theatre Company, has had a reputation for innovative and seductive theatre presentations.
TANGERINE SUNSET by Peter Fluet falls short.
On the up side, we find a huge cast that reminded me a little of the extensive ABC television drama LOST. Each character is well over the top and loopy as can be. The basic premise has to do with an odd collection of characters on a plane being flown by Shep Halpert and his daughter Connie (Victor Isaac and Ren Harris). The plane crashes on an uncharted? island (Tangerine Sunset is, I think, a club on that island) that is over seen by ... The Devil? / Caspar Lenz (Scott Leggett). Zombie elements, twins that remind of DannyDevito and Arnold Schwartzenegger, except Jacob Timmons (the author Peter Fluet) is a big white guy and Mark Timmons (master actor in his own mind: Jahmone Duhaney) is tall and black. Mark is married to Lydia (Anahi Bustillos) who has great hair.
Please allow me to digress:
In my imagination I envisioned the Mr. Fluet in a local Starbucks staring at the screen his lap top.
In come three old guys; Luigi (a ghost), Artie (early eighties) and Gene (also a ghost). They order their coffee (except for Gene and Luigi) and greet each other sarcastically. Luigi asks Gene if he's been big game hunting for rhinos in Africa lately.. All laugh. Gene ripostes mentions the uncomfortable chairs. Luigi smiles. It's absurd. Artie sits back thinking about his dad. They all use the foul language of the day. Fluet perks up. WTF?!! and sets to work. Now, very attentive, he moves a little closer to better hear their chat. He decides that absurdity, especially in these days of wacky daily news and the uncertainty the world is facing, this might just be the ticket.
The old guys are laughing and scratching and bouncing old jokes Fluet cranks up his laptop and takes notes.
How influenced this author was by his encounter with three remarkable geniuses of the theatre is anyone's guess, but the result: an overly long, overly written play that may have some substance... somewhere... fails. It's like the kid cleaning out the stall in the barn who remarks, "There must be a pony in here somewhere!" But there's a lot of stuff to shovel out.
A farce is a farce of carse, or carse..and this show is farcical to the extreme. Performances are all spot on as far as we can tell with tiny Heather Schmidt as Moira Lenz in some form of paralysis that requires that her lackey Dawnel (Michael Shaw Fisher) to manipulate her limbs and move her about the stage is pretty funny. There are monsters, a zombie with lolling tongue: Sienna (Kristin Evelyn ala Miley Cyress), elaborate and clever though overly long scene changes and a bit of magic. Cutting and simplification might bring it all together, but as it plays right now, only the most diligent audience will find the humor and the silliness worth the effort. JJ Mayes direction has traffic all over the place with nary a bump.
To the credit of the entire cast, dropping character and doing double duty as stage hands and making weird costume changes, each actor is completely engaged and dedicated to the melee. A fine ensemble.
TANGERINE SUNSET by Peter Fluet
A World Premiere Comedy
Sacred Fools Theatre Company
The Broadwater
1078 Lillian Way,
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Through April 13, 2019.
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm
Sundays at 7:00pm
Ticketsandinformation: sfreservations@sacredfools.org
tickets online at www.sacredfools.org
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