Theater Reviews : A Spoofy ‘Murder Mystery’

Every year about this time, director Tony Reverditto of the Way Off Broadway Playhouse assembles a sort of boohaha to celebrate Halloween. This year’s is called “The Way Off the Wall Murder Mystery.”

And it is, as are all the company’s comedy efforts, very off the wall. Reverditto, who wrote the script along with his cast, has gathered characters ludicrous and loony, most of them familiar to WOB audiences, such as intrepid and dribbling private eye Spit Phlegmster (David Walloch), Jan Tiehen’s grimacing, gravel-voiced Leona Helmsley, and Reverditto’s own Judge Cottonmouth, who usually loses not only the wads he is chewing but also, somewhere along the line, the cotton eyebrows he hides behind.

There are some unfamiliar faces, too: the silent and mysterious prelate Monk Fish (James LaFave); very funny and very young Adam Jaso as Munchkin-sounding, diapered, cigar-chomping Pip Squeek, and an amusing scrounge of a torn-jeaned and dog-collared Prosecutor (Steve Andreno).

What they’re all doing is a sort of sendup of those “murder mystery weekends” so popular locally. The audience is seated in the Mystery Lounge, where chanteuse Veronica Bacall (Laura Spurlock) is murdered during a blackout. Or is she? Then, along with the above-mentioned suspects (and more), we are taken to the Mystery Funeral Home for the last rites and viewing. During intermission, the whole lot is arrested: Act 2 finds everyone in County Jail and County Courthouse, where, you’re right, here come de judge.

*

If it isn’t anywhere near the Kids in the Hall, it does have some funny gags and a few good lines (and on opening night, some inadvertent goofs got laughs of their own).

Among the suspects is stand-up comic O.J. Pimpson (Godfrey Huguey) joking about you-know-what and wearing a T-shirt that says “Stay Alive on the 405!” But it’s Halloween, and it’s all in fun.

* “The Way Off the Wall Murder Mystery,” the Way Off Broadway Playhouse, 1058 E. 1st St., Santa Ana. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Ends Saturday. $12. (714) 547-8997. Running time: 1 hours, 50 minutes. David Walloch:Spit Phlegmster

Jan Tiehen:Leona Helmsley

Adam Jaso:Pip Squeek

Godfrey Huguey: O.J. Pimpson

Ron McCaw: Bulah Manly

James LaFave: Monk Fish

Laura Spurlock: Veronica Bacall

Tony Reverditto: Judge Cottonmouth

Steve Andreno: Prosecutor

A Way Off Broadway Playhouse production of a comedy written by the company and directed by Tony Reverditto. Scenic designs: David Walloch.