THEATER REVIEW : ‘Hollywood Honeymoon’: A Gay Farce

In many farces, a man schemes to bed his mistress, but the plot gets in the way. In “Hollywood Honeymoon,” Tom Jacobson’s new farce at Celebration Theatre in Hollywood, the hero does everything he can to avoid sex--with a woman.

Warr Acres (Colin Gray), action star, has a pathological fear of female breasts. This could spell trouble for his macho image, as would his affair with a male publicist. What he needs is a good cover, which comes in the form of marriage to Fionna Keane (Ericka Klein), a lesbian British actress.

Jacobson has chosen an apt target. Even now, 25 years into the gay rights movement, one senses a noxious hypocrisy when it comes to homosexuality in show business. How many celebrities, gay and bisexual, have toasted their mythic marriages for the sake of a nice spread in People magazine?

Yet “Hollywood Honeymoon” only partly satisfies. Jacobson, a shrewd student of the genre, has borrowed the well-known staples from Feydeau and other farceurs: manic entrances and exits, mistaken identities, speech impediments, the suggestion of illicit sex and the crushing fear of exposure.

The play is set in a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas, where Acres and Keane have repaired after their hastily arranged nuptials. In tow are Acres’ lover Gene Maxwell (Noel Alumit) and Keane’s lover Lane Johnson (Coley Sohn). Bent on exposing the sham is Armada DeLongpre (Rende Rae Norman), a tabloid-TV host looking for a sleazy scandal to boost her ratings.

Antics ensue, some funny, others wan and strained. DeLongpre hires a hustler (the guileless Donald Fowler) as bait for Acres, but the kid turns out to be a hilariously inept virgin.

Except for a flat beginning and end, the structure is efficient and workmanlike. But given such a juicy topic, Jacobson’s wit is disappointingly mild and mainstream. Too often jokes are cobbled together using gay cliches (Judy Garland, “All About Eve”), yielding a smug, provincial tone.

Robert Schrock directs with amiable, offhand panache, though he would be wise to find a way to speed up the action. The cast, meanwhile, seems far too tentative, though this too may be corrected before this “Honeymoon” is over.

* “Hollywood Honeymoon,” Celebration Theatre, 7051 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 18. $15-$20. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.