Theaterweek by Anthony Chase

BUFFALO MOVIE and LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND

While Blithe Spirit is held together by the power of Noël Coward’s writing and the talents of actors who are not uniformly well-suited to their roles, this week, two heroic casts buoy two Hollywood-oriented scripts aloft. The cast of Lost in Hollywoodland at the Alleyway Theatre and the cast of Buffalo Movie at Road Less Traveled never betray the slightest hint that either show might be a turkey. Far from it! In each case, we are treated to the sort of unbridled enthusiasm and “I love show business” bravura typically associated with blockbuster hits.

In fact, each of these shows does gobble a bit like holiday poultry, but each strives to make the occasion a comic holiday feast.

Buffalo Movie, the latest script by Jon Elston for Road Less Traveled, is all over the place. Overlong and unfocused, the comedy centers around a Buffalo film-maker and his screenwriter girlfriend, and their efforts to have a movie made in Buffalo. Enter a Buffalo-born Hollywood success, a local community leader and a star-struck waitress, and the farcical fun is supposed to begin. Sometimes it does.

Ultimately, we do not care much about the central couple. The more interesting character, played by Constance McEwen, is the ardent Buffalo booster and liaison to the film board, who develops the beginning of a relationship with the Hollywood director and, we quickly realize, has a sideline as a sniper who takes shots at people who embarrass or diminish her beloved city. This plot overtakes our interest, eclipsing the messy and petty foibles of the unlikely central couple with all their sitcom quirks. (Giving the screenwriter a day job as a cocktail waitress in a strip club gets old after its one and only chuckle.)

The cast, McEwen included, is uniformly excellent: David Oliver, Bob Grabowski, Bonnie Jean Taylor, Kathryn Hart and Lawrence Rowswell enthusiastically assay the material and do manage to lift it up to entertaining levels at regular intervals. The script, however, needs another draft or two.

Lost in Hollywoodland, on the other hand, is all about making a turkey of a movie on purpose. Here, a filmmaker makes a pact with the devil and sets out to make an Ed Wood-type film called Slug Queen of Uranus.

This show has book and lyrics by Alex Wexler, who was in town for a week to make cuts and changes; music by Bill Parsley; direction by Neal Radice; music direction by Michael Hake; and choreography by Carlos Jones. Again, a winning cast keeps material that is often one peg short of a Carol Burnett Show skit clicking along with enthusiasm. Seeing Tom Owen as the three-breasted slug queen is alone worth a visit. Christopher Parada and Jeffrey Coyle are marvelous as two Disney-esque evil sidekicks, and they perform Jones’ choreography with brilliance. Kim Piazza is in her comically deranged element and gets to wear great shoes. Casey Denton, Colleen Marcello and Roger Van Dette are all wonderful.

Various stage tricks—ghost gimmicks, hypnosis devices, etc.—are great fun, even and especially when they break down. The jokes will make you groan as often as laugh, but the show is entirely unpretentious and devised to delight. It often does. The show needs trimming, but it certainly trusts its comic impulses. I found myself laughing in despite myself and I certainly found the cast to be entirely appealing.

Contact Jeff                                                                                                Last Updated:    Thursday, November 22, 2007 03:18 PM