STAGE REVIEW : ‘Bittersuite’ Falls Into Generation Gap

The subtitle of the musical revue “Bittersuite” is “Songs of Experience.” Many of its songs are about middle-aged people coming to terms with disillusionment.

So it helps if the cast looks experienced enough to be disillusioned.

The performers at International City Theatre look as if they’re still in their salad days. The sardonic title of the second song, “You’re Not Getting Older,” still seems reasonably accurate for this group.

This is a problem primarily in the first act. “Our Favorite Restaurant” is a song about a man and a woman, both married to others, who have been meeting for 15 years for lunches in the titular establishment. But Chuck Rosen and Myrona DeLaney look as if they were in junior high school 15 years ago. And the staging of the number is too broad, emphasizing the forced quality of the casting.

The songs, by Elliot Weiss (music) and Michael Champagne (lyrics), retain some of the power demonstrated in the long L.A. run of the same show, at the Back Alley and Burbage theaters in 1988-89. But comparisons with that earlier production are instructive. The most memorable performer in it was Carol Woodbury, a genuinely middle-aged woman with a powerhouse voice. One of her songs was about her trauma on turning 50.

In this new production in Long Beach, the part of the older woman has been eliminated, along with the song about turning 50 and the unforgettable “Pay the Piper,” about her dalliances with younger men. The glistening ensemble number, “Money Is Honey,” is also missing. Weaker numbers (“Ice Cream,” “Fathers and Sons”) have been retained.

Actually, some of the material is fine for younger talent. “Mama Don’t Cry” is about a woman who claims not to be young, but who’s still obsessed with her failure to meet her mother’s expectations, in a young woman’s kind of way. Jillaine Avery makes it credible, though she might profitably dim her smile by several watts, here and at several other moments.

Rosen struts through “Narcissism Rag” as if he owns it. But he tries too hard on “John’s Song” and “The Recipe.”

DeLaney brings a nicely nuanced reading to “Soap Opera” and “Dungeons and Dragons,” no thanks to her night-out-on-the-town looks. Hans Tester comes off best when he can play insincere (“I’ll Be There”). Elsewhere, he looks too much the would-be lounge lizard (literally opening his eyes a bit wider might help), and his vocal quality wavers.

The cast sings and moves (choreographer: Terry Barto) through the difficult “Snap Back” with keen precision and at a pace, set by musical director Dennis Castellano, that allows each word to be heard--which wasn’t the case at the Back Alley. But generally Shashin Desai’s staging strains to compensate for his miscasting.

* “Bittersuite: Songs of Experience,” International City Theatre, northeast corner of Long Beach City College campus, Clark and Harvey. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. ; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 21. $15-$22. (310) 420-4128. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.