Power Players

A production of one of the greatest dramatic works in the English language by actors from TV’s “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” is an obvious opening for jokes. With “Hamlet” now in production, the joke is on the jokers: Not only can the cast members from “Power Rangers Turbo” (as the show is now called) hack it, the production is darned good.

Paul Schrier, the comic villain Bulk on “Power Rangers,” stars. His partner on the series, Jason (Skull) Narvey plays Laertes, and Catherine Sutherland (Kat, the pink-clad Ranger) co-stars as Ophelia.

The large and generally capable cast includes less famous people, including young actors recruited from the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center’s youth troupe.

As director, Schrier has brought some interesting ideas to “Hamlet,” including cutting the text to bring the show down to 150 minutes. Shakespeare purists be warned; everybody else can rejoice.

Among the changes is a melding of the “To be or not to be” speech with Hamlet’s bidding that his love, Ophelia, “get thee to a nunnery.” This is an interpretation that may raise hackles among the literal-minded, but it works (Schrier credits the idea to actor Derek Jacobi), as does Schrier’s own robust appearance.

Worth watching for is the hilarious pairing of 7-foot-4-inch Roger Morrissey and relatively diminutive Aurick Canete as Guildenstern and Rosencrantz (note: Morrissey doesn’t appear Sunday nights).

Schrier’s use of some Kabuki elements may be more puzzling than effective, but this “Hamlet” stands as among the best Shakespeare in Ventura County--at least since the California Shakespeare Company left town, and maybe even equaling some of theirs.

The presence of “Power Rangers” personnel notwithstanding, this is a real “Hamlet,” so leave the young fans of the TV show at home.

* “Hamlet” continues through July 20 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets for all shows are $15, adults; $12, seniors and students; and $8, children 12 and under. For reservations, call 581-9940.

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Funny Stuff: “Your Show of Shows” was one of the most acclaimed television programs of its (or any) day. That program’s writers’ room has been the basis of hits in three media: TV’s “Dick Van Dyke Show,” the movie “My Favorite Year,” and Neil Simon’s 1993-94 Broadway hit “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.” They were all inspired by host Sid Caesar and his loony group of comedy writers.

Simon fans can look at this play--now at the Santa Paula Theater Center--as the fourth installment of what had been his autobiographical Brighton Beach trilogy. But the Simon surrogate here, the narrator and newest member of the writing staff played by Neil Kopplin, is named Lucas rather than Simon’s previous pseudonym, Eugene Jerome.

There’s sort of a plot: The network is trying to dumb down the TV show and reduce expenses, and McCarthyism is on the rise. But it’s secondary in importance to Simon’s characters: paper-thin, every one of them, but almost uniformly hilarious as they toss jokes (many off-color and none intellectual enough to get dumbed-down) among themselves.

Simon doesn’t try to duplicate characters with their real-life counterparts: Jim Kasmir plays someone who looks and acts very much like Mel Brooks, for instance, but Brooks’ hypochondria is here assigned to another writer, played by Karl Mickelson. The sole female writer (played by Toni Frisk) can be traced back at least as far as the Van Dyke Show’s Sally Rogers.

Fred Helsel is outstanding as Caesar clone Max Prince: a big, blustery guy whose own nuttiness is facing a real challenge as he tries to protect his writers from the network.

A couple of minor characters give some bizarre line-readings (nothing too distracting, though), but the actors’ comedic timing is pretty much on-the-spot under David Ralphe’s direction. And, at a fast-paced two hours,the show contains more laughs per minute than there are fireworks stands in Fillmore.

* “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” continues through Aug. 3 at Santa Paula Theater Center, 125 S. 7th St., Santa Paula. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets to all shows are $12.50, adults; $10, seniors (55 and over) and students; and $6 for children 12 and under. Parents should note the presence of what might be considered objectionable language. For reservations, call 525-4645.