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Astro Boy and the God of Comics
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Sacred Fools Theater
Through Aug. 8
RECOMMENDED:
One of the beauties of Natsu Onoda Power’s play is that it’s just as enjoyable for neophytes to “manga” (Japanese comics) as it would be for cognoscenti. The main reason to see this new show at Sacred Fools, however, is the spectacular production. Jaime Robledo’s direction is brilliantly creative, pushing the technical capabilities of that theatre space about as far as they can go, resulting in a dazzling display.
The play combines two stories: that of the fictional, robotic Astro Boy (Heather Schmidt) and that of his real-life creator Osamu Tezuka (West Liang). Astro Boy was created to replace a scientist’s dead son, but was abandoned because he couldn’t grow up like a real child. Taken in by a kindly government official, Astro Boy is eventually tasked with sacrificing his life to save the human race. Tezuka was an influential manga creator and animator, gone so much that his children would thank him for visiting on the occasions he ventured home.
Schmidt gives a wonderfully stylized performance, playing all of the “Oh, boy! Gee whiz!” dialogue perfectly straight, the lack of modern irony ultimately lending a melancholy resonance to the tragic hero. Liang is good as Tezuka, though the writing makes the character more of a narrator than a participant in the drama. Zach Brown, Megumi Kabe, Anthony Li, Mandi Moss, Jaime Puckett and Marz Richards do superb ensemble work, playing multiple roles with great energy and humor.
Robledo has already demonstrated his skill with innovative staging and actors in the Watson plays, and he successfully explored digital projections and CG video in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but he puts it all together here to impressive effect. A simple yet effective scene of the cast riding a car and then a boat demonstrates his mastery of physical theatre, and a scene in which an oddly shaped drawing becomes the backdrop for a projected mushroom cloud, followed by gently floating ash falling upon the suddenly prone cast, may be the best single moment he’s ever directed.
Aviva Pressman’s live art design, where the cast quickly draws pictures on a huge white paper backdrop, is amazingly good, particularly considering how little time the actors have to create the art. Anthony Backman’s projection video design and Jim Pierce’s projection animation design add enormously to the show, using the tools of film and CG to expand the theatrical experience. If Powers’s play were a college course, it would be an introductory one. That’s fine, however, because in this instance, the medium is the message, and this medium is delightful.
Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through August 8. www.sacredfools.org
