THEATER BEAT : ‘AIDS!’ Works Best When Its Laughing
The most refreshing attribute of Wendell Jones, David Stanley and Robert Berg’s “AIDS! The Musical!” at the Skylight Theatre, is its use of humor to tell its story. When the show is laughing, its bittersweet points are well made.
When it gets serious and militant, it falls flat. The lessons of its brightness haven’t informed its pamphleteering.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 8, 1993 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday April 8, 1993 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 3 Column 3 Entertainment Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Wrong name-- David Holladay played the young man who comes to grips with being gay and having AIDS in “AIDS! The Musical” at the Skylight Theatre. A different actor was credited in the review last Friday.
Antony Balcena’s direction has verve and tenderness. The show has one top-notch voice--that of David Nichols as a young man coming to grips with being gay and having AIDS--and his acting matches. There is another solid performance by Charley Geary as one of his friends, and a touching moment provided by Kirk Wilson in the song “Momma, I Need a Gun for My Birthday.”
Otherwise the score is rather pedestrian and heaps of camp try but fail to add the sparks it lacks.
* “AIDS! The Musical!,” Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 8 p.m. Ends April 25. $18; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.
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