THEATER REVIEW : Burning Love for the King

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” deals with a visit by Elvis to a pair of crazed female mega-fans who share a flea-bag apartment plastered floor to ceiling with images of the King. The character who looks and certainly moves like Elvis (actor/co-author Robert Factor with great shoulder-dipping moves) is, more precisely, a loutish upstairs neighbor as forlorn and lost as the pair of young Elvis addicts he targets (Darcy Lee and Joleen Lutz).

Only superficially a comedy, it’s a play that collaborators Factor, Adam Winston and director Robert Ferretti turn into a dark, edgy experience with celebrity obsession. It’s not just about Elvis but also about the life-absorbing fanaticism of the super-fan.

Without taking itself too seriously, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” veers unexpectedly into the power of illusion, alienation and the life-affirming ability to adjust, move on and still carry a dream.

That’s a lot of heavy baggage for a so-called light play to carry, but it’s all implicit, not intrusive. Of course, Factor’s bewigged Elvis, in costume designer Denise Caplan’s hilarious gold, glittery Vegas wardrobe, draws plenty of audience laughs when he first appears. The bedazzled roommates, who are planning a pilgrimage to Memphis in the hope of forming the First Church of Elvis, initially believe it’s the King himself come to honor and reward their adoration (which is riotously underscored by Louis Mawcinitt’s eye-popping production design.)

And if the Elvis fake can sexually exploit the comparatively sane, tall, good-looking roommate (the sleek Lee), while she’s still enthralled, well, that’s one thing he lecherously came for.

But things get nasty. Suddenly the women’s dream realm is shattered when Elvis’ identity is inadvertently exposed by a chatterbox of a neighborhood pizza delivery man (the amusing, animated Spencer Scott). Caught without his hairpiece and determined to disabuse the women of their Elvis fantasy, the poseur concedes he’s just as abandoned and bereft as they. He’s broke, out of work and searching for meaning in his life.

The upbeat tone of the ending is a bit hard to swallow, but in the cast’s hands it works nevertheless.

Neil Silver’s Elvis-inspired sound design is rich. In fact, the only misfire is the creators’ decision to turn Lutz’s whiny, squealing character into a certifiable psychological cripple who dresses in lingerie worn on the outside of her clothes. It’s a tiresome characterization. The rest, happily, is vivid and provocative.

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Where and When

What: “Are You Lonesome Tonight.”

Location: Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank.

Hours: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. Ends Dec. 24.

Price: $12.50 (Thursday and Friday), $14 (Saturday).

Call: (818) 841-5421.