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REVIEWS |
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L.A. Times
(RECOMMENDED)
Renegade lunatics should high-tail
it to Sacred Fools, where "Beaverquest! The Musical" is
chewing across boundaries of genre and logic. At its shaggily
enjoyable best, Padraic Duffy and Bobby Stapf's sweetly ribald
Southern-rock ode to interspecies tolerance suggests what
might result if the Dixie Chicks channeled William S.
Burroughs while Ren and Stimpy stole Willie Nelson's stash.
Although overstuffed, author Duffy's scenario is drolly
self-deprecating. Overseen by three archetypal narrators
(Darrin Revitz, Lauren Nasman and Emily Pennington), a cracked
passel of "Hee-Haw" types goes rabid in pursuit of an erudite
pet bunny (imposing Bryan Krasner) and the last living beaver
(riotous Corey Klemow). Their anthropomorphic romance brings "Beaverquest!"
into audaciously original territory.
It's easier to track the tangled upstage map on designer Janne
Zinkle Larsen's truck-and-outhouse set than to stay abreast of
Duffy's countless satirical twists. About a third of the
double-entendre takes on the title can go, and the libretto
still requires much musical realignment. Luckily, director
Scott Leggett, an inventive design team -- Wes Crain's wacky
costumes are their own show -- and the unfettered cast inhales
the craziness, selling Stapf's chugging songs with panache.
Thus, when Sheriff Jack (Joe Fria, hilarious as ever)
forswears sex with girlfriend Petunia (big-voiced Laura
Sperrazza), their gyrations are a hoot precisely because of
their straight-faced attack.
Alyssa Preston drives the pile a bit as mayor/taxidermist
Arleta, but she's outlandishly funny; ditto Jacob Sidney as
Clem, Petunia's overzealous brother. Michael Holmes scores as
lovelorn Cletis, whose subplot with Pennington's wistful
Pepper merits expansion. And when Philip Newby's hybrid love
child appears in Act 2, his sidesplitting antics typify the
enterprise. If Duffy and Stapf keep gnawing away at the most
sophomoric aspects, "Beaverquest!" could become a toothsome
cult hit.
--David C. Nichols
© 2008,
L.A. Times
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L.A.
Weekly (GO)
Sacred Fools Theatre Company has
made a spectacular return from an era of what company members
have described as the dysfunction of yore. I’ve seen two of
the shows there (of the four that are currently in production)
over the past two weeks, including the troupe’s late-night
contest, Serial Killers. Enthusiastic and largely young
audiences packing the house to these mid-run shows are a fair
indication of this organization’s health. Such a rebound is
cause for optimism in an extremely arduous field. Padraic
Duffy (book and lyrics) and Bobby Stapf’s (music) animated
country musical parody, Beaverquest! The Musical, was
conceived from the sketch-comedy format of Serial Killers, and
has evolved into a lighthearted social satire, delivered
entirely through nonsense-tinged allegory. A romance between
the last Beaver in the area (Corey Klemow) and a domesticated
male Bunny (Bryan Krasner in bunny suit, with the
grandiloquence and vocal gravitas of James Earl Jones) becomes
the gay-rights answer to Animal Farm. The evil Mayor (Alyssa
Preston) doubles as a taxidermist, which explains where all
the other beavers have gone. And yes, she does have a song
called “I’ve Never Met a Beaver That I Didn’t Want to Stuff.”
Poor Jack (Joe Fria, with the hypnotic ability to distort his
body into subtle contortions) has to given up drinkin’ and his
frequently aroused girlfriend, Petunia (Laura Sperrazza, with
dazzling vocal skill), in order to be sheriff. The Mayor’s
petting-zoo project is merely a ruse to snag the last living
beaver. There are all kinds of dots that barely connect,
despite which the allegory becomes weirdly moving in Act 2.
One subplot involves a literary conflict of interest as one of
three narrators, sweet Pepper (Emily Pennington), struggles
not to enter the story as she falls for one of the characters.
I still can’t determine how well all this hangs together, but
it’s undeniably entrancing and deceptively superficial.
Director Scott Leggett knows exactly what he’s doing, the
stage movement is sharp, and the onstage band, situated in the
back of an old Ford pickup truck, is terrific, under composer
Bobby Stapf’s musical direction.
