Kristina Lynn Stieffel

Offbeat musical delivers 'Ruthless' satire 
Play review 
By Cary Ginell Soundthink@aol.com 

"Ruthless! The Musical," playing through July 13 at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, is a no-holds-barred, offbeat satire of a multitude of familiar films and Broadway musicals. Written by Joal Paley and featuring a score by Marvin Laird, the show made its debut Off-Broadway in 1992 and has since attracted a cult following in its many regional theater incarnations.

The musical is attractive to theater companies partially because of its relatively low production costs. One set is used and only a handful of performers, many of whom play more than one part. In the case of the Simi Valley production, several members of the cast even worked production crew positions, including costuming and set design.

The riotous story concerns a precocious 8-year-old named Tina Denmark, who will stop at nothing to play the lead role of Pippi Longstocking in her school production of "Pippi in Tahiti." She is so humiliated at being passed over in favor of the spoiled Louise Lerman that she gets Louise to hang herself with a jump rope.

This is only the beginning of a series of wacky circumstances that spoofs such shows as "The Bad Seed," "Applause," "Gypsy" and "Mame." The allfemale cast of characters (that is, if you count the role of barracuda agent Sylvia St. Croix, who is traditionally played by a man in drag) share one thing in common: a driving ambition to step on anyone who gets in their way.

As Tina, Emily Albrecht is delightful, a horrid little brat who can cry on cue and tap dance up a storm (in the song "Born to Entertain") and who has no scruples when it comes to getting what she wants.

Tina's mother, Judy, is played by an incredible talent, Lori Lee Gordon. At the outset, Judy is June Cleaver, your typical 1950s housewife, with bouffant hairdo, pearls and a perpetual smile. Gordon has a glorious voice (although her character claims she has no talent), and uses it to great effect in the pert opening number, "Tina's Mother."

After shipping Tina off to the Daisy Clover School for Psychopathic Ingénues, Judy is transformed into her alter ego, who is based on Bette Davis in "All About Eve"- a temperamental, egotistical star of stars, the effect topped off by a foot-long cigarette holder. As a comedienne, Gordon is very funny, especially when she goes into a variety of convulsions at hearing the name of the mysterious Ruth DelMarco, whose identity is revealed at the end of the show.

The plot twists in Act II are all pretty predictable, but the fun is in getting there. Marvin Laird's songs are hysterically funny. Although Laird is no Richard Rodgers, somewhere Lorenz Hart is smiling at Laird's clever and pointed lyrics, especially in such songs as "I Hate Musicals," sung by the jaded critic Lita Encore (played to perfection by Farley Cadena), who even panned "Fiddler."

As the statuesque agent/manager Sylvia St. Croix, Sean Harrington plays the crossdressing role straight, just as Harvey Fierstein played Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray." Only Nathan Lane could have done it better. His/her tour de force is the song "Talent," in which Sylvia declares she is Auntie Mame ("Mame") and Mama Rose ("Gypsy") rolled into one.

Elizabeth Stockton plays two roles: the nerdy, talentchallenged Louise Lerman and Judy's clinging and viciously ambitious assistant, who just has to be named Eve (after Anne Baxter's title role in the film "All About Eve," which became "Applause" in its Broadway adaptation). Stockton's Eve steals the show singing "Penthouse Apartment," in which she uproariously lays out her greedy plans for attaining fame.

Elissa Wagner plays Miss Thorne, the frustrated schoolteacher, whose own ambitions for Broadway stardom were thwarted when she was mugged as soon as she got to Penn Station.

The music is capably handled by Gary Poirot, who fronts a four-piece ensemble. The show is produced by Jan Glasband and directed by Dave Mason, both of whom should be applauded for the wonderful cast and faultless direction. 

One note of caution: "Ruthless!" is not for kids. There is some bad language, although it is brief and not exploitative (some of the funnier lines appear as song lyrics and work great). You don't have to be a seasoned fan of musicals to get the humor; it's as subtle as a club over the head or an elbow in the neck. For a good laugh, give "Ruthless!" a try.