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<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">PSYCHO BEACH PARTY a campy challenge for Blank Canvas</span></b></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p><p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Who wrote THEODORA, SHE BITCH OF BYZANTIUM,
TIMES SQUARE ANGEL, or VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM?<span style> </span>Don’t know?<span style> </span>You
are not alone.<span style> </span>These, and more
escapist romps with similar bizarre names, are the products of Charles Louis
Busch, an American actor, playwright and female impersonator.<span style> </span>Many of his works, including PSYCHO
BEACH PARTY, which is now in production at Blank Canvas Theatre, were written
specifically as vehicles for Busch and his camp style of acting.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">PSYCHO BEACH PARTY ran from July, 1987 to May,
1988 in an off-off Broadway theatre.<span style>
</span>It developed a cult following which resulted in a 2000 comedy horror
film, which, like the play, never developed a mainstream audience, but became,
like THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, a cult midnight movie flick.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">To best understand the play, (<i style>if you have an IQ over 60 that should be no
issue</i>), the viewer should harken back to the days of ‘60s surfing flicks,
throw in a little of the overly done melodramatic horror movies, and mix in a
little psycho babble.<span style> </span>Yes,
remember Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Bobby Darren?<span style> </span>How about BEACH PARTY, MUSCLE BEACH
PARTY, or HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI?<span style>
</span>They all centered on the happy days of being a beach bum, surrounded by
beautiful girls, and having fun, fun, fun. </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">It also helps if names like Gidget, Jane
Russell, Kim Novak, Bob Hope, and TV’s BONANZA are in your memory bank.<span style> </span>(<i style>If you’ve never heard of these names from the past, worry little,
you’ll still get the drift)</i>.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, which is designed as a
take-off on those films, with a little dark side, a little psychological
intrigue, a little demonic intrigue, a cross dressing mom (<i style>of course, Brush had to write a role for his persona</i>), and
sand.<span style> </span>Oh by the way, this isn’t a
musical, even though there is a cute musical shtick about the beach bum
extravaganzas that director Pat Ciamacco throws in which will probably go right
over the heads of most of the audience.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The plot line, (<i style>I use “plot” very loosely</i>), centers on Chicklet (Sara Maria Hess),
a teenage tomboy, who wants to be like the guys.<span style> </span>Unfortunately, besides being skinny and non-athletic, she
has a tendency to break into multi-personalities when certain things happen to
her.<span style> </span>(<i style>You don’t think I’m not going to reveal this deep story line intrigue
do you?</i>)<span style> </span>She becomes a black
chick, an elderly radio talk show hostess, an accountant, a male model named
Steve, and then there is Ann Bowman who is interested in world domination.<span style> </span>(<i style>Come
on, could I make stuff like this up?</i>)</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Chicklet’s best friend, nerdy Berdine (Brittany
Gaul) is into Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and, of course, “dear Jean-Paul.”<span style> </span>Then there is sometime friend, Marvel
Ann (Elicia Bryant), whose purpose in life is to bed and wed a cute surfer
dude, some one like Star Cat (Troy Bruchwaiski), a studly med school dropout
who majored in psychiatry.<span style> </span>(<i style>This is a very important bit of information
to remember, because his knowledge, acquired by two years of college psych
classes, “solves” Chicklet’s problem</i>.<span style>
</span><i style>That is if you accept the unproven
idea that dual personality is the direct result of a traumatic experience.<span style> </span>But, who worries about facts when fun
is the object?</i>)<span style> </span>Next in the
lineup is<span style> </span>Chicklet’s mom, the role
Busch wrote for himself (Jordan Cooper, <i style>in
bad drag and a worse wig</i>) who is a cross between Donna Reed, and Joan
Crawford and Bette Davis in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?.<span style> </span>This is one psychoed-out lady!</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">To add to the mix is Yo-Yo (Bill Reichert) and
Provoloney (Bradley Michael Arner), two “prize macho studs” who find gay love
underwater, which culminates in a prolonged passionate kiss (<i style>remember, this show opened before the age of
<span style> </span>gay enlightenment, so that scene
probably brought gasps of horror from the audience.<span style> </span>The local guys seemed to really enjoy playing tongue hockey</i>).
There’s the non-descript Nickey (Joey Dienes), Kanaka (Douglas Bailey) the
local surfing-God, and Bettina Barnes (Jordan Renee Malin), a Hollywood class C
star who is on the lam from her studio bosses (<i style>it’s worth going to the show just to see Bailey in he rmini-mini black
bikini</i>). </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">There’s lots of angst, running around, sexy
innuendos, and lying around in the sand.<span style>
</span>(Ciammacco and his crew brought 1150 pounds of sand up to the second
floor theatre of the elevatorless building.<span style> </span>Before each show, stage manager/lighting/sound person, Erin
Riffle, creates sand garden circles in the indoor beach).<span style> </span>And, yes, there are bare chests,
bikinis and a great miniature surfing puppets gimmick (<i style>much like the flying scene in the classic parody spoof,<span style> </span>BULLSHOT CRUMMOND</i>).</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Of course, as has to happen in this kind of
vintage hepcat slang, comic book, after school special, smut-light epic, all
comes out well as our studly hero and cute nerdy heroine, go surfing off into
the sunset for at least a fifteen-minute happily ever after life.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Camp acting takes a special set of skills.<span style> </span>This is not farce, nor comedy, nor melodrama.<span style> </span>For camp to work, there needs to be a
high level of sincerity, with the ability to make the real look surreal while
being over-the-top serious.<span style> </span>The
young kids on stage try hard, they just don’t have the acting chops to pull off
all the levels needed to make the show totally work.<span style> </span>It takes a Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman or Tim Conway to
make this style succeed.<span style> </span>Unfortunately,
there aren’t a lot of those folks around.<span style>
</span>(<i style>Now, to be fair, I saw a dress
rehearsal, and things could get much better as they respond to the audiences</i>.)</span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:14pt"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE
JUDGMENT:<span style> </span>PSYCHO BEACH PARTY</span></i><span style="font-family:Palatino"> <span style="color:black">will make for fun viewing for those inclined to like
theatre of the ridiculous and don’t want to gain anything from the thespian
experience other than absurd silliness and get a lesson in the difficulty of
bringing the camp style of performance to the stage. </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Blank Canvas’s PSYCHO BEACH PARTY runs though March 9, 2013 in
its west side theatre, 1305 West 78<sup>th</sup> Street, Suite 211,
Cleveland.<span style> </span>Get directions to the
theatre on the website.<span style> </span>(My GPS
was of little help).<span style> </span>Once you arrive
at the site, go around the first building to find the entrance and then follow
the signs to the second floor acting space.<span style> </span>It’s an adventurous battle. For tickets and directions go to
<i style><a href="http://www.blankcanvasthetre.com">www.blankcanvasthetre.com</a></i></span></p>
<span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">***************************</span><br></div>