Michael Lanahan and Peter Breitmeyer (in puppet) (Photo by Jenny Graham)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Open Fist at Atwater Village Theatre
Through April 7
RECOMMENDED
Bumpy Diggs (Sandra Kate Burck), the central character in Becky Wahlstrom’s quirky, entertaining little comedy, is a girl who likes to share. A spunky seventh grader with an alcoholic dad, a self-deluded mom, a snide community of peers and a burning curiosity about sex, she tends to relay without filter, every teensy detail in the maelstrom that is her life.
Bumpy’s maddest crush at the moment is on her classmate, Alan (Tom Sys) — a “universal heartthrob,” she tells us (at least within the confines of the seventh grade). Unfortunately for Bumpy, Alan has eyes for Bumpy’s sometime gal pal Karen (Kyra Grace), a tall, willowy blonde who brims with snark. The tomboyish Bumpy is instead being pursued by Pat (Kyle Tomlin), whom she deems a funny guy more mature than most boys, but with bad teeth. When Alan breaks up with Karen, Bumpy is seized with hope for a future for herself and Alan, and single-mindedly pursues that as her goal.
But life for this youngster involves more than romantic entanglements. Her father (Peter Breitmayer, in an hugely comic outsized puppet costume) is a depressive drunk, who spends his days guzzling beer in front of the TV. Her brother (Bradley Sharper) is usually busy with whatever older brothers are busy with. And her mom (Johanna McKay), while loving, is wildly distracted by her secret dalliance with the local parish priest (Michael Lanahan).
Written and performed in the vein of madcap comedy, A Froggy Becomes leans into zany and hyperbolic. It’s also, at base, authentic, transcending whatever excesses and exaggerations are built into this story about crazed preteen-dom by having us peer, with empathy, into the mindset of a 12-year-old girl. Bumpy’s perspective on life may be myopic at present, but she’s in the process — like the amphibian in Wahlstrom’s title — of becoming whom she was meant to be. For those of us who recall a rocky adolescence, it’s easy to relate.
Some finessing is in order, however. Director Pat Towne maneuvers the comedy with broad strokes, and keeps it moving at a clipped pace — but at the price of undermining the poignancy at its core. Burck’s performance, for example — pivotal in every sense, since she’s rarely offstage and (anxious to share her thoughts) never stops talking — is exuberant and full of gusto, but at the opening night performance I attended hardly any time was spared for the emotional nuance beneath the text.
The ensemble works well together, with noticeably polished comedic performances from Sys as the elusive Tom and Lanahan as the vow-breaking, paranoid-about-who-may-be watching priest. Their concordance is on display each time they smoothly execute the multiple scene changes integral to Jan Munroe’s design, purposefully straightforward per Wahlstrom’s script. Lighting designer Matt Richter’s dresses this set with red, blue and purple hues while Marc Antonio Pritchett’s sound design notably varies the background music each time the scenario shifts.
Open Fist Theatre at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 7 pm; thru April 7. www.openfist.org Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission.
