‘Pawtucket’ Too Self-Conscious at Tiffany

Joanne Baron plays many members and acquaintances of a self-consciously kooky family in “There Once Was a Girl From Pawtucket,” at the Tiffany Theater.

The solo piece looks as if it might have been influenced by Sherry Glaser’s success with another one-woman interpretation of an entire Jewish family, “Family Secrets.” But while Glaser played a succession of people speaking directly to the audience, the characters in Baron’s work speak to a pool of light that represents the younger daughter in this household, Jackie Green. Jackie herself doesn’t get to say much, though we do hear her sing.

Perhaps this vacuum at the center of the family might have been mysterious, but Jackie’s silence is drowned out by the aggressively over-the-top quality of the other characters, with Jackie’s father being the worst offender. Baron’s physical delineation of the characters lacks precision; why, for example, does her father suddenly walk like Charlie Chaplin?

The biggest mystery is the director’s credit for David Schweizer, who usually stages much less obvious and more substantial work.

* “There Once Was a Girl From Pawtucket,” Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Tuesdays, 8 p.m. $15. (310) 967-1340. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.