Acting Turns ‘People’ Into Tender Elegy : The play by William Saroyan could use a good editor, but the graceful cast makes up for it.

“The Beautiful People” is vintage Saroyan. But the truly beautiful folks in this problematic play, currently in a finely honed production at Theatre Rapport, are the actors. Proving that skilled thespians can make a text seem like more than it is, they manage to turn the playwright’s overwritten play into a tender elegy.

Jacob Witkin plays an eccentric man named Jonah Webster who is raising his son and daughter alone. They live in a house that they manage to hang onto by forging the deceased owner’s name on pension checks. Webster is a flawed and maybe failed guy, but Witkin imbues him with just the right amount of Prospero-like majesty.

Webster is graceful even as he confronts the odd characters who traipse into his house, including Harmony Blueblossom (the graceful and subtle Eve Brent), a character described in the dramatis personae as “a little old lady in the summertime,” and William Prim (the convincingly prim Jerry Neill), who comes to get to the bottom of the pension check scam.

The core of the drama, though, is Webster’s interactions with his family. The girl Agnes (a delicate Liz Bickley) is a wispy creature who’s dreamed up an entire fantasy life for the rodent population in the house. The boy (lithe Travis Rodman) is an adolescent to the max--picking on his sister, angling for attention and bouncing in and out of the house--although Saroyan lets this character talk far more than need be to serve the dramatic purpose.

In fact, Saroyan lets everybody talk more than is necessary. What this playwright needed--and virtually demands in revival--was a good editor. If director Sharon Higgins shaved just a half-hour off this production, it’d really be something. As is, the staging shines despite the play’s problems.

* “The Beautiful People,” Theatre Rapport, 1277 N. Wilton Place, Hollywood, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 17. $14. (213) 883-1758. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

The Fringes Make ‘Pants’ Provocative

Joseph Goodrich’s “My Pants” at the New One-Act Theatre Ensemble is a play about margins. Not only does this playwright write characters who live on the fringes, but his work is at its most provocative in the moments when it doesn’t necessarily advance the plot, nor even feed the central motif.

Ably directed by Nick Faust, “My Pants” dissects what happens to an already messed-up family of three thugs, a waitress and their mother as the father lays dying in a hospital bed. A two-level staging splits the focus as we watch the decrepit old man waste away above, while the family self-destructs below.

Goodrich’s grungy skinhead/slackers are his stock in trade. His self-loathing losers are so weighed down that they can’t even articulate their frustration. James Sharpe and to a lesser extent Steve Morgan Haskell make their roles work by not flinching in the face of this gritty reality. Raub McKim’s acting, however, consists mostly of pulling his upper eyelids up toward his eyebrows and jutting out his jaw. Ray Campbell is utterly convincing as the frail Dad and Diane Robinson and Judy Levitt also turn in strong work as the sister and mother, respectively.

* “My Pants,” New One-Act Theatre Ensemble, 1705 N. Kenmore Ave., Hollywood, Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends July 31. $5-$10. (213) 666-5550. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

‘Camper Show’ Skits Mostly Miss Mark

This latest collection of sketches from Melrose’s mirth meisters is a hit-or-miss proposition--mostly miss. It’s not that the “Groundlings R.V. & Camper Show” at the Groundling Theatre isn’t well-crafted (it is), but the kind of parody and satire this group attempts calls for art, not just craft.

Directed by Deanna Oliver, the show features 19 skits (subject to change), each of which are written by one or more of the cast members who perform in them. Many of the sketches are simple sendups based on familiar urban places and phenomena: traffic school, the dog park, a bar, a benefit dinner or an older couple’s anniversary gala. Other times, the take-off point is TV culture (a “To Tell the Truth” parody, for instance), an influence that permeates pretty much every aspect of what this group, best known for its TV personality alums, is about.

The best number in the show is “Quick! Turn Us On, We’re Live!,” which mocks local TV news’ obsession with car chases, “live” coverage and alleged drug busts. Not that nine out of 10 sketch comedy shows these days don’t have a local TV news bit, but this one is a cut above, mostly because it stays just close enough to the real thing to give you pause. Other highlights come in the form of sharp individual turns, such as Patrick Bristow’s Nancy Culp imitation in the “To Tell the Truth” bit. But often the humor is pat and the premise thin.

* “Groundlings R.V. & Camper Show,” Groundling Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, Fridays 8 p.m.; Saturdays 8 & 10 p.m. Runs indefinitely. $15.50-$17.50. (213) 934-9700. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

‘Old Flames’: An Old Look at Feminism

E.A. Whitehead’s silly feminist retribution fantasy “Old Flames,” currently in a capable production at Theatre 40, is so outdated you’d think women were still burning their bras.

Set on a houseboat moored on the Thames in London, the action begins when a woman has her boyfriend and a few others over for dinner. The others are the guy’s two ex-wives and his mother, which leads to an entire act’s worth of tedious recriminations. In the equally leaden second act, the pesky male is conveniently out of the picture, which frees the gals up to go on and on about how they’ve suffered and been repressed, socially and sexuality. Seldom has “liberation” been such a drag.

It’s not that this kind of drama of identity--in which previously hidden aspects of women’s lives are made public--isn’t necessary. It was vital to early women’s lib. But despite the efforts of a talented cast and Ken Danziger’s efficient direction, this kind of play now does more harm than good when it comes to matters feminist. And it isn’t funny either.

* “Old Flames,” Theatre 40, Beverly Hills High School campus, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, Mondays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Ends Wednesday. $10. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Nothing New About These ‘Bar Girls’

A bunch of lesbian Valley girls hanging out in a bar sounds like a new twist on an old idea. But Lauran’s Hoffman’s “Bar Girls” at the Gene Dynarski Theatre turns out to be an utterly conventional piece of drivel.

The rounds of girlfriend switching are set in motion when main Val gal Loretta (Nancy Allison) falls for Rachel (Liza D’Agostino). The two shack up, while continuing to hang out at the bar where they interact with other couples. Not surprisingly, the couplings transmute: girls get girls, girls lose girls, girls get other girls, girls go after other girl’s gals and so on.

Director Marita Simpson keeps the action moving, but she can’t disguise a play whose only good moments are one-liners, and whose many soapy interludes fail to add up to anything.

* “Bar Girls,” Gene Dynarski Theatre, 5600 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. (July 11 & 18 also at 3 p.m.). Ends July 18. $12-$15. (213) 660-TKTS. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.