--Steven Leigh Morris
© 2008,
L.A. Weekly
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BackStage
West
Okay, maybe it's not Long Day's
Journey Into Night, but playwright Padraic Duffy's
frothy musical comedy is genial, feel-good fun. One
thing's for sure, though: When attending the show, you'd
better have a near-inexhaustible appetite for sexual
innuendo. If the performers handed you a nickel each time
someone made that hoary old joke about a "beaver" being a
nice furry animal and, well, something else, you'd have
enough money by curtain call to negate the national
deficit.
The show takes place in a tiny hick community, where
hillbilly gal Petunia (Laura Sperrazza) is fond of her pet
Bunny (Bryan Krasner, in a hilarious harrumphing,
hem-hawing turn that conjures fond memories of Mr. Potter
from It's A Wonderful Life). Bunny tires of being a
pet and runs away, hiding out in the forest, where he
meets and falls in love with The Last Beaver in the World
(Corey Klemow). Their astonishing love affair breaks taboo
boundaries -- not only of gender but also of species.
Meanwhile, as hateful Mayor Arleta (Alyssa Preston, nicely
channeling Cruella DeVille) vows to capture Beaver for her
petting zoo, it's soon up to Bunny to save the day, along
with unexpected assistance from bumpkin best pals Clem
(Jacob Sidney) and Cletis (Michael Holmes), and the show's
three luscious backup singers (Darrin Revitz, Lauren
Nasman, and Emily Pennington), whom we can only call "the
Beaverettes."
...Director Scott Leggett crafts a tight, smart, and engaging
production, abetted by an extraordinarily talented
ensemble, many of whom imbue the chipper, if slight,
musical numbers with clockwork-precise comic timing and
operatic voices.
Krasner and Klemow make the
year's oddest couple, but their interplay is charming and
hilarious, particularly when they're joined by a Pee Wee
Herman-esque Philip Newby as their half-beaver, half-bunny
son. Hilarious turns are also offered by Sidney and Holmes as
the oafish, latently gay best pals.
--Paul Birchall
© 2008,
BackStage West
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Edge Los
Angeles
Yes, Beaverquest! The Musical does
refer to whatever innuendo you want to apply here. With song
titles such as "I’ve Never Met a Beaver That I Didn’t Want to
Stuff," "All Good Friends Share Beaver," "Take a Good Look at
the Beaver in the Mirror," and "Show Us Your Beaver," it’s
almost impossible to assume anything else. And that’s really
OK.
Innuendo aside, "Beaverquest! The Musical" is more than just
overused double entendres. It’s actually pretty good. Trust
me. It is part campy, it is part parody, and it is all in good
fun.
According to the playwright, Padraic Duffy, it all started
back in 2006 as a ten-minute parody sketch at Sacred Fools
Theatre’s late night comedy show Serial Killers (in which five
serials episodes compete for the top three spots. The audience
votes on the three that will move on to the next week’s round
where the process starts over again.)
"Beaverquest" returned each week for six months. Every new
episode featured a new song and from there, the structure for
the musical was developed. Without giving away too much of the
story (it’s best to see it for yourself), the basic plotline
involves Bunny (Bryan Krasner) and Beaver (Corey Klemow), Clem
(Jacob Sidney) and his sister Petunia (Laura Sperrazza).
Petunia and Jack (Joe Fria), Petunia and Bunny, Clem and
Cletis (Michael Holmes), Arleta (Alyssa Preston) and Jack,
Arleta and Beaver, a spirit of the forest (Elizabeth Bennett),
some woodland critters Jennifer Gail Fenten, Eulis Kay,
Chariman Barnes), Neville (Philip Newby), Bunny, and Beaver,
square dancing, a rabid cake, children armed with rifles, a
trio of country folk narrators (Darrin Revitz, Lauren Nasman,
Emily Pennington), and some other surprises that you’ll have
to check out yourself.
Ok, so that doesn’t really say much about what "Beaverquest!"
is all about. And really, the fun is in going and seeing how
all of this fits in --literally and metaphorically speaking,
of course.
