Cluttered Musical ‘Hollywood P.O.’ Unable to Deliver

Comedian Reynaldo Rey, who played a mail carrier on the sitcom “227,” tries to turn a would-be sitcom, set in a post office, into the stage musical “Hollywood P.O.” at the Wiltern Theatre.

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The musical numbers are awkwardly shoehorned into the script and accompanied by noisy pre-recorded tracks. Because of the way the set is constructed, most of the soloists have to leave the stage just as they’re about to launch into their numbers, and then return through a different door--not a smooth move. The two numbers for the romantic male lead are sung so anemically, yet with such raggedly overdone gesturing, that they’re no better than an earlier number which is an intentional parody of a bad performance.

The production’s biggest asset, in terms of box office, is Sherman Hemsley--the scrappy star of TV’s “The Jeffersons” and “Amen.”

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But Hemsley’s character, a veteran postal worker who was passed over for the manager’s job at the Hollywood post office, is no more significant than a half dozen others. As director and writer, Rey kept the pivotal role of the new manager for himself. The expected fireworks between the two never develop beyond token grumbling from Hemsley.

The other postal workers form a laundry list of predictable, multicultural sitcom types--the gay man who argues with his lover over the phone, the bossy woman who has been manless for a long time, a talentless but hopeful auditioning actress, a man who remains silent throughout, and a nice kid whose boyfriend and fellow worker is abusive. The crowd’s biggest response on opening night came when the abuse victim finally decked her tormentor. Wary of men, she also spurns the nice guy who woos her.

Two inevitable ingredients of post office lore--a bomb and a disgruntled worker who returns with a gun--briefly enliven the proceedings. Long lines for service, a common cause for griping by most postal customers, are nowhere in evidence. When a snippy superior threatens to close the branch down, he could make a case from the fact that there certainly are more idle counter clerks than customers at any given moment. But that doesn’t concern him as much as the specks of dust he finds on the counter.

Set changes for the one scene that’s in a back room slow the show considerably. The Wiltern is too big for this show’s seemingly unprofessional technical support, or indeed for any sitcom-style play or any musical with no dancing or ensemble numbers. Rey tries to keep the crowd entertained with his own monologues in front of the curtain, but the jokes become repetitive and stale.

* “Hollywood P.O.,” Wiltern Theatre, Wilshire Blvd. and Western Ave., Friday--Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday--Sunday, 3 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $23.50--$27.50. (213) 380-5005, (213) 480-3232. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.