Out in the Arts

by D.L. Groover

Oh, You Beautiful Dahl

Actress Rebekah Dahl should be designated a Bayou City treasure. After a superlative performance last season as wicked Mrs. Lovett in Masquerade Theatre’s Sweeney Todd, she goes one better and gives a definite account of the “well-known fiancée” Adelaide in that Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, also at Masquerade (through August 2). She brings this psychosomatic chorine to jubilant life, producing goosebumps and laughter as we watch a consummate pro strut her stuff. A nebulous talent at the Hot Box nightclub, poor Adelaide has made herself sick waiting 14 years for incurable gambler Nathan Detroit to ask for her hand in marriage. This subplot gives the 1950 Frank Loesser/Jo Swerling/Abe Burrows musical its comic heart. At Masquerade, Miss Dahl supplies the red corpuscles. Wrapped in Stephanie Bradow’s suitably tacky costumes and a peroxide wig that a condor could nest in, Miss Dahl effortlessly whips up her own unique cotton-candy fluff to flesh out this perpetually put-upon cartoon.

They’re all cartoons in this Times Square Neverland, populated by the likes of Liver Lips Louie, Angie the Ox, and Rusty Charlie. Where else would a veteran huckster like Sky Masterson fall in love with a prim Save-A-Soul missionary except in this most family-friendly dreamland of a NYC where the lowlifes wear hatbands that match their shirts?

The entire ensemble has a wonderful time putting on this gleeful musical, lovingly directed and choreographed by Masquerade’s artistic director Phillip Duggins, and their infectious high spirits are a joy to behold. Ilich Guardiola (pictured above, center) brings his veteran’s panache to romantic Sky Masterson, while Luther Chakurian gives harried Nathan just the right touch of sad sack. While Kaytha Coker could use a touch of Aimee Semple McPherson to bring her Sarah Brown into better focus, it is Kory Kilgore’s sensational Nicely-Nicely Johnson who shares the limelight with Miss Dahl. Another authentic Broadway baby, Kilgore lights up the small stage. His propulsive “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” deservedly stops the show. His performance, like Miss Dahl’s, raises the stakes. Happily, everyone in the cast rolls a 7.

Valley of the Dolls

Clare Boothe Luce wrote her caustic look at domestic bliss and blisters, The Women, in 1936, one year after she married magazine magnate Henry Luce and moved into Manhattan society. She certainly found the upper crust unattractive. Luce was never a woman to sit still or move only to buy a little something at Saks. She skewers this world of bored, jaded elite.

It was all played with the slyest wit and accompanied by our raucous laughter in the recent incandescent rendering at Main Street. This group of harpies—we only see the wives in this play’s famous gimmick—never stops bitching, mostly about each other behind their backs. They gossip, caterwaul, break up homes, and spit venom with wonderful malice, using some of the wittiest dialogue to come out of the Depression. The entire ensemble eats up Luce’s juicy roles as if they were iced Beluga and champagne.

All these dolls are picture-perfect, but Celeste Roberts as queen-bitch Sylvia steals the show. Needle sharp, she’s her own amphetamine, running full tilt and fully aware she can destroy by the flick of her tongue. Hilariously funny and wicked, Roberts is unforgettable. Even the stage crew is all girl. As they arrange the set for the next scene, they bitch about the other women, too. The production has a high-gloss Art Deco style that MGM would applaud, thanks to evocative set design by Igor Karash and sumptuous costumes from Rebecca Greene Udden and Sarajane Milligan. This ’30s comedy with its nest of female vipers is devilish fun, even if we never want to meet any of them at happy hour.

KEEP IN MIND

Tamalalia 8

Through August 30

The Axiom, 713/522-8443

There’s another doll to watch, and she’s opening in her own show this month. I’m speaking about that Botticelli firework, copper-topped Tamarie Cooper in Infernal Bridegroom’s eighth installment of Tamalalia. Directed, starring, choreographed, and co-written by Miss Cooper (abetted by Patrick Reynolds and Paul Locklear), these original musical comedies—a summer institution—have become a cult hit and eagerly anticipated. Here, we find Miss Cooper on her way to golden California, trying to break through those stubborn studio doors. There’s a makeover, a TV pilot, and a stint in a women’s prison before end curtain, so the wackiness is guaranteed. IBP’s tilt-a-whirl musicals are four-ticket attractions: zany satire, low-rent ribaldry, and funny, funny, funny. Go for a ride.

If you have any comments about this article, please email them to letters@outsmartmagazine.com.