{"id":15316,"date":"2014-11-13T16:16:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T00:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=15316"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:39:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T00:39:14","slug":"musical-comedy-in-s-f-revives-vintage-lucy-and-ad-jingles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/musical-comedy-in-s-f-revives-vintage-lucy-and-ad-jingles\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical comedy in S.F. revives vintage \u2018Lucy\u2019 \u2014 and ad jingles"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 2.5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thea Brooks (Lucy), Euriamis Losada (Ricky), Kevin Remington (Fred), and Lori Hammel (Ethel) head the cast of \u201cI Love Lucy \u2014 Live on Stage.\u201d Photo by Ed Krieger.<\/p>\n

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Euriamis Losada (Ricky Ricardo) and company work themselves into a Cuban musical frenzy in \u201cI Love Lucy \u2014 Live on Stage.\u201d Photo by Hyra George.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

The legendary Lucille Ball, who played the title role in the fabled 1950s TV series “I Love Lucy” is long dead.<\/p>\n

Since 1989.<\/p>\n

Even longer gone are her series\u2019 co-stars, real-life husband Desi Arnaz (since \u201886), Vivian Vance (\u201879) and William Frawley (\u201966).<\/p>\n

But all four are alive and well again, or at least their spirit and characters are.<\/p>\n

A new musical comedy, \u201cI Love Lucy \u2014 Live on Stage,\u201d playfully resurrects Lucy Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo, Ethel Mertz and Fred Mertz.<\/p>\n

And lets them fumble and stumble accordingly.<\/p>\n

In primary colors, as opposed to my first encounter with them on a tiny black-and-white screen 60 years ago.<\/p>\n

Opening night they made me grin, chortle and chuckle (while most of the crowd bellylaughed, howled and whooped).<\/p>\n

It follows, then, that if you\u2019re one of the multitudes who catch \u201cLucy\u201d cable re-runs each year, you\u2019ll enjoy the national touring company at the SHN Curran Theater in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re one of the dozen adults over 40 on the planet who\u2019ve never seen an episode, now\u2019s your chance to see two recreated.<\/p>\n

Just prepare yourself for 100 minutes of vintage humor topped with white-bread jingles and choreography.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t handle nostalgia or \u201850s leitmotifs, you might want to catch something edgier.<\/p>\n

Which means, I guess, almost anything else.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s conceit turned the crowd and me into a Desilu soundstage audience that gets to witness Thea Brooks as Lucy (with huge eyes and an even bigger smile that intentionally never leaves her face) and Euriamis Losada as Ricky (whose crooning voice is better than Desi\u2019s was).<\/p>\n

As in the original series, Fred (Kevin Remington) and Ethel (Lori Hammel) survive being on the receiving end of Lucy\u2019s convoluted plots and whacky antics.<\/p>\n

Those of us seated in the theater could choose to hoot whenever the \u201cApplause\u201d light goes on.<\/p>\n

I opted not to.<\/p>\n

A company of 10, the most outstanding of which is Denise Moses, ably supports the leading actors. She amusingly exaggerates the role of Mrs. Birdie Mae Figg, an outspoken Oklahoma visitor (plus a quartet of other characters).<\/p>\n

The cast breezes through a cartoonish version of \u201cThe Benefit,\u201d in which the juvenile, talent-challenged redhead manipulates her tongue-tied Cuban hubby into letting her perform, and \u201cLucy Has Her Eyes Examined,\u201d where eye drops blend blurred vision and slapstick.<\/p>\n

Between those episodes are over-the-top renderings of \u201850s commercials by the Crystaltone Singers, a makeshift sextet that captures the simplicity, innocence and alleged merits of such products as Brylcreem, Alka Seltzer and Halo shampoo \u2014 and performs intentionally stilted movements ranging from a goofy maypole dance to rhythmic spasms that more resemble calisthenics than choreography.<\/p>\n

Those performers also interject ditties from the long-ago that include hokey tidbits like \u201cGlow Worm\u201d and \u201cUnder the Bamboo Tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special plaque should go to bright costuming by Shon LeBlanc and Kelly Bailey (including an outrageous zoot-suit) and the mega-high energy of Andy Belling\u2019s six-piece band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Love Lucy \u2014 Live on Stage\u201d began in 2000 as a 50th anniversary traveling exhibit that paused at state and county fairs, malls and casinos. It included memorabilia, still photos and video montages from the original TV programs.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the series was voted \u201cBest TV Show of All Time\u201d in an ABC News\/People magazine poll.<\/p>\n

This fleshed-out pastiche, friskily staged and directed by Rick Sparks, had premiered in Los Angeles a few months before.<\/p>\n

Curiously, neither Lucille Ball\u2019s name nor those of any other original performers are uttered during the performance.<\/p>\n

What is<\/em> inserted, though, are references to wrestler Gorgeous George and other icons and elements of those quiet Eisenhower years. Check out this announcement: \u201cTurn of all transistor radios and other noise-making devices, and that includes your children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before and after the show, a young woman peddling Lucy souvenirs in the lobby had inadvertently obliterated that theatrical time-warp illusion.<\/p>\n

She was tattooed from shoulder to wrist, not a female phenom of the fifties.<\/p>\n

Then, as I was leaving, a wag suggested he\u2019d have enjoyed the show more had it been done in drag.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I Love Lucy\u2019 \u2014 Live on Stage\u201d runs at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco, through Nov. 23. <\/em>Evening performances Tuesdays through Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6:30 p.m. Matinees, Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sundays 1 p.m. Tickets: $40 to $135. Information: (888) 746-1799 or shnsf.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or check out his new blog at www.vitalitypress.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 2.5] The legendary Lucille Ball, who played the title role in the fabled 1950s TV series “I Love Lucy” is long dead. Since 1989. Even longer gone are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"