Review: ‘A Grand Guignol Cabaret’ at the Sunset Gardner Stage
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The naughty cast of ‘A Grand Guignol Cabaret’ is in dire need of a spanking, though not the kind that these louche, scantily clad actors so clearly desire. Straining hard to evoke Weimar-era decadence, the young and mostly firm-fleshed performers end up committing that most punishable of theatrical sins: boring the audience.
Consisting of six sketches that run the gamut from sleazy to blood-soaked, the show is intended to mimic the smoky, absinthe-fueled cabaret acts of the 1920s in which lingerie-wearing ingenues bared their goods and syphilitic emcees ruled the stage with catty humor.
‘A Grand Guignol Cabaret’ has the costumes and cadaverous makeup down, but the skits themselves are merely faux-transgressive. No real taboos are broken over the course of the hour-long show, unless you consider lesbian kissing, cross dressing, chair gyrations and geysers of fake blood to be especially shocking.
Director Amanda Haney and her 11-member cast work well within the tiny confines of the stage. But the show itself manages to work up only one animal desire in the viewer — the urge to yawn.
— David Ng
‘A Grand Guignol Cabaret,’ Sunset Gardner Stage, 1501 N. Gardner St., West Hollywood. 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends June 28. (626) 993-4659. Running time: 1 hour.
