Youthful Cast Survives Hoary Plot Turns of ‘Tinsel in Their Eyes’

On opening night at the Coronet Theatre, after the final curtain of “Tinsel in Their Eyes,” director Rand Hopkins took the stage to introduce the actors and to announce that his play is a work-in-progress.

Was there a hint of apology in that announcement?

The cast members, a group of 14- to 18-year-olds and two adults, took deserved bows--they survived two hours and 15 minutes of maudlin cliches about struggling young actors without wincing.

Hopkins, who is touring the show with his Atlanta-based youth theater, Stage Directions Inc., has had success with other plays. His drama “The Boy King,” based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. as a child, was made into a television special in 1987, winning the prestigious Peabody Award.

“Tinsel in Their Eyes,” however, is as painful as it sounds.

In Hollywood, nice girl Amber (Eleanor Jones) and snobbish Margeaux (Brandi Burkett) are auditioning for a new film--Margeaux gets the lead, Amber lands a secondary role.

Buck (Christopher Bauer) loses the male lead to nice guy Kyle (Sy Seidell) who was only along to lend Buck moral support. Sensitive former child-star Robby (Jason Eden), trying to make a comeback, gets a secondary role.

Nice guy Kyle gets a swelled head for a while and forgets his friends, Amber and Robby, who are hurt, but loyal. Margeaux alienates everyone and takes drugs.

Buck, in an agony of despair, becomes a male hustler.

It’s a year later and one rainy night, Buck meets the prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold (Elizabeth Jetton) who presciently tells him his mama still loves him despite everything he has done, and tells him about Natalie Wood movies and her own aspirations to become a star.

“You’re OK,” Buck tells her, “I hope you make it.”

“You bet your sweet tushie I will,” she replies.

But Buck’s life style has caught up with him and he sends Kyle a letter telling him he is dying. The implication of AIDS is obvious.

“I guess it’s true what they say about the wages of sin being death,” Buck writes.

The letter causes Kyle to reassess his own life. There are tearful reunions all around. Ludicrous snob Margeaux gets her comeuppance for being such a bad person--the plum role in the sequel to the film will go to Amber.

The nadir of this bludgeoning moral lesson, however, is reached in a scene with an interviewer, a pointlessly offensive gay parody played by Jeff Goodson.

Performances continue at 366 N. La Cienega Blvd. tonight, Thursday, Friday and next Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets: $8; (213) 657-3270.