‘Don Mendo’s Revenge’ Slow to Build Laughs

“Don Mendo’s Revenge,” a Bilingual Foundation of the Arts presentation at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, has some laughs in its corner. But they don’t really start arriving at a satisfying clip until near the end, when the bodies start piling up.

In Don Pedro Mun~oz Seca’s goof on Spanish golden-age romantic silliness, Don Mendo (Ernesto Miyares) is both rake and bumbler, bent on proving his honor by dying for it. It’s a role rich in satiric possibilities, even if the play itself is a tougher sell.

Seca’s brand of astracan (spoof), reliant on verbal embroidery, no doubt plays better in the Spanish-language performances than it does in English. Margarita Lamas’ translation is on the stilted side; when a character declares, “I am explosive and affectionate,” it’s the sound of a voice that hasn’t quite found its voice.

En route to the blood bath, Mendo--only fitfully amusing in his romantic excess as played by Miyares--dallies with Magdalena (Paola Bontempi), Azofaifa the Moor (Flavia Saravalli) and others. “O, unhappy the man born as handsome as I!” sighs Mendo, in a genuinely funny moment.

Even if audiences aren’t immediately familiar with the material being sent up here, it’s not hard to relate. (Soap, as purveyed by soap operas and telenovelas alike, is an international substance.) The problem with “Don Mendo’s Revenge” in this incarnation is a plodding rhythm. Director Augustin Coppola and his cast offer too many bits of comic business operating on a combination of the broad and the slow. Which isn’t as good, say, as broad and quick, or--even better--broad and subtle and in-between, in an unexpected variety of tempos.

Still, there’s some fun to be had here, thanks largely to the musical and dance interludes. Bontempi and Ray Michaels Quiroga (as Don Pero, Mendo’s romantic rival) come closest to capturing the deadpan panache required. Spoofing isn’t only about exaggeration; it’s about the payoff in a perfectly arched eyebrow. It’s about inverting a genre so that something about that genre’s revealed, in the literary equivalent of a birthday suit.

* “Don Mendo’s Revenge,” Bilingual Foundation of the Arts at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown. Performances in Spanish: Thursday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.; May 24-25, 8 p.m.; May 26, 3 and 8 p.m.; May 27, 3 p.m.

Performances in English: May 18, 8 p.m.; May 19, 3 and 8 p.m.; May 20, 3 p.m. Ends May 27. $17-$24. (323) 225-4044. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Ernesto Miyares: Mendo

Paola Bontempi: Magdalena

Margarita Lamas: Don~a Ramirez

Ray Michaels Quiroga: Pero

Michelle Gil: Bertoldino/Berenguela

Daniel Light: Clodulfo/Alfonso

Rey Lopez: Moncada

Kiko Mahetcha: Froilan/Ali

Antonio Nesme: Nunio

Flavia Saravalli: Azofaifa

Written by Don Pedro Mun~oz Seca. Translated by Margarita Lamas. Directed by Augustin Coppola. Set design by Estela Scarlata. Costumes by Azalia Correa. Lighting by Robert Fromer. Choreography by Mari Sandoval. Stage manager Cecilia Garcia.