STAGE REVIEW : Trash Poetry in Action

Lypsinka is one of a kind, a characterization that must have crept into the mind of her creator, John Epperson, during one too many glazed-out trips to record store cut-out bins.

Epperson’s performance as Lypsinka at the Cafe Largo in Hollywood--a triumph in the still mercifully obscure art of combining drag characterization with lip-syncing--was bizarre, weird and surprisingly entertaining.

He/she cruised onto the restaurant’s tiny stage dressed in an outfit that would surely have gotten him a role as a cheap nightclub performer in a ‘40s detective movie. With his make-up slashed across eyes and lips in bright, primary colors, his gestures grand and diva-like, his movements constantly implying nasty sub-texts, Lypsinka was the very image of trash poetry in action.

But then something very interesting happened. Lypsinka’s lip-syncing was perfect--never so much as a flawed lip flap--and within a few minutes the performance was transformed from an eccentric gimmick into a fascinating theatrical collage.

Like Andy Warhol, like contemporary rap mix artists, Lypsinka assembles the detritus of pop art--in his case, obscure songs from performers like Gisele Mackenzie, Dolores Gray, Judy Canova and Kay Stevens--into completely new mosaics. His work both derives from, and comments upon, the vast, rusting pile of entertainment trivia that is the heritage of the last five decades.

And it is effective, both as commentary and as sheer humor. Two “phone scenes,” in which Lypsinka answered one illusionary phone call after another, only to “hear,” via his lip-sync, bits and pieces of dialogue ranging from Joan Crawford and Bette Davis to Patty Duke and Caterina Valente, fascinated precisely because so many of the lines were familiar, highly atmospheric trivia icons.

“Lypsinka,” Cafe Largo, 432 N. Fairfax Ave., Hollywood, Thursdays-Fridays, 9 p.m. Ends Dec. 28. Special performance Dec. 27, 10:30 p.m. for Act-Up LA. $6; (213) 852-1851. Running time: 90 minutes.