STAGE REVIEW : ‘Lagunatics’ Milks City’s Sacred Cows

The happiest fact of “Lagunatics,” the “musical roast” of life in Laguna Beach that launched the county’s Day Without Art observance Monday night, was its ability to blend a let’s-put-on-a-show exuberance with consistent wit and sparkle, and a willingness to poke impish fun at everything and everyone in “the village.”

In “Lagunatics,” no sacred cows went unbranded.

The onetime production at the Moulton Theater raised funds for Laguna Shanti, an AIDS support project, in conjunction with the Day Without Art commemoration of the toll AIDS has taken in the arts community (for coverage of events yesterday, see today’s Part B).

Of course, even the best of intentions won’t guarantee a good show. But “Lagunatics”’ sometimes-catty humor was well-honed and well-received, even by some of the targets who were sitting in the sold-out house.

The 14 cast members cleverly reworked Broadway and popular tunes to skewer everything from local politics to overzealous meter maids, and peaked with a show-stopping ode to Laguna’s proverbial 500-pound gorilla, the Pageant of the Masters.

“You should have seen the things we couldn’t use” as subject matter, producer/co-writer Bree Burgess Rosen said from stage after the performance.

In a knock at plans to build a tollway that would bisect Laguna Canyon, Mignonne Profant warbled “The Hills Are Alive” while a bevy of actors in little cutout cars buzzed around her, finally mowing her down.

Several sketches took aim at the city’s gate-guarded rich. In one, Saif Eddin sat in a wingback chair, wearing a smoking jacket and gently swirling his brandy snifter while gloating musically over his endless riches:

You know, Laguna’s the greatest

With big iron bars to gate us . . .

We have more money than you.

Other topics, treated either in full production numbers or just glanced at, included T-shirt shops, tourists, local restaurants (listed, musically, by Joe Lauderdale), the dating scenes (straight and gay), water pollution, rodent infestation and sex education in Laguna schools.

For the record, the press did not come off clean. In one song, The Times was called a “rag.”

Even the Laguna Greeter, the old guy who waves at people as they enter town, took a knock or two. In one number, his plan for a house was turned down by the city Design Review Board. Tour guide Cliff Drive (hilariously played by Tim Dey in appearances that constituted a running gag) told his charges that the Greeter “went nuts, and now he hangs around downtown waving people away from real estate investments.”

The kitschy Pageant of Masters is, needless to say, fertile ground for satire, and the “Lagunatics” mined it for some of the most sustained laughter of the night. Even Thurl Ravenscroft, the perennial Voice Of The Pageant, got in on the fun, intoning dead-pan descriptions of life-size recreations of the Disney Porcelain Figurine Collection, a Chia pet and a wackily irreverent “Last Supper.”

While some of the humor was definitely inside-Laguna, there were enough broadly understandable references to keep the show entertaining for outsiders, and “Lagunatics” made it clear that while Laguna Beach has its flaws, at least it is a real, definable community--something that can’t be said for much of Orange County’s faceless suburban sprawl.

“Lagunatics” was dreamed up by Rosen, who co-wrote it with Dey (and also performed), and was directed with a tight pace by Lauderdale, Youth Theater director of the Laguna Playhouse. The all-volunteer cast, which included some Laguna Playhouse regulars, performed admirably, especially in production numbers that were surprisingly well-polished for a onetime benefit. The Laguna Playhouse donated the use of the Moulton Theatre (and itself took a few barbs from the stage).

The event included pre- and post-show receptions, a silent auction of donated items (most difficult to collect: dinner for two at Chez Paul--in Maui) and a raffle.