THEATER REVIEW : ‘Act One’ Continues Same High Standards as Last Year

The high-quality “Act One” festival of one-acts at the Met Theatre is developing into a rich talent source for the entertainment industry.

Case in point: “Sticks and Stones,” a short work by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan that premiered at last year’s festival, is currently in development with Showtime.

McWeeny and Swan’s current work in this year’s festival’s Evening B, “Broken Bones,” lacks the same obvious potential for a full-length movie. No matter. This visceral slice-of-life drama, tautly directed by Don McManus, sneaks up on you with offhanded intensity.

In the play, Steven (Willie Garson), a frustrated computer programmer, has a late-night argument with his artist-wife Jamie (Michelle Joyner). At first, the interplay between Steven and Jamie seems merely petulant, a trifling altercation between two people who just happen to be in bad moods simultaneously.

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However, what begins as a prosaic tiff escalates into the genuinely creepy as Steven’s “passive-aggressive” resentment erupts into violence.

“Broken Bones” is by far the most disturbing piece in an otherwise frothy evening, of which the shiniest bubble is Carole Real’s “Why the Beach Boys Are Like Opera,” a comedy about three upper-crust gal pals and their travails in love. During its L.A. premiere at the Fountain Theatre’s “Summer Shorts” festival, the play seemed ephemeral; now, rewritten but with the same cast and director, it glitters.

The witty, capable cast includes Anne DeSalvo, Debra Stricklin, Janet Zarish, Richard Steinmetz and Michael Kaufman. These performers are superbly cast, completely at ease with their material and one another. Andy Lauer is particularly affecting as Shane, a true-blue-collar laborer so good with his hands that he can even mend his lady love’s broken heart. Andy’s slobbery buddy Harry (Don McManus, director of “Broken Bones”) is the thinking man’s Ed Norton.

While Ken Frankel’s brisk direction ensures plenty of laughs, there’s a certain wistfulness to this show as well, along with the satisfaction that all that romantic yearning floating about on stage will be sweetly fulfilled.

Romantic yearning also figures prominently in Keith Huff’s bizarre “Leon and Joey,” directed by Paul McCrane. The dark, brooding Joey (Wayne Pere) is determined to commit suicide once he has found a caretaker for his retarded twin brother Leon (Ben Meyerson).

Joey finds a likely prospect--and his own ultimate salvation--in Gina (Anne O’Sullivan), whose face has been left horribly disfigured by an assailant but whose preternaturally Pollyanna-ish optimism remains unscathed. Huff blends elements of farce, absurdism, folklore, magical realism and black comedy into this ambitious mishmash, but all that heightened reality ultimately bottoms out.

Bill Bozzone and Joe DiPietro’s “Breast Men,” directed by Josh Mostel, asks the ponderous question--what happens to a horny guy when his wife leaves him and his best buddy sprouts breasts? It’s a cosmically raunchy show that leaves you laughing despite your best politically correct intentions, and the satire is as pointed as a 1950s-era nose-cone bra.

* “Act One 95,” Evening B, Met Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., Hollywood. Tonight, Friday, Wednesday, May 18, 24, June 2, 8, 9, 12, 16, 7:30 p.m.; May 20 and June 17, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.; May 28 and June 4, 3 p.m. Ends June 17. $19. (213) 957-1152. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.