[ssba]
Without Annette
Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
Theatre West
Through August 30
Hope Juber & Jeff Doucette’s Without Annette takes place in an improv comedy class. This is the same sort of class that, if you moved to L.A. with aspirations of hitting the acting scene, you have likely taken (whether from UCB, the Groundlings, or out of some fellow’s warehouse that you saw advertised on Craigslist). The cast of characters are a broad range of actor stereotypes. Juber herself is the daughter of Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch), so the fact that it feels partly like a 1960s sitcom in that regard is no surprise.
The play takes place over several months, as this rag-tag improv comedy group go through their personal journeys and ultimately bind together as a cast to put on a show in front of an audience. The 11 characters all seem to have their own “episode,” where each comes to terms with something important and discovers something about themselves (except for the token gay character, who regrettably does not have the same character depth as everyone else). These moments often include a lot of soap box monologue-ing, or yelling.
Taking place in an improv class already (all of the audience are auditors), the play makes an additional leap of risk (without a net, yes?): While mostly scripted, the games themselves that the improvisers play are largely made up on the spot. So while the characters and the plot remain the same, no performances will ever be alike.
Bold move. This makes for an exciting premise. However in the execution, things didn’t quite hold up. The main culprit here is time. Even a performance from a top tier improv comedy troupe will last only briefly, as the energy needed to sustain a successful improv performance is much like a firework that can be dazzling in brevity, but quickly dissolves.
(The successful TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? — which popularized improvisation in the ‘90s — had episodes running about 45 minutes long total — with commercials. And additionally, those seasoned professionals filmed for hours and only used their best material.)
So even though some of the comedy here is successful, at the two-hour mark (of the two-and-a-half hour performance) watching yet another fifteen-minute- long game becomes torturous. And that’s even before the “big show” – which for various reasons turns out to be gratuitous.
The cast includes Heather Alyse Becker as geek girl Libby; Shaun Brady as the hot shot Michael, who puts his career and himself before everyone else; Yancey Dunham (who is also credited as lighting designer) as CJ, the first timer to comedy who has difficulty getting out of his head; Jason Frankovitz as the smarmy, joke-stealing Billy Bingo; Jeremy Klein or Kyle Klein (depending on the night) as the charming, angst-y teenager Kyle; Maria Kress as celebrity wife Jeannette Parker; Charlie Mount (who also directs) as Hogan, the washed-up writer; Claire Partin as Donna, the married woman taking the class for her own personal fulfilment; Chloè Rosenthal as Jackie, the class babe; Andrew Villarreal as Trevor, the irrepressibly flamboyant Starbucks barista; and Andrew Walker as the aging comedy teacher Sam.
If you found reading the whole list of the cast of characters above daunting, you might see what I mean in terms of the long show in store for you. However, many of the performances are very worthwhile. In particular, Dunham, Klein, and Villarreal always charm, and Brady is perfectly cast.
While we can’t put “Sam’s Improv Workshop” on our own acting resume like these characters can, and while the artistic merits of watching mediocre improvisers at work is questionable, it’s still a cute show with a committed cast and a feel-good ending. And at least it doesn’t cost $400, like my UCB 101 class did.
Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90068; Sundays at 7 p.m.; through Aug. 30 (323)851-7977, www.theatrewest.org
