‘Boom Boom Room’ Bares Skin, Not Souls

David Rabe’s “In the Boom Boom Room” has a high titillation factor--strippers, promiscuous sex, lesbianism, incest and rape. But while the actors in this production at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center flash skin, they don’t flesh out the characters.

The play itself doesn’t cohesively peel off the layers of raw emotional angst.

Rabe’s central character in this lurid tale is a daddy’s girl, Chrissy (Zette Sullivan), who has just started working at a Philadelphia strip joint. Unlike the other women there, her hair isn’t over-teased, her makeup is barely there, and her figure is petite. She also is chatty. If you thought Rabe’s scripting of the movie “Hurlyburly,” from his original play, was talky, you’ll find this insufferable and less coherent.

Under the direction of Leslie La Page, the characters remain two-dimensional and unsympathetic.

And despite all of Chrissy’s nattering, this play has little to say. The production’s most fascinating aspect: the varied costumes displayed by the women playing the strippers.

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* “In the Boom Boom Room,” Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Ends July 29. $23. (323) 243-4488. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes.