They’ll Do ‘Lunch’

Peter Lefcourt’s “La Ronde de Lunch 2000” at the El Portal could be subtitled “Fun With Hollywood Archetypes.” Lefcourt’s show biz romp was inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s 1900 play “Reigen,” a daisy chain of adulterous characters involved in a series of illicit sexual encounters.

Censored in its day, Schnitzler’s durable drama has since given rise to numerous other dramatic adaptations, most famously Max Ophul’s 1950 film “La Ronde,” and most recently David Hare’s “The Blue Room,” the Broadway hit two years ago that featured a celebrated nude turn by Nicole Kidman.

As was the case with the Ophul and Broadway productions, most of the adaptations have focused primarily on sex, and especially on the outlandish, often treacherous machinations employed to achieve gratification. In Lefcourt’s version, the outlandishness and the treachery are intact, but the Hollywood deal emerges as the primal need--right up there with food, water and air. And the deal--that obscure and elusive object of desire--is wooed and won not in a dimly lit hotel room but over lunch in a trendy industry eatery. It’s a highly public congress that can leave the participants with a bad case of STD: studio transmitted delusion.

A veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include Showtime’s current “Beggars and Choosers”--another savage send-up of the entertainment industry and its foibles--Lefcourt is a savvy old hand who understands that, no matter how outrageous you get, you can’t overwrite Hollywood.

First produced by Actor’s Alley in 1992, Lefcourt’s play has been updated for this production, but the core archetypes remain immemorial: There’s the fading Actress (Lynn Lowry), the desperate Producer (David Mingrino), the gossipy Studio Executive (Karen Reed), the corrupt Agent (Ryan Joseph) and the drunken Writer (John Hugo.) Hangers-on include an upscale Realtor (Irene Chapman), a sexy Personal Fitness Trainer (Laurie Cole), a $400-dollar-an-hour Lawyer (John Edwin Shaw) and an omnipresent Bimbo (Sydney Bennett).

And of course, there’s the hot star of the moment (Jonathan Mallen), a monster of egotism whose career, we suspect and hope, will soon crash into richly deserved obscurity.

Director Jeremiah Morris, longtime artistic director of Actor’s Alley, the resident company at El Portal, directs his caustic and capable company with a light hand and a sure touch. Among Lefcourt’s more satisfyingly nonsensical touches is a Greek chorus of snippy waiters, all named Bruce (Alan Altshuld, Whitey Broughton, Joe Ochman, Ron Reynolds and Tony Edwards), who comment on the action in finely timed unison. Gymme Breavsheaux’s set, James Moody’s lighting, Steve Shaw’s sound, Michael Asher’s original music and Diane Ross’ costumes all contribute to the prevalent whimsy.

Realizing that celebrity begets caricature, Lefcourt goes gleefully over the top in pursuit of satire. However, while his characters are appealingly overblown, they occasionally veer into the predictable. The silly jingle sung by the Bruces at the conclusion of each scene wears thin, and giving the Bimbo a genius IQ seems an obvious sop to political correctness.

After all, to paraphrase Freud, one of Schnitzler’s contemporaries, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

BE THERE

“La Ronde de Lunch 2000,” El Portal Center for the Arts Circle Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 17. $20. (818) 508-4200. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.