An Actress’ ‘Sunset’

What happens to a forgotten, aging actress who has just murdered her much younger lover and has been deluded by her first husband-director and current butler into believing her arrest is actually a scene from her newest movie?

For those who thought Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Sunset Boulevard” was a tad too serious and self-important for this peculiar love triangle, “Miss Desmond Behind Bars”--inspired by Billy Wilder’s 1950 classic--is a welcome camp-parody sequel.

In this hilarious production at the Court Theatre, the all-male cast performs with such over-the-top zest that the script’s predictability becomes part of its charm.

A committee of men (Mark Goff, Marc Ian Sklar, Gregory Messer, David Bouzas) imagined how Norma Desmond (Messer) might adjust to life behind bars, and, along with Leo Savalas, Michael Betts and Erin Quigley, wrote lyrics to Savalas’ music.

In this warped marriage of Hollywood potboiler and women-in-prison genres, Hedda Hopper (Bouzas) and the prison warden of the Women’s Correctional Institute of Hollywood, Marion “Mamma” Weizel (Sklar), conspire to satisfy their respective ambitions: the scoop and the promotion. The silent movie queen believes she can revive her career by playing Salome, but for now must satisfy herself by acting in a women-behind-bars movie. Mamma forces the inmates--Southern belle Crystal (R. Christofer Sands), the gum-chewing big-hair blond Sylvia (Carlos Pen~aranda), the young, dumb Latina on death row Maria (Scott Scarboro) and the lustful lesbian, Penny (Rom Watson)--to play along.

Long riffs of sly drag-queen sexual innuendo, tastefully lustful dancing between the hunky male prison guards (choreographed by Fred Tallaksen), references to Bette Davis and Scarlett O’Hara and bad hair add flourish to the meager plot line.

As director, Quigley acknowledges the play’s shortcomings and the audience’s intelligence. The actors know we know what’s coming, but winkingly invite us into their silly conspiracy.

The score swoops from crass pop (“Pardon Me”) to faux opera (“Pop the Weasel Lament”) and includes an ode to electroshock therapy (“Zap Your Troubles Away”) that brings out the best in bad hair.

Goff and Eva Fagan have concocted expressive prison-stripe ensembles for each inmate except Penny, who wears a jumpsuit. Crystal wears a poodle skirt complete with black and white petticoats; trampy Maria is stuffed into a short tight dress, while Sylvia dons leggings.

Their party costume designs range from sublime (Norma’s black evening gown) to ridiculous (Mamma’s red-feathered lace dress).

The live music provided by Savalas on the piano and John Harvey on the drums sometimes overwhelms the singing, but so does the audience’s laughter.

BE THERE

“Miss Desmond Behind Bars,” Court Theatre, 722 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Ends Oct. 17. $30. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes.