[NEohioPAL] Review of "Psycho Beach Party" at Blank Canvas Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Blank Canvas Theatre kicks sand in the face of adversity

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 3/1/13

 

For nearly two years, the upstart Blank Canvas Theatre has lived a psychotic existence.  In search of an identity in the competitive and highly diverse performing arts marketplace, its productions have waffled between modern classics-such as "Twelve Angry Men" and "Of Mice and Men"-and cultist comedies-including "The Texas Chainsaw Musical" and "Debbie Does Dallas."

 

It has done both remarkably well, but the current production of Charles Busch's "Psycho Beach Party" may very well have crystallized the future of this company.  It appears as if director Patrick Ciamacco, who is also Black Canvas' artistic director, has a particularly keen and cultivated eye for the asinine.  

 

"Psycho Beach Party" is a wild spoof of 1960's Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello beach party flicks and Alfred Hitchcock's psychological suspense thrillers.  Like the Blank Canvas Theatre itself, the play's Gidgetesque protagonist-a blond teenage tomboy named Chicklet-is trying to find herself.  Complicating matters are her multiple personalities, which include a black check-out girl, a Jewish talk show hostess, a male model named Steve, and the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman.  Her most intriguing alter ego is a sexually voracious man-eater named Ann Bowman, who is seeking world domination one beach bum at a time.

 

Ciamacco raises the bar on low-budgeted inanity in this production.  Every line comprised of vintage beatnik slang and every opportunity for a campy sight gag is milked for comedic effect, turning what is little more than an overachieving "Saturday Night Live" sketch into an entertaining evening.  The corny surfside set - a sandy beach with a painted backdrop representing Malibu's shoreline - is a perfect place for a parody.  

 

In short, "Psycho Beach Party" is great fun for those willing to leave their brains, dignity, and theater elitism at the door.  

 

Though brain-dead entertainment, it does help to have some understanding of the film genres being targeted, for spoof is best served straight-faced and without director's notes.  Recognizing the puritan mores reflected in the 1960s surfer flicks, for example, makes the abundance of sexually explicit references in "Psycho Beach Party" all the funnier.

 

True to form, this play offers an ensemble of clean-cut, gnarly surfer dudes, played with aplomb by Bradley Michael Arner, Doug Bailey, Troy Bruchwalksi, Bill Reichert, and Joey Dienes.  And, of course, it is also populated with women right out of American International Pictures' central casting, including Elicia Bryant as the stereotypically flirtatious beach babe, Marvel Ann; a delightful Brittany Gaul as the book-smart Berdine; and Jordan Renee Malen as veteran movie star Bettina Barnes.   

 

Everyone is dead-on in their broad portrayals and a pleasure to watch.  The standout performer, however, is Sara Maria Hess as Chicklet.  Her transitions from virgin to vamp and her brilliant display of physical spasticity each time Chicklet faces an awkward situation, which is often, is hilarious.      

 

In the original 1987 Off-Broadway production of this play, the playwright-who has a proclivity for transvestism-played Chicklet.  Here, Jordan Cooper dons the drag as Chicklet's Mom, and does so in superb fashion.  He adds an outrageous layer of absurdity to a play already brimming with it, and his "Mommy Dearest" moment is worth the price of admission.  

 

Clearly, the Charles Busch canon is an untapped treasure trove for a theater like Blank Canvas.  Instead of staging "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" or other often-performed American stand-bys, perhaps "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" will be on next year's marquee.  

 

"Psycho Beach Party" runs through March 9 at the Blank Canvas Theatre (at 78th Street Studios), 1305 West 78th Street, Suite 211 in Cleveland.  For general admission tickets, which are $15, visit www.blankcanvastheatre.com.
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