The ageless ‘Don Juan’: his love for immortality

Every day for more than 400 years, he’s had sex. And, frankly, he’s tired of it.

A Faust-like pact with the devil keeps the rakish Don Juan bed-hopping from 1599 to the present day in “Don Juan in Chicago.”

Written by David Ives of “All in the Timing” fame, the play is a bit silly and somewhat sophomoric. But in a Sacred Fools production, it is a laugh-out-loud experience that takes a sweetly surprising turn after all the foolishness.

As the story begins in 1599 Seville, Spain, Don Juan (Jeff Marlow) is a 30-year-old virgin given to intellectual pursuits. Among these is a fascination with the occult.

Conjuring the devil (Mark McClain Wilson), he asks for immortality so that he’ll have more time to ponder life’s mysteries. The devil agrees, but on the condition that Don Juan bed a different woman every day. Otherwise, bam, straight to Hades.

The immortality extends to Don Juan’s outspoken servant, Leporello (Michael Lanahan), who does some choice wigging out when he learns the news. But there’s little time for drama, since there’s that first woman to bed.

Unfortunately for the don, she turns out to be the love of his life: Dona Elvira (Ashley West Leonard). This scene and several others unfold in wacky, pseudo-classical rhyme.

The story then proceeds to present-day Chicago (with Ruth Silveira and Mary Hayes’ costumes helping to chart the way), where the now-beleaguered men become entangled in the complexities of a pair of modern relationships (Julie Alexander and Frank Stasio, and Maggie Marion and Philip Wofford).

Under Joe Jordan’s direction, the show’s comic timing is a wonder to behold, especially when the clownish Lanahan is on hand to dive behind a divan while coaching Don Juan through a seduction or Leonard shows up to work herself into drama-queen theatrics.

Los Angeles has seen this “Don Juan” before (West Coast Ensemble presented it in 1996), but its refreshingly retro message is worth hearing again.

*

“Don Juan in Chicago”

Where: Sacred Fools Theatre, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive, L.A.

When: Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.

Ends: Aug. 23

Price: $15

Info: (310) 281-8337

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes