Funny Thing About ‘Entertainment’

Call it truth-in-labeling. “For Entertainment Purposes Only,” the late-night comedy revue at Highways in Santa Monica, doesn’t mean to be taken seriously. That’s probably a wise gambit when you produce something this spotty.

To be sure, there’s some genuinely funny stuff in this ever-evolving group of sketches and songs co-directed by Jackie Beat and Melanie Hutsell (late of TV’s “Saturday Night Live”).

Among the favorites on review night were a politically incorrect bit about a support group for gays and lesbians who came out at Disneyland. “I’m not a lesbian!” one participant tearfully admitted. “I just didn’t have anywhere else to go tonight!” Equally inspired was a ribald monologue from an aging, Norma Desmond-type diva writing her memoirs.

Other material should have been left backstage. Hutsell bombed with a pointless and interminable parody of a Nashville housewife visiting Los Angeles. Viewers of an anti-clerical stripe may like the bit poking fun at a pair of fresh-faced “Teens for Christ”--they promise to tell the story of Job “with tap dance and hand puppets”--though it fizzles long before the blackout. Luckily the dull spots are easier to take thanks to the energetic cast, including Loretta Fox, Brett Paesel, Sam Pancake, Patrick Towne and the incomparable Jane Lynch.

* “For Entertainment Purposes Only,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. $8. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Scraping Bottom in ‘The Lower Depths’

After emerging from “The Lower Depths” at the Hudson Avenue Theatre in Hollywood, you feel like a survivor. And you are, because you have bravely endured nearly three hours of the worst theater imaginable. Whatever doesn’t kill you--well, you know the rest.

This is, we are told, an adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s ultra-realist classic about thieves, degenerates and losers in a turn-of-the-century Moscow ghetto. The original play is, along with Lanford Wilson’s “Balm in Gilead,” a favorite of well-heeled drama students who wanna go slumming. Director Robert Cicchini oversees an update that moves the action to present-day Venice, Calif., and adds current social themes such as AIDS.

The result scrapes the bottom of the barrel in every respect. Texture and nuance are alien concepts in this production: The motto is speak loudly and carry a big shtick. Somewhere inside the wailing, cursing and gnashing of teeth are ill-defined characters such as hunky thief Valentine (Joe Wandell), angelic AIDS patient Anna (Kristine Knudson) and transvestite Actor (Shamus Murphy, in a blessedly wry performance).

The writing--Cicchini and Moira Walley adapted Gorky’s play--certainly plumbs the lowest depths. “Marriage is like sitting on a toilet during an earthquake,” says one character. “It happens only once but you remember it the rest of your life.” A sentiment often thought, but never so well expressed.

* “The Lower Depths,” the Hudson Avenue Theatre, 1110 Hudson Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends April 21. $15. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.