Vintage ‘Greater Tuna’ Remains Timely, Funny

“Greater Tuna,” a laconic and entertaining show, lampoons the citizens of loony Tuna, Texas, a fictional town where the low wattage of its radio station probably exceeds the collective IQ of the bizarre population.

Still timely despite its age and relevant despite its far-fetched satire, this folksy piece of regional Americana, which opened in 1982 in New York and was an off-Broadway hit for more than a year, has earned a niche in our national culture as evidenced by a large following gained through touring versions, an HBO production and command performances at the White House. It even has a successful spinoff that premiered on Broadway in 1994, “A Tuna Christmas.”

But while theaters around the country have mounted “Greater Tuna” with many different actors, it’s hard to imagine a production without the original cast: Texas-born actor-writers Joe Sears and Jaston Williams. Happily, the “Greater Tuna” revival that opened Friday at the La Mirada Theatre stars both of them in unbeatable performances directed by their co-writer and longtime associate, Ed Howard.

Sears and Williams play all the people of the town--male and female, good ol’ boys and battle-axes--in a series of vignettes loosely strung together by the idea that Tuna’s human comedy is a burlesque reflection of universal, if deplorable, conditions.

The notes struck always have a moody, down-home twang, with a cute but not biting wit. It’s a clever symphony of gun lovers, right-wing cranks, book-banning lamebrains, drunks, Bible Belt preachers, Klansmen, screwball kids, garden-variety weirdos, nerds, smug big-city reporters, hanging judges and sanctimonious matrons, all being sent up or roasted in their own tangy juices.

Two of the funniest characters are Aunt Pearl Burras and her sister Bertha Bumiller, both cannily played in drag by Sears, who turns his heft to such supple advantage that he catches their every nuance and seems to become them. Pearl raises chickens and poisons dogs (not necessarily in that order); Bertha raises children and (reluctantly) stray mutts that attach themselves to her youngest son.

Williams, short and slim, make the ideal foil for Sears. Beside playing the Humane Society’s Petey Fisk, who gives out free advice on “duck trapping without trauma,” Williams portrays the three Bumiller kids--including gloomy Charlene, doomed never to make cheerleader, and her brother Stanley, home from a jail sentence for vandalism.

But perhaps his sharpest caricatures, also in drag, are grim-faced Didi Snavely, the chain-smoking, whiskey-voiced peddler of used guns who believes in mandatory firearms for everyone (“If Didi’s can’t kill it, it’s immortal”), and pushy Vera Carp, vice president of Tuna’s most vocal advocacy group, the Smut Snatchers.

Except for a reference to the macarena, the creators of “Greater Tuna” have wisely chosen not to tinker with the vintage material. It doesn’t need updating any more than the deliberate pace needs quickening. This is a brief show; the unhurried performances are made to be savored.

* “Greater Tuna,” La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 15. $33. (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.