Cast Steals Show in ‘Criminal Minds’

What a difference a cast makes.

When we first came across Robin Swicord’s “Criminal Minds,” at the American New Theatre, it absolutely resisted making any sense, even (or especially) for a slightly absurd comedy about crooks on the lam hiding out at a Florida miniature golf course. Why, for instance, would a sharp woman like Billy Marie--former executive secretary and now collaborator in the next heist by her lover, prison escapee Eddie Ray--be attracted to a clod like Eddie’s fellow escapee, Renfroe, burdened with a world-class case of amnesia?

Then, reported T.H. McCulloh in The Times, director Allison Liddi and her cast unearthed themes of male piggishness and female choice earlier this year at Burbank’s Third Stage.

Was there more here than met the ear? The newest “Criminal Minds,” just down the street from Third Stage at the Gnu Theatre, confirms that, yes, this is altogether a fairly slight play but that, yes, the war between the sexes is one of Swicord’s big concerns.

Even bigger is the war between men. In Jeff Hall’s staging, Renfroe is a character retrieved by actor Michael E. Dempsey from idiocy and molded into a fellow at odds with himself. It turns out that he has far fewer delusions than Eddie (Wayne Terry), who assumes that he can be the director of his own life and everyone’s around him--and that Renfroe actually has a criminal mind.

Eddie comically mistakes Renfroe’s impenetrability as something deep (Swicord’s longest running joke in this short play is Eddie trying to get Renfroe to reveal his criminal skills, and, when he succeeds, seeing them seriously backfire). Terry plays Eddie as the control freak he is, seeing his “pals” the way Hitchcock allegedly viewed actors--as cattle. With this firmly in place, Billy’s attraction to Renfroe’s genuine innocence follows, and actress Suzanne Wouk reinforces that all along.

Of course, Billy is posed with an impossible choice between The Sensitive Guy and The Bully (the play’s comedy wellspring, along with Renfroe’s running amnesia), so she has to find herself. Swicord never lets this happen, which is clearly the play’s real problem. A sequel may be in order.

A note on the design: Pat Hall’s lights could be much, much brighter for an outdoor Florida locale, but set designer Jeff Seymour has clearly taken to the outdoors (his first exterior design at the Gnu). Check out the cool, ‘50s-style back-lit signs (“Goofy Golf”), the filthy golfing area, the peek-a-boo Brontosaurus Rex model and all those weeds.

“Criminal Minds,” Gnu Theatre, 10426 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Regular schedule: Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Dark tonight and New Year’s Day. Ends Jan . 10. $12; (818) 508-5344. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

‘Champagne’ at Commerce Casino

Since the closest thing we have to Vegas is in Commerce, where the sprawling Commerce Casino sits like a flashy jewel in a dreary industrial zone just off the Santa Ana Freeway, it follows that the casino should have a show. With a showroom added this year to the south end--adjacent to the Asian Games room--it does. It seats something over 500, and has a large enough stage (with the obligatory, though too short, downstage runway) to hold a whole bunch of singing and dancing girls and boys.

The new act, a revue assembled by director-choreographer George Reich, is called “Champagne,” but it’s not about bringing in the new year. It’s really just a silly distraction from the game-room floor, and something else: It belongs on the list of L.A.’s best kitsch spectacles, like the Movieland Wax Museum, the Richard M. Nixon Museum, Muscle Beach and the tour of neon signs.

There’s actually a little bit of most of those other attractions here, from the sometimes stiff figures on parade to the plentiful beefcake to the nutty flashes of multicolored lights scanning across the crowd. For those who need it, there’s enough flesh without nudity to distract from the deliciously bad dancing (a World War II-era swing number, though, is exceptionally dazzling).

It’s bad in a funky way, which can’t be said for former Miss California Marlise Richards’ medley of ‘50s tunes, unless a reprise of beauty pageant-caliber performing is your idea of so-bad-it’s-good.

The really fun stuff here has nothing to do with singing and dancing. Instead, there are Yanyan Zhao flipping plates, saucers, teacups and spoons with one foot while the other is balancing a unicycle, and Leo Nardo keeping a dozen plates spinning in the air. Old stuff, but very well done, and besides, there’s real drama in watching a guy making sure plates don’t crash to the floor.

“Champagne,” Commerce Casino Showroom, 6131 E. Telegraph Rd., Commerce. Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:30 p.m. Ends Jan. 31. $20; (213) 721-2100 or 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Show-Biz Irony in ‘Broadway’

Paul Lyday’s life, had it revolved around movies rather than musicals, would have been a good element in “Sunset Boulevard”--the promising talent that self-destructed. It’s also easy to think of “The Entertainer” while watching Lyday’s solo act, “A Life on Broadway,” at the Richard Basehart Playhouse--the passion for putting on a show, declaring one’s self before the public, and damn the passing of time.

But there’s a twist here, for this isn’t a John Osborne tragedy. After rising to the level of a steadily employed chorus dancer on Broadway with shows like “Oklahoma!” and “Wonderful Town,” Lyday’s alcoholism took him out of the game. He could have died, but the life story he narrates and accents with relevant tunes (like Sondheim’s “I’m Still Here”) resolves with truly screwy, show-biz irony: After divorce, hip surgery and therapy, Lyday ends up dancing in the Music Center Opera’s production of “Oklahoma!”

This could be just the show for both young people who need to get their delusional show-biz dreams kicked out of their system before they hurt themselves, and old people who think they can’t change their lives. In a way, Lyday’s dreams (fed by his mother, and bitterly discouraged by his father) weren’t really fulfilled until he hit bottom--the stuff of a good show. Lonny Chapman’s staging is workshop bare, but pianist Jack Elton accompanies Lyday’s good, mature singing with verve. And to think, Lyday, pushing 70, just started singing a few years ago.

“A Life on Broadway,” Richard Basehart Playhouse, 21028-B Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills. Sundays, 7 p.m. Indefinitely. $12; (818) 704-1845. Running time: 2 hours.