John Hayes
From its opening moments, when
Zigmund Fraud
(Scott Shuker) and
Zin Van Del
(EJ Regier) pop up through trapdoors in the floor and begin spouting heavily alliterated evil plans, the tone of the
is set.
---
The
, a yearly
production for
, takes all the happenstance, intrigue and idiosyncracies of a year in Santa Fe and satires it100 years in the past.
It's almost too much to envision the lovely and lewd
Zoey Villa
(Melissa Pippin-Carson) becoming as worn out and, dare I say, tired as
's
character in
. And watching
Juana Rolla Doobie
(Shawna Howley/Helana Aguiar) become
through a history quiz reminiscent of
's "
" skit is an all-too-familiar reminder of just how absurd the whole
process can sometimes be.
The
shout-outs continue with
Will Shuster
(Ryan Kochevar), whose charming-but-bumbling mad scientist caricatures
's role in
, itself a parody, and even takes a few musical queues as well
[SFR Talk, Aug. 25: "Mellower Drama"]
.
"It's Gov. Richardson's swan song," co-director
Eliot Gray Fisher
said in a recent interview, and the character of
Gov. Beard Richerman
(played brilliantly by 14-year-old Tommy Roman), succeeds not only in legalizing marijuana "for medicinal purposes only" (as the audience is frequently, and facetiously, reminded) but also in using government funds to pad the pockets of his cabinet and almost running off to
Cuba
(the country, not the town).
It's an amusing, if borderline excessive, blend of political satire and good-natured
fun (as good melodrama should be), though not without its problems. The uproarious audience (which is encouraged, I might add) at times drowned out some of the quieter actors' lines, or the action on stage ground to an awkward halt as the cast was forced to await the end of a particularly boisterous fit of laughter. And the dance routines, while light-hearted and amusing, were still a bit rough around the edges. Still, for community theater, you work with what you can get.
makes a cheerful appearance as a half-
's monster, half-
sideshow. And
Shuster
shouting "This is why we can't have nice things!" at the 25-foot papier-mâché pot-reference when it kidnaps his love interest,
Juana Rolla Doobie
's not-quite-identical twin sister
Maria Juana Doobie
(Cristina Vigil), andget thisclimbs the bell tower of the
earned some laughs.
Oh, and the
was present. Watching the disco dance party for
Juana
's inauguration as
was both humorous and painful, but seeing the real
get lifted on stage to participate in the dance? Priceless.
