This 1950s script is from a time when ours was a society that took itself a bit too seriously, but its humor transcends the decades. Today’s audience is now unfazed by what was once taboo — and the homosexual references and “questionable Freudian theories” that once kept “Bad Seed” banned from Broadway just make it hysterical today.
Director Danny Schmitz says his intention of putting on Maxwell Anderson’s 1954 play again after nearly a decade since its last L.A. run was to build an audience base for his Buzzworks Theater Company here in L.A. — and in that it should succeed.
“We needed to dust off something that our group, 99 percent close friends, had done before,” Schmitz says. “We want to reinvent ourselves as a Silver Lake company even though we started in Minnesota.”
Schmitz also plays Rhoda Penmark, the 8-year-old perfectionist child who is the apple in everyone’s eyes. That is, until her mother, Christine Penmark (Andrea Hutchman), realizes her child may actually prove more of the rotten variety. The story weaves mini-tales of Rhoda’s budding evilness with the antics of a bizarre landlord, Monica Breedlove (Cheryl Hawker), and her “larvating homosexual” brother Emory Wages (Michael Halpin), who deftly provide comedy in relief.
School principal Miss Fern (Cathryn Michon) also senses angel Rhoda’s pestiferous ways, and delights at the idea of having to confront Rhoda’s mother, on whom she has a more-than-schoolgirl crush. Miss Fern is the type to wield a ruler more for female flirtations than for keeping her students in line.
Homosexual undertones in the play, which are far from covert, make sure nothing is as it seems. Emory is chastised for his “homosensual” nature (“He sings in male quartets and spends Sundays fishing with the boys.”) Regardless, he sheds his conservative shell for a much more revealing one: a Dayglo pink jock strap.
Yet even in today’s much more tolerant landscape, certain moments in the play might still be cause for discomfort. (Monica kisses her brother; Rhoda fields a smooch from her dead classmate’s mom, Mrs. Daigle.)
The lush Mrs. Daigle and her literal sidekick Mr. Daigle (Melissa Peterman, of “Reba”) brought not just sporadic chuckles to the opening night crowd, but eruptions of laughter in unison. Young Rhoda, a darling and debutante of a “girl” swills beer like the rest of them, as Coors Light cans are the accessory of choice. Pete Staloch, Pete Colburn and Judy Heneghan also capably execute supporting roles.
Likened to a John Waters film by audience member Alain Berger, “Bad Seed” certainly had the crowd engaged. The cast brings a decidedly new millennium feel to this dated play, and yet the actors manage to follow the original script almost religiously. That is, until the climax, where they convert instead to the calling of improv.
Entering the stage with a few standing aerials and enlisting the audience’s participation via white placards, the Facilitator’s (Kyle Blitch) personality is the perfect dose of normalcy among the other characters’ resounding strangeness. Blitch may not have managed to keep the actors on book on Saturday night, as was his task, but he did get the crowd talking back.
The original Rhoda, Oscar-nominated Patty McCormack, was in the audience, which brought an extra element of excitement to the performance and the actors.
“You can see how often the actors actually are verbatim with the script, so you can see how absurd the dialogue is,” says McCormack. “Each one of the actors has the soul of the character. They are the character. Their approach is real. And the guy who plays me — he got me.”
And as Schmitz said, thankfully, after the show, “I was glad to see Patty’s smiling face when the lights came up.”
The audience seemed all smiles too.
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“Bad Seed”
Buzzworks Theater Company
Lounge Theater, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
Note: Various roles played by rotating cast
8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Tickets $25; through Aug. 25th
(323) 960-5563 ; www.plays411.com
