‘Radio Hour’ Dials Up a Different Era

You can hear the blizzard howling just outside the walls of Tim Farmer’s superbly realized set of a New York radio station. Inside, however, we’re snug, warm and completely entertained as an impressive corps of troopers belts, croons and harmonizes its way through the big-band standards of the day--Dec. 21, 1942, to be exact. In Walton Jones’ “The 1940’s Radio Hour,” the cast of a popular, long-running radio show gathers for its weekly live broadcast. It’s hard to imagine more perfect holiday entertainment than this.

The blizzard isn’t the only thing that’s raging outside. For more than a year, the United States has been battling the Big One. Other than the speciously patriotic advertising jingles scattered throughout the broadcast, the sounds of war have remained muffled in this soundproofed radio studio. It’s only when band member Biff Baker (Keith Allen Burns), dapper in his uniform, announces that he’s shipping out tomorrow that a tear runs down the cheek and a shiver down the spine.

Brian Miller heads a dynamite mini-orchestra that provides the musical texture of a much larger band. David Schall’s wonderfully dapper emcee is the core of this corps. Perry Stephens plays a heartthrob crooner whose bedroom eyes are the windows to a disillusioned soul. Antic funnyman William Akey is the best first banana since Lou Costello. The superb cast--which includes Ken Strong, Welborn Ferrene, Gus Corrado, Julietta Marcelli, Rachel Sheppard, Thomas Hillmann, Lori Berg and Linda Kerns--enfolds us in a familial warmth we are reluctant to leave.

Fresh from its recent success with “Into the Woods,” the Actors Co-op has topped itself admirably. Director Alan Johnson has constructed a snappy Christmas cracker of a show, tickets for which should be a requisite stocking stuffer.

* “The 1940’s Radio Hour,” Actors Co-op at the Crossley Theatre, 1760 N. Gower, Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Dark Thanksgiving. Ends Dec. 18. $15. (213) 964-3586. Running time: 2 hours, 23 minutes.

Sweet Misfits of ‘Life in the Trees’

An amusing exegesis of urban Angst , “Life in the Trees” places Catherine Butterfield among the premier ranks of disaffected playwrights whose humor derives from endearingly neurotic characters ravaged by the killing stress of big-city life.

Call it the Woody Allen school of writing. And while Butterfield might not be as intellectually lambent as Allen at his peak, she’s more life-affirming.

“Chemistry,” the centerpiece of this triptych of one-acts at the Melrose Theatre, proves that where sexual chemistry flares, logic fails to follow. The prickly Carolyn (Kaitlin Hopkins) spurns her decent, eminently eligible neighbor Hugh (Harry Victor) in favor of his cad of a roommate Zach (Patrick Warburton). Carolyn may think that she’s a sensible sort, but her hormones are leading her into disaster as surely as the doomed movie heroine blundering into a spooky basement when we know monsters are about.

“No Problem,” the opening salvo, features Suanne Spoke as the marvelously twitchy, tormented Paula, a would-be actress who has a disastrous lunch date with her former group therapy intimate Terry (Nancy Morgan), now an obnoxiously yuppified gallery owner. Paula might be a mess, but it is actually the rigidly perfectionistic Terry who hovers on the brink of a breakdown, as we discover in an O. Henry surprise ending.

The closer, “The Last Time I Saw Timmy Boggs,” about the unlikely romance between two directionless singles, once again illustrates Butterfield’s point that society’s successes often rise to the top by jettisoning their humanity, while society’s misfits founder under the weight of their own compassion.

Victor, Kaitlin and Warburton are standouts among the uniformly fine performers in these respective plays, all of which have been directed with distinctive wryness by Mary Lou Belli.

Blessed be Butterfield’s sweet misfits, for in the midst of urban hell, they will inherit our laughter.

* “Life in the Trees,” Melrose Theatre, 733 N. Seward St., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Dark Thanksgiving. Ends Dec. 11. $15-$18. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

The Burlesque of ‘Is This Your Life?’

A parody of the popular old television show “This Is Your Life,” “Is This Your Life?” dares to be corny--to a fault. Fortunately, the laughs outstrip the groans in this new musical by Ron Abel and Chuck Steffan at the Zephyr Theatre.

Abel and Steffan realize ya gotta have a gimmick--and the gimmick here is that a different member of the audience is chosen nightly as the “honoree” whose “life story” will be told during the course of the evening.

Directed by Abel, the show is firmly rooted in low burlesque, complete with a steamy strip number. Antony Alda, David Engel, Cady Huffman and Peggy Mannix portray more outrageous characters than you can shake a shtick at, some genuinely uproarious, some just plain over-the-top. Bombastic master of ceremonies Henry Polic II keeps the action rolling faultlessly--off the cuff and by the seat of his well-tailored pants.

A veritable steamroller of a production, “Is This Your Life?” can be crushingly funny--if you are fond of juggernauts.

* “Is This Your Life?,” Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. Mondays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 7. $20. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.