STAGE REVIEWS : ‘archy’ Shows His Age in Odyssey Revival

It seemed like a good idea back in 1957: A musical based on Don Marquis’ “archy & mehitabel,” the store of columns and anecdotes that Marquis constructed around a free-versing cockroach who discovers the typewriter--and the untamed alley cat, mehitabel, of whose ethics archy archly disapproves, but with whom he’s fascinated.

On Broadway, the musical adaptation was named “Shinbone Alley,” endowed with Eddie Bracken and Eartha Kitt, inflated with a cast of thousands and supported by a book cobbled together by Mel Brooks and Joe Darion (who also created lyrics based on the Marquis language). It huffed and puffed and meowed through 49 performances.

At the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, where it has been revived under the name “archy & mehitabel,” it has a trimmed-down cast of nine and many of the original problems. Turning Marquis’ insect-philosopher and playgirl-cat into stage characters is apparently as tough a proposition now as then.

But there is an added complication in the current edition: Passing time. What may have seemed flawed but fresh in 1957 feels flawed and dated in 1991. The Charles Kleisinger jazz score is peppy but unmemorable, and to say that the book is paper-thin is to be kind. Many of the show’s disjointed scenes are featherweight and some seem sophomoric, none more so than the ones with Tyrone T. Tattersall (a pixilated Logan Ramsey), the theater cat created as a spoof of Tyrone Guthrie, who tries to turn mehitabel into a star.

In this post-”Cats” age, it’s impossible to overlook comparison with that other theater cat, Gus, as invented by T.S. Eliot and Andrew Lloyd Webber, if only as an illustration of how times, conventions and expectations have changed.

So no matter how much creative effort is poured into this Odyssey production, it’s overwhelmed by problems of book and score. Joseph Della Sorte is an engaging archy and the talented Leslie Easterbrook does her level best to deliver a fast-living, “toujours gaie” mehitabel who won’t reform her wicked ways, but the material is the material. It doesn’t help. Both actors have their moments, such as the skit based on mehitabel’s litter of kittens, her encounters with Slick Tom (Charles Machalicky) and Big Bill (a persuasive Thom McCleister), archy’s wandering eye for lady-bugs, but things don’t ever really coalesce.

Director John Bowen hasn’t taken care of business. He has revived a dysfunctional musical without making enough of an effort to improve it. The choreography is humdrum. Set designer Cara Hoepner’s oversized pencil, pen, manual Underwood and stacked English usage books are imaginative additions, but with the exception of archy’s veined brown body and bowler hat, Pauline Cronin’s costumes and the sketchy makeup disappoint. One doesn’t expect the look of “Cats,” but one does expect a bit more than the thrift shop specials that drape the cat-chorus of Zazoo (Hope Levy), Xaviera (Lisa Stanley) and Yonkers (Laura Bogard).

Unless clever new tricks can be taught weak old musicals, why revive them? It might have been more interesting and productive in this case simply to develop a new one.

“archy & mehitabel,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, (213) 477-2055. Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 7 p.m. Indefinitely. $15-$22. Running time: 2 hours.

‘archy & mehitabel’

Jay Gerber: Newspaperman

Joseph Della Sorte: archy

Laura Bogard: Yonkers

Hope Levy: Zazoo

Jisa Stanley: Xaviera

Leslie Easterbrook: mehitabel

Charles Machalicky: Slick Tom

Thom McCleister: Big Bill

Logan Ramsey: Tyrone

Producers Ron Sossi, Eric Vennerbeck. Director John Bowen. Book Joe Darion, Mel Brooks, based on the stories of Don Marquis. Lyrics Joe Darion. Music Charles Kleisinger. Sets Cara Hoepner. Lights Perin Sprecace. Costumes Pauline Cronin. Musical director Jack Elton. Conductor Candace Dinardi. Alternate/Dance captain Pamela Heffler. Production stage manager Louis Ebey. Stage managers Christine Roblee, Michele Mischo. Musicians Barry Setzer, Bruce L. Friedman, Tat Chui, Mike Flick, Terrance Jones.