No Ho, Ho, Ho

As Christmas nears, two local companies are presenting worthy shows that--a bit of relief--have no connection with that or any other holiday. The Ojai Center for the Arts is producing “The Gin Game,” and the Camarillo-based Marquie Dinner Theatre is doing a musical revue, “Size Does Matter!”

That the Ojai “Gin Game” is happening at all is a bit of good luck; a highly publicized professional version just ran in Los Angeles, and community groups are generally restricted from “competing” within a certain distance of a professional production. Maybe nobody at the licensing organization knows where Ojai is.

In any case, it’s good fortune for local audiences. Although the stars of this show haven’t the name value or bazillion years of professional experience of Charles Durning and Julie Harris, who starred in L.A., the production of D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, directed by Steve Grumette, is most worthy, not to mention vastly less expensive to attend.

Paddy Rees and Doug Friedlander star as Fonsia Daisy and Weller Martin, relatively new residents of a less-than-superior home for the aged. Neither wants much to do with any of the staff or other residents, whom they regard as unworthy of their attention (indeed, none is even seen). But they are drawn to each other, particularly when cranky, patronizing Weller persuades Fonsia to join him in what starts as a friendly game of gin rummy and turns into something only slightly less than full-scale emotional and intellectual war.

Well-acted, the play is also a lot of fun--particularly, one might expect, to anyone who plays gin rummy; the frustrations are universal. A special commendation to designer Tom Eubanks and his construction crew, who have come up with a very atmospheric interpretation of the home’s porch; the barely seen television inside is a nice touch.

* “The Gin Game” continues through Dec. 20 at the Ojai Center for the Arts, 113 S. Montgomery St. in Ojai. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday and Sunday evenings, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets to all shows are $12; $10 students, seniors and arts center members. For reservations, call 649-9443.

Broadway Scaled Down: The conceit of “Size Does Matter!” is that the Marquie Dinner Theatre will never be able to stage major musicals, due to constraints of space and, especially, budget. So the show consists of nearly 40 songs from shows ranging from “Oklahoma!” to “Sunset Boulevard” that it’s fairly certain will never be performed in their entirety here. It’s a cute idea, written and directed by Mark Andrew Reyes (whose day job has kept him from local stages for entirely too long) and featuring an all-star cast of local performers, some of whom were available only because the shows they’re in (or just finished) weren’t playing on Sunday nights.

In addition to Reyes, the cast includes choreographer Deidre Fisher; Gary Romm (still starring in the Conejo Players’ fine “Kismet”); Laurie Stevens; Diann Alexander; Zachary Spencer; Reyes’ wife, Jeannine (who teaches drama at a local high school); and Jeannine’s father, Marquie owner Paul Marquie--making, I believe, his first onstage appearance here other than as a corpse. Playing a caricature of himself, he’s quite funny. Musical director is Barbara Howard.

The female performers all wear headset microphones, making them look like either telephone operators or a tribute to the Judds. The songs range from obscure to well-known, the patter is amusing, and it would be difficult to imagine a more purely entertaining evening.

* “Size Does Matter” continues Sunday evenings through Dec. 31 at the Marquie Dinner Theatre, 340 N. Mobil Ave., in Camarillo. There will be no performance Dec. 27. For all shows other than Dec. 31, doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is served at 6 and the show begins shortly after 8; $33 admission includes buffet dinner with choice of entrees, shows, tax, gratuity and nonalcoholic beverages; a cash bar is available. On Dec. 31, doors open at 7 p.m.; an expanded buffet dinner will be served from 8 p.m., and the show will begin at 9:45; there will be dancing and a champagne toast at midnight. New Year’s Eve tickets are $70. For reservations, call 484-9909.

Listen to the Radio: The ninth annual Every Now and Then Theatre production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” featuring locally based actors and civic figures, will be broadcast at 6 Friday evening and repeated at 6 p.m. Dec. 24 on KBBY-FM (95.1).

Casting Call: Open auditions will be held Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for the Ojai Center for the Arts production of “Marvin’s Room.” Roles include three men (ages 40-60), two teenage boys (15-18) and five women (30-60). For further information, call Tom Eubanks at 649-9443.