THEATER REVIEW : ‘Fairy Tales’: Into a Much Different Set of Woods

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine fractured fairy tales with the popular musical “Into the Woods.” Following their footsteps, the new dance-theater company Beggarman, Thief emphasizes the grim in the brothers Grimm at Highways. The company’s dark “Fairy Tales” offers no songs and minimal dance, but it’s definitely aimed at the gay of heart, in every sense of the word.

This marks the company’s debut using original work. Beggarman, Thief was founded last year by actor Jeffrey Moore and choreographers Steven Craig and Shel Wagner. “Fairy Tales” indicates that these artists are determined to seriously explore challenging psychosexual mythologies. The evening’s atmosphere is uncompromisingly ominous, shadowed with mysterious lighting by Jerry Browning.

The company interprets seven Grimm stories (one cleverly repeated), and concludes with a self-indulgent skit in drag that the program claims was “inspired by damsels in distress everywhere.” Each piece explores childhood terrors, gender, sexual stereotypes and parental failures. The Big Bad Wolf is usually a mother or a sexist male. Goblins tend to be a repressive, homophobic society.

The first piece, “Fledgling,” is a portrait of adolescent anxiety. Two lovers (Craig and Moore) lie in bed, terrified of their mother, who is evidently boiling a kettle of water outside their room. (The sound effects were weakly produced on opening night.) The boys make tragicomic gestures of escape, and their dressing/undressing mount into a sense of existential dread.

The evening’s most perfectly realized tale, “Saint Solicitous,” is a cleverly written, provocatively performed solo by Christine Berry. In it, a “pious maiden” chooses not to marry, and gets crucified by her outraged father. Berry stands like a religious statue in an alcove and with barely a gesture simply tells her hypnotic story.

Craig exhibits a muscular, impressive physicality in “Clever Hans.” Held against his will by suspenders attached to a wall, he mutely pounds his body like a yo-yo while Hans’ unforgiving girlfriend and mother avoid responsibility for his condition.

“The Frog Prince” demonstrates the consequences of unbending allegiance to authority when a television documentary on frogs transforms a soldier into a toad.

“Snow White-N-Rose Red” is the evening’s most ambitious production, but it feels unfinished and requires more focus. Here, a happy lesbian couple cavort like children until their blissful innocence is destroyed by an evil dwarf.

A potentially classic piece is “Shivers.” A man drags a body bag onstage, unzips the rubber casing, and desperately attempts to romantically revive the corpse. It’s an eerie, haunting, oddly compelling piece that gets slightly undermined by a melodramatic conclusion. Without words, it speaks volumes about the terrors and heartbreak of love in the age of AIDS.

Once again, “once upon a time” doesn’t necessarily mean “happily ever after.”

* “Fairy Tales,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $10. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.