Seeing Comedy of Mortality in ‘Waldheim’

A comedy about mortality--who knew? Yet that’s what Mayo Simon has written. His “Walking to Waldheim,” last seen locally in 1983 and currently in a keen production at Theatre Geo, is Jewish Thornton Wilder if ever there was. And a better mid-Hanukkah play you couldn’t want.

Six Jews are riding in a Buick, on the way to Rose’s funeral. The Goldblatts and the Brombergs bicker and fuss, as the vehicle lurches along. Soon though, you figure something’s up. As the passengers begin to depart, the trip becomes more existential than navigational.

Like a glatt kosher cross between Wilder’s “The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden” and “Our Town,” Simon takes ordinary folks, imperfections and all, and puts them elbow to elbow with their own human frailty. The laughs come as easily as the pathos.

Director Richard Hochberg has staged this journey simply and elegantly. The six passengers are seated in two rows of chairs, on risers stage right. The rest of the action takes place in pools of dim light (by Jim Call) on a bare stage left.

That’s all the set it takes though, when you’ve got such seasoned actors as Fredric Cook, Helen Lambros, J. David Krassner, Stanislaw K. Cybulski, Esther Richman and Gail Johnston, dressed in Nancy Larson’s eloquent costumes.

These soulful faces alone, looking out at you like a snapshot from some half-remembered road trip to Grossinger’s, tell stories. What’s more, the cast often achieves the synchronicity of a true ensemble.

* “Walking to Waldheim,” Theatre Geo, 1229 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood . Sundays, 2 p.m., Mondays, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 20. $10. (213) 462-3348. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

‘VaudeVillage’: A Hodgepodge of Acts

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An offbeat variety show in the Ed Sullivan tradition, “VaudeVillage” at the Whitefire is the latest effort from director-performer Stefan Haves. The concept, unfortunately, is better than the wildly uneven realization. Some of the 16 acts are gold, but many are wretched.

The anorexic unifying idea is indicated by a sign hanging high above the audience’s head: “VaudeVillage,” it tells you, is a place with “No City Limits.” This is the set-up for a no-host showcase in which the village inhabitants appear and reappear, circus-style, in each other’s bits, but otherwise have little to do with one another.

Directed by Haves, who also performs two of the most piquant solos, “VaudeVillage” is a hodgepodge of New Vaudeville-style physical clowning and antics and some less sophisticated routines. Few of the acts employ the spoken word, and the ones that do, such as Hansel & Regrettal (Amy O’Neill and Christian Fitzharris), are artless.

The more professional acts, however, have moments of dancerly precision and deft wit. These include the “Omlete” juggling routine by X, Why n’ Z (Christopher Peak, Wolfe Bowart and Brett Baker), Brian Brophy and Bowart’s “Bucket, Stick and String” routines and the gymnastic gyrations of Mat Plendl, who does amazing things with Hula-Hoops. Be warned, though, that some of the players are guest artists in a lineup that varies, so the quality of the show depends partly on luck of the draw.

* “VaudeVillage,” Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks . Saturdays, 9 p.m. Runs indefinitely. $15. (310) 288-6611. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

‘One Act Plays’: Fine Acting, Poor Scripts

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Series B in the “Ninth Annual Celebration of One Act Plays” is par for the course in this yearly West Coast Ensemble rite: There are flashes of fine acting and writing, but the scripts are ho-hum. Surely the one-act festival format calls for more adventurous programming than this.

David J. Hill’s duo-drama “Mary Harold and Fabia,” directed by Marjorie Bowman, captures a confrontation between two bitchy Southern women, one of whom is having an affair with the other’s husband. While it’s territory that Beth Henley and others have mined more inventively, some of the barbs are sharp and Marybeth Cameron-Massett and Beth Taylor-Hart play their parts as though they’ve lived them.

Jules Tasca’s “Old Goat Song” is a sentimental journey in which a dying man named Bill (genial Edmund L. Shaff) flashes back to his courtship and a late-in-life crush on a waitress. Jeanette Miller is a standout as Bill’s cranky sister Cora.

“He’s a Genius” by Max Mitchell is a gimmicky and over-extended one-liner about an office interview between a pushy woman (Lori Harmon) and a young man (Rocco Vienhage).

* “Ninth Annual Celebration of One Act Plays: Series B,” West Coast Ensemble, 6240 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Tuesdays-Wednesdays (in rotation with series A & C), 8:30 p.m., Thursdays-Saturdays (also in rotation), 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 19. $15. (213) 871-1052. Running time: 2 hours.

‘Metro Rail’: Riding the Talent Showcase

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Save for one jazzy song and a handsome set, “Metro Rail: The Musical Revue” at the Ivar has nothing to do with the titular mass transit and it’s not a musical revue. It’s just a go-figure grab bag of a talent showcase, and the acts aren’t nearly good enough to justify the false advertising.

The gray deco Metro Rail set (by Nathaniel Bellamy and Harlan Spatz) fills with actors of all shapes and races during the hummable opening number, “LA Redline,” by director C. Bernard Jackson. But that and a finale reprise are all you see or hear of the putative theme. The meat in the middle is a string of unrelated variety acts.

The pretense, according to the program, is that this protracted audition takes place on the Red Line. Yeah. Sure. But implausibility aside, only singers Robert Gee and Sybil Harris and magician Mr. YonkanY out of the Dec. 5 show (the lineup varies) were worth watching. Most of the rest, including more singers, comics and mimes, weren’t up to snuff.

* “Metro Rail: The Musical Revue,” New Ivar Theatre, 1605 N. Ivar St., Hollywood, Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2, 3:30 p.m., Saturdays-Sundays, 7 & 8:30 p.m. Runs indefinitely. $15. (213) 962-2101. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.