STAGE REVIEW : A Tongue-in-Cheek, Boisterous ‘Hollywood!’ Satire

OK, so it’s derivative, so it’ll remind you of Mickey and Judy putting on a show, so it’s too long and frequently too busy, so . . . what?

Sam Harris and Bruce H. Newberg are on to a potentially good thing with “Hurry! Hurry! Hollywood!,” their college-spawned spoof of those lavish Hollywood Busby Berkeley mega-musicals and those chummy stories of old pals sweating it out and making good together. That’s all there is to this boisterous Whittier-La Mirada Musical Theatre production at the La Mirada Theatre. But with hefty trimming, it might be enough.

The premise is so tinselly it crumples at the touch, which is pretty much the idea. Starting with “That Swing Thing,” the big, tacky-on-purpose production number that kicks off the show, we know we’re not expected to take anything here too seriously.

This is the story of three friends who want to make it on the stage but decide that, in 1933, it’s really happening in Hollywood. Like the stars of the show at New York’s Grand Theatre, where they work as ushers, Billy and Kate (Wallace Kurth and Tia Riebling), in love with each other, are persuaded by Billy’s roommate Freddie (Ray Benson) to hop the 20th Century Limited and hurry, hurry off to Hollywood.

There they end up as fry-cook, waiter and busboy in the Saperstein Studios commissary. But not for long. The plot gets hot and top-heavy with Billy’s unwarranted elevation to producerdom, Billy being whisked away from Kate by no-talent starlet Polly Sue (Rachelle Ottley), Freddie wishing he could find a way to tell Kate how much he loves her, Kate trying to win Billy back, and everyone wanting to throttle Polly Sue.

Sound familiar? It should.

Kaufman and Hart aficionados won’t fail to notice that--more than to Mickey and Judy--”Hurry! Hurry! Hollywood!” is intimately related to Jerry, May and George. They, you may recall, are the three pals in “Once in a Lifetime” who also leave New York to conquer Hollywood. Saperstein Studios takes its blueprint from “Lifetime’s” Glogauer lot. And there’s even a Hedda Hopper-style radio gossip columnist named Phoebe Farber (Rita McKenzie) who’s a ringer for “Lifetime’s” Helen Hobart--down to the euphonic names.

It’s all tongue-in-cheek, of course, and the show has a Hollywood ending in which nearly everyone gets to live happily ever after. If Newberg (who wrote the book and lyrics with Harris) and Harris (who staged the show and composed its big-band music) can trim out 45 minutes, they might slim “Hollywood!” into a hit. For the moment, it’s overloaded: Too many numbers, too little focus, too much affection for what they’ve got.

Harris and Newberg explore every singable emotion and reprise it three times. The music benefits from excellent Peter Matz orchestrations and fine arrangements by Wally Harper and musical director Lucas Richman. And director Harris doesn’t stint on full-out production numbers, even if the sets by Jeff Brown and Joe Yakovetic lumber when they should glide and the costumes by Yakovetic and Scott Lane are as cheesy as they are inventive. In such respects, “Hollywood!” is reaching beyond this production’s grasp. But it is a measure of the writers’ ambition and offers a glimpse of the possibilities that might lie ahead.

As composer, Harris is a good mimic, with a real understanding of the style of the period. Note the zip in the title tune and the big sound of “Hudson River” (both versions); the rousing solidarity songs (“A Nice Kid Like Me,” “We’re Going Places Together”); thebelter’s drop-dead declamations (Phoebe’s brassy “Strictly Confidential” and “You Can’t Change the Man”); the tender ballads (Freddie’s “Never Will She Answer,” Kate’s beautiful “Without Him”), and the heroic, torchy “This Time.”

Lots of richness there.

But once the hilarious “Hudson River II” is done, and Polly Sue has had her comeuppance, this show is essentially over. Harris needs to wrap things up quicker. Some reprises can be forgotten and the satire punched up.

Bookwriter-lyricist Newberg, who also did the casting, owes it to himself to cast someone other than himself in the role of film director Elliot Sloane. (More assertion is needed.) That aside, he has chosen well, starting with Ottley, who nearly steals the show as dreadful Polly Sue--unlike McKenzie who does her best to steal the show as the bombastic Phoebe. A little less effort would help.

The mainstays, however, are the lovely, full-throated Riebling as straight-shooter Kate, Benson as the pleasant, loving Freddie, and Kurth as wimpy Billy.

Choreographer Toni Kaye is responsible for the sly dance numbers and a climactic “Stars in the Sky” that’s as wildly schizophrenic as the show itself. Deliciously pseudo-Busby Berkeley, with tons of glitter and parading showgirls, it isn’t quite clear about whether it wants to be taken seriously or elicit a chuckle. This viewer votes for the chuckle, but the show needs to be clearer about it.

* “Hurry! Hurry! Hollywood!,” La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, La Mirada. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Oct. 24. $20-$25; (310) 944-9801, (714) 994-6310. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Timothy Smith: Victor Kent

Jana Robbins: Vicky Kent

Bruce H. Newberg: Elliot Sloane

Tia Riebling: Kate Williams

Wallace Kurth: Billy Benson

Ray Benson: Freddie Morgan

Rita McKenzie: Phoebe Farber

Rachelle Ottley: Polly Sue Pickwood

Pattric Walker: Mrs. Cloeta Pickwood

Daniel Smith: Seymour Saperstein

Shannon McCleery: Saperstein’s secretary

Melissa Martin, Shannon McCleery, Daniel Smith, Tony Redman: KSTR Singers

Richard Bulda: Choreographer

Deborah Zive: Trilling Soprano

A presentation of Whittier-La Mirada Musical Theatre Assn. Producer Paul Garman. Director Sam Harris. Book and lyrics Bruce H. Newberg, Sam Harris. Music Sam Harris. Orchestrations Peter Matz. Arrangements Wally Harper. Additional arrangements Lucas Richman. Musical director Lucas Richman. Choreographer Toni Kaye. Sets Jeff Brown, Joe Yakovetic. Lights Raun Yankovich. Costumes Scott Lane, Joe Yakovetic. Props Mary Ritenhour, Becki Michaud. Sound Chuck McCarroll. Technical director Jeff Brown. Stage manager Lisa Palmire.