STAGE REVIEW : ‘The LA LA LA Awards’ Roast Latino Celebrities

The main course on the lavish food buffet backstage at “The LA LA LA Awards” was surely queso flameado.

The Latins Anonymous parody of entertainment awards shows is both cheesy and flaming in its campy, but pointed, skewering of Latino celebrities and the Anglo-dominated “industry.” The show, which opened Thursday at the Japan America Theatre for a short run (concluding tonight), was written by the four members of the comedy troupe--Cris Franco, Luisa Leschin, Armando Molina and Diane Rodriguez--and performed by them along with a nine-member supporting cast.

All members of the quartet are veteran stage, film and television actors, but they’ve always been on the fringe of the industry--a plight humorously explored in their initial, eponymous stage production from the late ‘80s. “The LA LA LA Awards” (“The Los Angeles Latins Anonymous Lifetime Achievement Awards”) takes the satire a step further. If awards shows are meant to bestow legitimacy to their organizers and recipients, the “LA LA LAs” are evidence that Latinos have arrived in the entertainment business . . . well, sort of.

From the prologue, when the star-struck caterers are seen backstage trying to determine just who in the audience is and isn’t Latino--is Tom Cruise really Tom Cruz?--to the epilogue, when the troupe expresses its sincere rage and frustration about Hollywood, practically every Latino entertainment figure gets the treatment.

The thinly--and sometimes not at all--veiled characterizations include Cheech Marin, Cristina Saralegui, Ricardo Montalban, Los Lobos, Charo, Maria Conchita Alonso, Vikki Carr, Linda Ronstadt and Antonio Banderas. The premises, and the name twisting, are often funny. Leschin turns fast-talking talk show host Saralegui into Cristina “Sacalengua” (Spanish for “stick out your tongue”). Maria Conchita is transformed by Rodriguez into Maria “Sonsita” (“mindless”). And through Molina, Montalban becomes Ricardo “Ontalbano” (“Where is the bathroom?”), while Banderas is Antonio “Nalgueras” (this is a family newspaper--suffice it to say it has to do with buttocks).

Then there are the personalities you didn’t know were Latino--like Roseanne Barr(io). Leschin’s is the best pure impersonation of the evening, nailing down the comedian’s nasally voice and delivery as she boasts of committing “drive-by naggings.”

The production is helped by contributions from familiar names in Latino art circles: directing by Jose Luis Valenzuela, choreography by Miguel Delgado, sets by Steve La Ponsie and Gronk, lighting by Jose Lopez and costumes and graphic design by Pattsi Valdez.

But while the show’s premises are funny, they often don’t carry an entire skit. And the decision to conclude on a serious note is questionable. The satire is enough of a statement in itself. Some editing is in order and will hopefully take place before January, when the show will have a longer run at San Diego Repertory.

One of the highlights is Franco’s performance as Maclovio Mojado, who receives the “Best Latino Weatherman” award. As he stands before a map to discuss the “cultural climate,” Franco predicts that the outlook for L.A. is “a 65% chance of Mexicans, along with scattered Salvadorenos.”

Franco is a recent addition to the troupe. He replaces Rick Najera (currently writing for “In Living Color”), who helped conceive the “LA LA LAs” along with the other three original members. But Franco brought an invaluable experience to this production. He was a writer for the recent, nationally broadcast “Desi Awards,” which were glitzy and glamorous--but not without a healthy queso quotient. “The LA LA LA Awards” prove that arte does imitate la vida.