At the heart of the musical is the recurring theme of
everyone’s inherent need to be accepted; whether you’re a
bunny looking for gay love, a friend feeling neglected, a
taxidermist needing a beaver, or a need for a male narrator
(again, trust me, it makes a whole lot of sense).
Far from being the best musical in LA, "Beaverquest!" The
musical works because it does not try to take itself too
seriously. It pokes fun at itself and allows you to
comfortably suspend your disbelief and just enjoy this
wonderfully clever songs and story. The music is also well
balanced with songs that move the story along (Act II opening
number, "On the Move") and songs that get to the core of the
story ("Say That I Kiss You" and "Somebody To Like Me, Like
Me.") And if you learn something about yourself in the
process, so be it. I’m sure we all have a beaver quest in all
of us.
I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to be moved by this musical.
But something about these characters is so endearing that you
can’t help but root for them -- probably because you can see
the actors really enjoying their character and the level of
commitment is so genuine, you can believe they are who they
portray on stage. As absurd as the concept may be, the basic
human truths sprinkled throughout the narrative in this
musical is something that other bigger musicals are lacking.
--Obed Medina
© 2008,
Edge
Los Angeles
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StageSceneLA.com
Beaverquest! The Musical, Sacred
Fools’ latest offering, is the brightest and most entertaining
surprise of Spring 2008, combining elements of Urinetown: The
Musical, Into The Woods, and TV’s Hee Haw. Though (as might be
expected) Beaverquest! The Musical has countless double
entendre references to the titular dam-building rodent,
including fully five songs with Beaver in the title, it is
more importantly a tuneful, joyous defense of acceptance and
tolerance, love and sexuality. This is a show that kids can
enjoy (the beaver jokes will go right over their heads) but
that adults will love even more regardless of their age.
Beaverquest! The Musical begins with a cock-a-doodle-do and a
sensational a capella belt of a solo (“Serenade/Come With Me”)
by the dazzling Darrin Revitz (recently in Twist), as she
introduces us to the characters (human and animal) whose
stories we’ll be following over the next two and a half hours.
There’s Bunny (a 6 foot mountain of a bunny rabbit), Petunia
(a firecracker of a country girl), Clem and Cletis (two of the
goodest good ol’ boys around), Sheriff Jack and his brand new
“moooshache,” big bold and brassy Arleta, adorable Beaver the
beaver, glamorous Spirit Of The Forest, and the Disney-ready
animal trio of Quail, Skunk, and Bear. There’s also lead
narrator Annie Mae (Revitz) and her co-narrators Betty Lynn
and Pepper, and a monster truck (a real one!) onstage, inside
and behind which sit the five-member band.
Petunia and Jack are crazy in love, like “Two Sticks” just a
burnin’ to rub together, which they do (repeatedly) in the
song of the same name. (“Rub’em together and they make fire,”
they sing.) Only one hitch. Jack is now sheriff, which
according to plus-size Mayor Arleta means that he must swear
off liquor and sex. “The mayor says I ain’t allowed to date,”
he tells a crestfallen Petunia. No matter. She and Jack are in
love, and she swears she’s going to get him to “put a little
baby in me,” even if it’s the last thing she does.
Since her parents died, Petunia has been getting “a little
clingy” to her pet Bunny (twice her size) and Clem is envious
of her good luck in having such a cuddly friend. To his bosom
buddy Cletis’ jealous dismay, Clem decides to go looking for a
pal like Petunia’s Bunny. Meanwhile, Bunny has had enough of
clingy Petunia, and he packs his few treasures (a couple of
small stuffed animals) in a burlap sack and runs away.
In another part of town, Arleta, owner of Arleta’s Taxidemy
Shop, bemoans the lack of fresh beaver in town. (She’s pretty
much killed and stuffed them all.) “I’ve Never Met A Beaver I
Didn’t Want To Stuff,” she sings, though these days her dream
is to open a petting zoo, if only she can corral enough
animals to fill it.
Arleta is mistaken that there ain’t no more beavers around.
There still is at least one, the eponymous Beaver, who goes
about with furry flat-tailed water animal trivia on his lips:
“I have webbed feet, but I am not a duck.” “I smell like
clams.” “Fish live in my belly.” “My stool smells of pine
cones.” “I secrete my own oils.”
