THEATER / T.H. McCULLOH : Getting to the Gore of the Matter : ‘Coming Attractions,’ an ‘80s Spoof of Tabloid TV, Gets an Exuberant Staging at Orange Coast College

The “Coming Attractions” in Ted Tally’s black comedy noticed a trend that was just beginning when the play was written in the early ‘80s, when the media began to drool over real-life gore and to pay premium prices for story rights.

It’s a one-joke play, even in this energetic Orange Coast College production, about a young hood named Lonnie Wayne Burke, who is holding four hostages in a coin-operated laundry. Tobarter with Lonnie, the police send in Manny, a low-life agent whose other clients literally are dog acts. Manny engineers Lonnie’s acquittal on grounds of insanity and grooms him for the big time--books, movies of the week, the whole nine yards.

Today that trend is in full flower. Two television movies about the Menendez brothers loom, and surely the Bobbitt saga is already in the cutting room. Tally hit the nail on the head; indeed, stretching his one joke into a full-length play seems no more excessive than the news itself.

Director Todd Kulczyk’s sense of humor jibes with Tally’s, and his brashly exuberant pacing fits the writer’s cartoon style. What his staging lacks is production values, which this play really needs to fill in gaps in the action.

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Still, Kulczyk has a perfect Burke in actor Jeff Kriese, who has an innocent-baby-faced killer look and enough depth to express the character’s pain when the notoriety fades and the day-to-day world has him back in its clutches. (At the performance reviewed, Kulczykproduction values, which this play really needs to fill in gaps in the action.

Still, Kulczyk has a perfect Burke in actor Jeff Kriese, who has an innocent-baby-faced killer look and enough depth to express the character’s pain when the notoriety fades and the day-to-day world has him back in its clutches. (At the performance reviewed, Kulczykfilled in for an ailing actor, playing Manny with script in hand. It didn’t harm the show at all.)

Kristina Leach is funny as the bimbotic Miss America for whom Lonnie falls. Pat Bruno gets laughs as Sammy Dazzle, small-screen emcee supreme, a role that allows an actor to go way overboard without throwing the play off course. D.P. Vining also has a winning moment as an Arab comic whose humor doesn’t translate from the Arabic.

The actors double and quadruple as all the characters except Manny and Lonnie, and they race through the action with panache. If only those elusive production values were there, to give the show a look to match its tempo.

* “Coming Attractions,” Orange Coast College Drama Lab, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5-$6. (714) 432-5880. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. Jeff Kriese: Lonnie Wayne Burke

P.J. Agnew: Manny

Pat Bruno, Jon Dolton, Jenna Hibner, Kristina Leach, D.P. Vining Ensemble

An Orange Coast College production of Ted Tally’s comedy. Music and lyrics: Bruce Sussman & Jack Feldman. Directed by Todd Kulczyk. Choreography: Debi Ham. Lighting design: Jill Johnson. Stage manager: Jody Marler.