THEATER REVIEW : Crazies Feather a Fine ‘Nest’

O.J.? What O.J.?

By the look of things in the Orange County Crazies’ new show, “Orange Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the decade’s most hyped, media-saturated public event carries less clout than, say, Georgia moving the Rams to St. Louis.

Like talk radio, the Crazies thrive on topics, and the dominant topic in the new show is, well, an old topic: the Orange County bankruptcy crisis. On one hand, the nine-scene “play” that threads through the evening is an ideal match of source and lampooned subject. Where better to place the hapless O.C. bureaucrats than in the “Cuckoo’s Nest” mental hospital, run by Georgia herself?

Still, the comic capital of the bankruptcy would seem to have run awfully low by this point. The Crazies have been playing with the topic for the better part of a year, but it’s not the kind of issue that renews itself month by month.

Then again, the Crazies may be onto something. In a motion filed with Orange County Superior Court on Monday, the county’s notorious former treasurer, Robert L. Citron, stated that he had suffered dementia in the four years leading up to the bankruptcy crisis. Real life may have caught up with satire.

Director and lead writer Cherie Kerr and her ensemble certainly work hard not to be stale. Pat Hanrahan doesn’t necessarily resemble Jack Nicholson as Randall P. McPopejoy, but as he’s egging on his mad buddies to get the county’s house in order, Hanrahan has the Nicholson vibe, the Nicholson vocal rhythms--and the Nicholson leer. Ed Ford’s catatonic Citron is a funny, deadpan eye of the storm, and just about every possible fiduciary pun finds its way into the overly long “Cuckoo” scenes.

Because the Crazies are no longer a company, with the shows cast anew for each production, messy inconsistency would seem to be the rule. But with Kerr as the writer and idea person of nearly every skit, there’s more quality control than usual. Burning satire brands scenes such as an NRA meeting turning into a blood bath (without the blood), a director clashing with a willful actor (LizAnne and LeOnna Small shining in one of many skits), yuppie-buppie racism and a pre-Tupperware party panic (LizAnne and Small again, pricelessly over the top).

Virtually every cast member is new to the Crazies’ world of skits and improv, with the latter aided by veteran Crazie LizAnne. Since first seen early in the run, the improvs have grown smarter, sharper and funnier, even as the setups are tougher. (Quick: Could you improvise the reading of a book titled “The Joys of Spiritual Flyfishing”? Kerr’s group does, as fluidly as possible.)

Most are good actors too--better, in fact, than many of the old Crazies. Hanrahan, Ford, David Morgan, Sean Johnson and Delores Smith push their various characters beyond usual stereotypes, and newcomer Small specializes in hilariously intense, addled women who seem to feel the anarchic ‘90s collapsing around their heads.

Kerr promises a new cast with each new show, but it would be a shame for some of this evening’s talent to be here and gone. The former Crazies company organization may have become ingrown, but to reinvent itself with every show is quite a task. Being funny is hard enough.

* “Orange Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Orange County Crazies Theatre, 115 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana. Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 9. $12. (714) 550-9900. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Orange County Crazies ensemble: Todd Buteaux, Ed Ford, Rebecca Gallegos, Gary Halbert, Pat Hanrahan, David Hatfield, Mike Jacobson, Sean Johnson, LizAnne, David Morgan, Promise Nunn, Larry Reese, LeOnna Small, Delores Smith.

An Orange County Crazies production. Writers: Cherie Kerr, Small, Hatfield. Directed by Kerr. Music direction: Mike Zink. Lights and sound: Chris Matthews.