Before you know it, Bunny and Beaver have met cute, and
despite the fact that neither has felt same-sex urges before,
they are soon doing their mating dance of love. “My heart was
parched but the sight of you has quenched my soul,” declares
the poetic Bunny. “We shall be homosexual lovers.” And soon
the couple are declaring their love in a song: “I Must Be A
Tree ‘Cause I’ve Fallen For You.”
“Seduced-and-abandoned” could easily be Beaver’s nickname the
morning after, and he is soon weeping on Cletis’ shoulder, all
the while Bunny (who may be running from his true self) drowns
his sorrows in Jack Daniels straight from the bottle.
Meanwhile, co-narrator Pepper has defied the laws of
storytelling and crossed over from narrator to character in
order to be with Cletis. (It was love at first sight for her,
you see.)
Beautiful and statuesque Spirit Of The Forest (who Clem keeps
mistaking for Jesus) arrives at the end of Act 1 to assure
everyone that “Hope’s Your Friend,” in a pre-intermission
finale that has the entire cast onstage a-singin’ and a-dancin’
as if at a revival meeting.
And that’s only Act 1. Nothing will be revealed her about Act
2 except that it’s even better, cleverer, funnier, and racier
than Act 1, and that it introduces one new character, Neville,
an adorable one-year-old with beaver teeth and rabbit ears who
is guaranteed to win everyone in the audience’s heart.
Beaverquest! The Musical is the brainchild of Sacred Fools
Co-Artistic Director Padraic Duffy, who wrote the book and
lyrics and wow does this guy have imagination, wit, and heart.
(Proud parents Patrick and Carlyn were in the opening night
audience as was dad’s Dallas costar Linda Gray.) Working with
directorial whiz Scott Leggett, talented tunesmith
(composer/musical director) Bobby Stapf, and choreographer
Dorothy Dillingham Blue’s hoedown-ready dances, Duffy has come
up with the winningest musical around.
The cast couldn’t be better. In addition to the aforementioned
and stellar Revitz as Annie Mae, there are the delicious Emily
Pennington as Pepper and the perky Lauren Nasman as Betty
Lynn, the trio comprising the narrators/Greek chorus. Bryan
Krasner and Corey Klemow are the delightfully mismatched Bunny
and Beaver, the best counterarguments around to ignorant
bigots like Sally Kern, and poster children for gay marriage.
Krasner particularly has a set of pipes that can belt to the
rafters. Laura Sperrazza is a delectable squeaky-voiced
Petunia (and one hell of a singer) and Jacob Sidney and
Michael Holmes are perfection as best friends Clem and Cletis
(the latter a tad less dim than the former). Alyssa Preston is
a powerhouse singer and comedienne who burns up the stage as
Arleta. Elizabeth Bennett is a lovely Spirit Of The Forest,
and Jennifer Gail Fenten, Eulis Kay, and Chairman Barnes are
wonderful as both animals and triplet children. Finally, in a
class by himself, is Philip Newby, who charmed Sacred Fools
audiences as a talking rabbit in Poona the F***dog, and is
even more adorable here as an interspecies mix, giving one of
the most endearing performances you’re likely ever to see.
Stapf plays guitar, mandolin, and harmonica, and is joined in
the truck by Brian Robbins, Lydia Veileux, Stew O’Dell, and
Steve Riley to make infectious get-up-and-dance music. Natasha
Norman shares credit with Leggett and Blue as assistant
director and co-choreographer. Janne Zirkle Larsen’s scenic
design is simple in the extreme, but a big truck goes a long
way, and this show is not about the set. Jake Mitchell’s
lighting and Tim Labor’s sound design are just fine, and Wes
Crain deserves highest marks for his imaginative costumes
(human and animal), as does Heather Hopkins for makeup.
Beaverquest! The Musical combines the tradition of such
offbeat Sacred Fools fare as A Dr. Jeuss Christmas, Poona The
F***dog, and The Swine Show with the musical comedy excellence
that they recently displayed in Drood: The Mystery of Edwin
Drood. Like the equally original Urinetown: The Musical, which
began in a small theater and ended up a hit in a big Broadway
house, it is not a far stretch of the imagination to picture
Beaverquest! The Musical doing the same.
--Steven Stanley
© 2008, StageSceneLA.com
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