THEATER REVIEW : ‘Night Market’ a Musical Work-in-Progress

The most interesting things about Philip Littell and Eliot Douglass’ “The Night Market” at Highways in Santa Monica are Douglass’ quirky, angular music and Littell’s clever lyrics and even quirkier staging and performance.

Littell, who plays a suave “fortyish leading-man type,” is always mesmerizing to watch. But “Night Market” (as in where to shop for love/sex in the evening) is a chamber work-in-progress that’s too fresh out of the oven, or appears to be. It’s going to need a less rudimentary staging, and a supporting cast of better performers, if it’s going to stack up.

So far, the 15 collected songs that make up the show (including additional music by Eric Cunningham, Todd Hall and Elyse Schiller) are primarily held together by Littell’s humorous staging and by designer Ian Falconer’s witty projections. These are of Raoul Dufy-esque sketches that suggest vaguely Belle Epoque locales.

Within that context, the other five members of the six-person ensemble--Schiller, Rob Campbell, Kimberlee Carlson, Lisa Dinkins and Kirk Wilson--have a way to go to catch up. They are either under-rehearsed or traveling on seat-of-the-pants personality that is no substitute for craft.

It takes its toll.

The songs are keyed into satire, but does it show? Only in the most obvious places, along with a few unintended ironies.

“Night Market” is divided into four parts: “6:30 p.m.,” “Cocktail Hour,” “Kirk’s Party” and “Getting Home,” with the fun getting under way at the “Cocktail Hour.” If it gets under way. A mighty big if. By coincidence, to kick off the segment, Carlson sings a song by just that title--”A Mighty Big If”--as a bar fly who can’t tell the difference between a gibson and a martini. She does this and other dilemmas minimal justice.

Yes, there are some genuine if fleeting good moments: a song called “Private Stock,” full of double meaning; Douglass (who accompanies the show on the piano) chiming in to do one quirky, angular number, “The Last Man”; Littell as an old roue in a song by Cunningham called “A Young Man”; Dinkins and Carlson in a lovely ballad called “Old Loves.”

At least Dinkins has a quiet dignity that does not preclude the possibility of fun, but that implicitly refuses to play any part in dragging it in by the bootstraps. She’s great with “Brother and Sister” (Cunningham and Douglass), but she deserves a better solo than the unworkable “Ghost.”

Schiller, whose character is described in the program as “a cruel and interesting little thing,” is also an odd one who brings negative je ne sais quoi to the proceedings. Wilson, as the “friend and manager” and party host, and Campbell, as a kind of overgrown child “go-go boy,” work awfully hard to pull off their characters.

That, too, shows. Is it chic to be so bad, or is this just a case, as often happens at Highways, of friends chumming it up for friends?

Define the terms and a caveat to the rest of the public. Love-ins are fine but rarely on stage. Yes, there’s a show in there somewhere, but Douglass and Littell, whose large talent can withstand the harshest scrutiny, owe themselves--and us--better than this.

*”The Night Market,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8:30 p.m. Ends July 3. $12; (213) 660-8687. Running time: 1 hour, 5 minutes.