Youth Theatre’s ‘Strider’ Falters at Starting Gate

A horse gives his all in czarist Russia in Mark Rozovsky’s play “Strider,” the second play in the California Youth Theatre’s summer repertory season at Barnsdall Park.

In contrast to the company’s opening show of the season, the bawdy, crisply staged musical “The Robber Bridegroom,” “Strider” is an earnest attempt at relevance and depth. It falters at the starting gate, due to lackluster staging and a cast that’s game, but too young to convey emotional resonances as it speaks of old age and the whys of life.

Based on a story by Tolstoy, “Strider” is a piebald horse, born of a noble father, but doomed to be an outcast--and gelded, because his patchy, multicolored coat would pollute the line. Still, his strength of body and valiant spirit make him serve unfailingly the “handsome, rich” prince (Brian Elias) who calls himself master. Indeed, Strider loves the prince even for his “coldness, cruelty and my complete dependence on him.”

After two years of high life, Strider’s fate abruptly changes and he’s sold. Each of his succeeding masters abuse him further, but Strider (Sean McNall) stoically does all that is demanded of him, until the only thing left to give is his carcass.

The bulk of the play is made up of Strider’s equine ponderings on life’s brevity and brutality and why one living being can consider himself the superior of another.

The questions have relevance today, and McNall strives for the intensity to drive them home, but his evident youth and small size work against him, as does the play’s slow pace and uninspired action.

There’s little sense of time and place in director-choreographer Corky Dominguez’s staging; for the most part, the 20-odd ensemble sits on the sidelines and those who play horses toss their heads and whinny. The whinnying is overdone, with the unfortunate sound of children playing horsey. Nor are the cast’s voices up to the slow, Russian flavor of the songs, except for the few ensemble numbers, played tentatively by onstage musicians.

This is a company that prefers to stretch itself with adult works and it has had successes, but “Strider” isn’t one of them.

“Strider,” Barnsdall Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., outdoor stage, tonight, Sunday, Aug. 21, 23, 28, 30 at 8:15 p.m., free; (310) 657-3270.

Save the Earth: In “Orphan Dreams,” an “environmental” play for children, a save-the-Earth message is shoe-horned into a muddled plot about orphans in an institution run by demonic Mr. Dastardly (Marty Maguire). He wears a Dracula cloak and is crueler than “Annie’s” Miss Hannigan, so what do the orphans worry about? The depletion of the ozone layer.

Written by Elisabeth Brooks, who directs with Maguire, the play is a mishmash of fairy-tale scenes and dream sequences. The little girls who play orphans and fairy-tale characters deliver their lines with some conviction and Maguire gives his villain’s role some relish, but the play lacks clarity and the cursory staging lacks interest.

“Orphan Dreams,” Chamber Theatre, 3759 Cahuenga Blvd. W., Studio City, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m., through Aug. 30, $10 (under age 12, $5); (818) 995-4441.

Fund-Raiser: “Serendipity: Past, Present and Future, an Afternoon of Theatre and Song for the Entire Family (and a Garage Sale, Too),” a benefit for the nonprofit Serendipity Theatre Company, will be held at the Coronet Theatre on Aug. 30 at 1 and 5 p.m.

Tax-deductible tickets of $20 per adult and $15 per child age 13 and under, include a performance and dessert buffet and beverage bar. Information: (310) 652-9199.