‘Blue Leaves’ Walks the Sanity Tightrope

“The House of Blue Leaves” is a loony bin where middle-aged Artie (Steven Einspahr) wants to send his wife, Bananas (Dalene Young). Under director Jessica Kubzansky, the cast of this West Coast Ensemble production aptly handles a broad comedic interpretation of this John Guare play, although the ending remains unsettling.

Set on the day the pope visits New York (Oct. 4, 1965), this piece is about the disintegration of a family as the father, Artie, loses his dream. A second-rate composer of forgettable tunes, Artie works as a zookeeper while clinging to the hope that his big-time movie director friend (Jon Stafford) will give him a chance to score movies. Now all he has to do is institutionalize his crazy wife and run off to California with his tacky mistress (Lori Harmon). Things become complicated when Artie’s son (David Kaufman) comes home, determined to meet the pope.

Guare isn’t really interested in making us laugh. He wants to expose the tragedy of a man stripped of hope and overcome with despair and to demonstrate how little separates the sane and the insane.

Kubzansky does a top-notch job of choreographing the slapstick confusion as three nuns (Anne Etue, Valerie Doran and Yuria Kim), a winsome deaf starlet (Kate Connor) and the family fight for a chance to see the pope.

As the only sane member of the family, Einspahr is sympathetic while Young is both charming and annoying as his wife gone mad. Together, they reveal brief glimmers of their happy past, which highlights the pathos of the present.

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* “The House of Blue Leaves,” West Coast Ensemble,” 522 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 8 p.m. Also Dec. 4, 11, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 14. $20. (213) 525-0022. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.