A Charming Revival of ‘Carnival’

The Broadway musical “Carnival,” based on the enchanting movie “Lili,” has been charmingly revived at the Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood.

The wide-eyed central character, who joins a tawdry circus troupe, is delectably portrayed by Lauren Hathaway. For those of us who fell in love with Leslie Caron in the 1953 MGM movie, Hathaway’s wispy innocence and her lovely rapport with the carnival puppets cast a warm memory.

Director-choreographer Dom Salinaro has caught the milieu of a bedizened little circus in a small southern European town. The show (originally staged by Gower Champion in 1961) is fragile and airy in its best moments, fulsome and garish in its sideshow pizazz.

The cast is vocally ample, especially Hal Cobb’s love-smitten, lame, embittered puppeteer. Musical director Craig Fenter has squeezed Bob Merrill’s score onto a synthesizer, making it workable.

The material can be clunky and mawkish, but there’s a lilt that’s entrancing. Actors sing, dance, walk on stilts, do magic tricks and work puppets. Flavorful characters are rendered by Gay Storm’s saucy circus queen, Louis Herthum’s romantic Don Juan and Larry Eisenberg’s wise, jaunty puppeteer.

It’s a great show for children.

“Carnival,” Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends Feb. 9. $10-$15; (818) 769-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Open Fist’s ‘True West’ Packs Powerful Punch

A new theater company in Hollywood calls itself the Open Fist and puts its action where its mouth is. Its production of Sam Shepard’s “True West” smacks you like an open fist. Shepard’s 1980 drama about a screenwriter and his desert mongrel of a brother has a comic surface and a maniacal interior that can be gripping if the play is staged with the right electrical currents.

The conduit here is director Ziad Hamzeh, who hot-wires this play with consummate skill. Actors Tim Pulice and Michael Denney are the warring brothers caught in the decay of the West as echoed by the baying of coyotes in a Southland suburb. They spar with verbal uppercuts, physical counterpunches and a simmering fury that signal strong promise for this company.

“True West” was a risky choice. It’s been done so much. But the details create hilarious chaos, from the elaborate kitchen set (while mom’s away the kids will play) to a dozen burning toasters and the growing garbage heap of clutter.

Pulice’s civilized, businesslike demeanor as the screenwriter is sharply offset by Denney’s ne’er-do-well brother whose scroungy hair and beard, and demonic/yearning eyes convey danger.

The brothers’ role reversal is ripe stuff, and Brian Muir’s movie producer is on target (down to bare feet in loafers). Only the mother (Judith Montgomery) seems bland. The Quonset hut of a theater is dank, but this is true Shepard.

“True West,” the Open Fist, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Saturday, resuming Jan. 4-26. $12-$14; (213) 882-6912 or (213) 281-8325. Running time: 2 hours.

‘Doughball’ an Uneven Outing at East West

Local Sansei playwright Perry Miyake has written a memory play, “Doughball,” that captures third-generation Japanese-American high school kids in the last summer of their innocence at a Japanese community carnival in Venice.

The premiere at East West Players in Hollywood is uneven. The play lacks momentum, but late in the second act one actor almost salvages the show. Hovering in the background as a silent, pony-tailed Vietnam-scarred veteran is the compelling Craig Ng. When his turn comes, Ng hurls the play like a javelin into another orbit.

The playwright’s apparent alter-ego and central character is a moony, naive/gung-ho Venice High senior circa 1970, endearingly played by Steve Park. His dreamgirl is the untouchable Patricia Ayame Thomson. But the brash high school buddy played by Yuji Okumoto is overripe, full of mugging that director Patricia S. Yasutake should step in and squash.

Lissa Ling Lee, with a delicate touch, is a shy classmate who (with Park) helps frame the story from the adult perspective. The title refers to a game of chance played at the annual Venice carnivals fondly rekindled here, but with only random, not tight focus.

“Doughball,” East West Players, 4424 Santa Monica Blvd., Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Jan. 20. $12-$15; (213) 660-0366). Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.