Stage Reviews : Plante Struggles Valiantly in ‘Lobby’

Louis R. Plante, an actor who’s never, ever uninteresting (his work in “The Shoemakers” was one of the great performances of the ‘80s), does all he can to make Tim Brandoff’s “Lobby” interesting. But at the Burbage Theatre, under Ivan Spiegel’s direction, watching Plante hustle around the stage is like seeing a host trying to revive a dying party.

Brandoff’s wafer-thin piece about Frank (Plante), the besieged manager of a New York high-rise apartment, has enough weight for a TV pilot, but not for a movie (the program reports that Brandoff’s screenplay has already been optioned) and certainly not for a play. It can be suffocatingly banal, as we track petty quarrels--always with Frank in the middle--involving Mary the pestering tenant (Francine Markow, alternating with Helaine Hunter) or John the defeated custodian (Jimm Giannini).

It can also be strangely uncomic, especially in Frank’s attempts to mediate with Sammy (David Newer), the Upper East Side’s most obnoxious doorman. In “Lobby,” we never get the feeling of lobby life, which can be absurdly hilarious (witness Dan Zukovic’s sparkling, just-closed “The Epic Cycle”). Instead, Newer’s sour doorman is just sour--and not even the gifted Plante can do anything about it. “Lobby,” Burbage Theatre, 2330 Sawtelle Blvd., West Los Angeles, Thursdays, 8 p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Ends next Saturday. $15; (213) 478-0897. Running time:1 hour, 25 minutes.