Mr.Admin
09-10-2003, 06:49 AM
The Magnificent Ass Show’s got back, all right, but this San Francisco comedy import, now at Theatre/Theater, will hardly be everyone’s cup of tea. There’s a flagrant, straws-up-the-nose childishness about the proceedings that not only can grow wearisome but also frustrates the show’s artistic reach; Afanador’s writing sometimes comes close, but she never quite provokes a laughter that is bigger than the sum of her gags. Two clowns standing on a stage can enact a fable like Waiting for Godot or they can spray seltzer water at each other for 90 minutes — Afanador settles for the seltzer. Her sketches, however, not only appeal to our prurient interests but also seem, mercifully enough, aimed at people with ADD — some whirl by with only a few words of dialogue, so they spare us the familiar pain of The Sketch That Wouldn’t End.
The numbers fall into three informal categories: social farce, smarmy farce and farty farce. Afanador comes closest to true satire in the first genre. Her delicate male college student (Avi Rothman) who denies being homosexual (that gay porn he acted in was only a job), along with a 15-year-old girl (Diza Diaz) who expresses her soul in an unintelligible hip-hop patois, and a blond cock-tease (Debbie McMahon) explaining her important role in male society — all graze the audience with the serrated edge of recognition. Even the more shticky stuff occasionally pulls a laugh from the most resistant. Who can remain unmoved by the sitcom sendup of “No Spine for Mommy,” as a completely limp Mom, her body slumped forward and head resting on a table, mumbles banalities to her kids as a laugh track bleats in the background? Or by the utter absurdity of a vaudeville entertainer (Neil Kaplan) trying to incorporate a grim-faced exile (Tate Ammons) from the Russian Revolution into his act?
Mostly, though, the evening favors the farty: Those tired sourpusses playing Cunnilingus: The Board Game who seemed doomed to eat out the same winner (Afanador) with every throw of the dice; and, of course, the ass on wheels, here named Annie Browntown, who communicates in an Esperanto of farts. (Credit Robb Mills with the sound effects, though the program notes are vague as to who exactly provides the moons for this show.) We in the audience have plenty to squirm over in these moments (not the least of which occurs when a viewer is brought onstage for a date with Miss Browntown), but you can squirm only so long before you wish you were being bored with a message.
Playing Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 27th at:
Theatre - Theater
6425 Hollywood Blvd., 4th Floor
Hollywood, California
(323) 871-0210
Sources: Official Site (http://www.magnificentassshow.com/), LA Weekly (review) (http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/42/theater-mikulan.php)
The numbers fall into three informal categories: social farce, smarmy farce and farty farce. Afanador comes closest to true satire in the first genre. Her delicate male college student (Avi Rothman) who denies being homosexual (that gay porn he acted in was only a job), along with a 15-year-old girl (Diza Diaz) who expresses her soul in an unintelligible hip-hop patois, and a blond cock-tease (Debbie McMahon) explaining her important role in male society — all graze the audience with the serrated edge of recognition. Even the more shticky stuff occasionally pulls a laugh from the most resistant. Who can remain unmoved by the sitcom sendup of “No Spine for Mommy,” as a completely limp Mom, her body slumped forward and head resting on a table, mumbles banalities to her kids as a laugh track bleats in the background? Or by the utter absurdity of a vaudeville entertainer (Neil Kaplan) trying to incorporate a grim-faced exile (Tate Ammons) from the Russian Revolution into his act?
Mostly, though, the evening favors the farty: Those tired sourpusses playing Cunnilingus: The Board Game who seemed doomed to eat out the same winner (Afanador) with every throw of the dice; and, of course, the ass on wheels, here named Annie Browntown, who communicates in an Esperanto of farts. (Credit Robb Mills with the sound effects, though the program notes are vague as to who exactly provides the moons for this show.) We in the audience have plenty to squirm over in these moments (not the least of which occurs when a viewer is brought onstage for a date with Miss Browntown), but you can squirm only so long before you wish you were being bored with a message.
Playing Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 27th at:
Theatre - Theater
6425 Hollywood Blvd., 4th Floor
Hollywood, California
(323) 871-0210
Sources: Official Site (http://www.magnificentassshow.com/), LA Weekly (review) (http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/42/theater-mikulan.php)