An ego is downsized in ‘Sanguine’

A merciless punch to the underbelly of hypocrisy, the Blank Theatre Company’s “Sanguine” showcases a promising new voice in Andy Hyman’s insightful, well-crafted -- though at times overreaching -- portrait of a corporate downsizing victim’s psychological disintegration.

Jon Shear’s staging of Hyman’s brisk, one-act monologue (winner of the Blank’s 2001 Young Playwrights Festival) stars its original performer, Jeremy Sisto, best known as the psychopathic Billy on HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Here, Sisto’s finely nuanced character seems better-adjusted, if somewhat rough around the professional edges, as he contemplates the impending loss of a job in which he’s invested far too much of his identity.

Over the sound of a clock relentlessly ticking away in the background, Sisto’s beleaguered office worker tries to bolster his faltering self-confidence by recounting his good qualities and the high value he places on behaving honorably and ethically.

The false persona of this professed paragon of responsibility crumbles, however, as he confronts a lifelong pattern of failure from which he can no longer duck responsibility. Sisto adroitly spirals through self-assurance, self-pity and self-deception as the piece moves inexorably to the shocking revelation of a long-repressed moral lapse.

Although Hyman’s script skillfully navigates the course of this psychological descent, it is nevertheless bound by the limited life experience of a young, still-maturing playwright. Incidents set in college and high school are recounted with detail, authority and emotional impact, while the character’s corporate world is a generic projection clearly beyond the author’s frame of reference.

That the character would ultimately see his professional setback as punishment for a past misdeed is a particularly dubious idealistic stretch.

More likely, it’s a result of his failure to recognize that wearing a tie is not enough -- if he wants to make it in the corporate shark tank, he simply can’t show up for work in trousers without cuffs.

-- Philip Brandes

“Sanguine,” 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 15. $15. (323) 661-9827. Running time: 50 minutes.

*

One-woman show tackles anorexia

Rochelle Newman starts her one-woman show, “Hip Bones and Cool Whip,” at the Hudson Avenue Theatre, on a stilted note. Seemingly ill-at-ease, she hides her stiffness behind an obligatory perkiness that is jarring.

That is partly the fault of director Carlos Carrasco, who should have started Newman out on surer footing. However, despite glitches in performance, Newman’s tale of her youthful struggle with anorexia is gripping stuff, delivered with precise, Proustian recall that is at times appallingly specific.

Developed in collaboration with Mark Travis, Newman’s detailed etiology of anorexia, told from a fiercely personal perspective, eclipses most other dramatic treatments of the disorder, without manipulation or scare tactics.

Whether that translates into enduring drama is debatable. Unquestionably, for sufferers themselves, or for those whose loved ones have battled the anorexia, Newman’s tale of adversity and triumph will prove inspirational. Others might find Newman’s necessarily repetitive chronicle -- her endless counting of calories, her incessant trips to the scale, her delusion of continuing obesity in the face of imminent starvation -- a fatiguing amount of information.

Whatever your interest level, you will almost certainly be touched by Newman’s emotional candor and her fresh insights into a mysterious and deadly disease.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Hip Bones and Cool Whip,” Hudson Avenue Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Wednesdays only, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 26. $10. (323) 856-4200. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

*

A worthy Cleage revival well-done

Delivered with notable integrity, “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” Pearl Cleage’s 1995 examination of Depression-era Harlem in its waning Renaissance, receives a well-executed revival at the Long Beach Playhouse.

“Blues,” first seen locally at Los Angeles Theatre Center in 1998, centers on singer Angel Allen (Lateefah Devoe). She is dead drunk at the outset, having lost her gangster lover and Cotton Club job in one evening.

Her escort is costume designer Guy (Pyeshon Omar Jackson). His Paris emigration forms one plot thread, pulling Langston Hughes and Josephine Baker into Cleage’smix.

Then there is Guy’s neighbor, social worker Delia (Kalene Parker). She, along with ghetto doctor Sam (Carl Crudup), reflects the era’s movement toward reform, with Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Marcus Garvey and Margaret Sanger informing their scenario.

Enter Alabama widower Leland (Christopher Guyton), whose infatuation with Angel provides the pivotal element. The shrewdly constructed trajectory descends into tragedy with restrained logic, avoiding pat resolutions or answers.

Cleage overloads the thematic plate, but her talent is undeniable. Director Phyllis B. Gitlin oversees a solid physical production, particularly Elaine Herman’s excellent setting. The well-chosen ensemble is intelligent, although they would benefit from more varied tempos and inner transitions.

Devoe’s Angel, while too genteel, is essentially apt, as are Jackson’s gay iconoclast and Guyton’s unwitting innocent. Patterson’s affecting idealist interacts beautifully with Crudup, whose relaxed clinician almost steals the show.

“Blues for an Alabama Sky” sustains considerable narrative interest, which along with its topical significance recommends the production.

-- David C. Nichols

“Blues for an Alabama Sky,” Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 23, 2 p.m. Ends March 1. $20. (562) 494-1014. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

*

Mystery wrapped in a mystery

Every good mystery story is an act of betrayal, declares our sleuthing hero as he prepares to spring his trap. “You take the audience by the hand and lead them in the wrong direction.”

Lovers of ingeniously constructed whodunits won’t feel too betrayed by the Woodland Hills Theatre’s “Rehearsal for Murder,” which sports an ample share of plot twists and red herrings. But don’t look for much in the way of character depth or plausibility here. Briskly directed by Jon Berry, this stage adaptation by D.D. Brooke from a TV movie script by Richard Levinson and William Link (the creators of “Columbo” and “Murder She Wrote”) plays like -- well, a TV movie script performed on the stage.

The play suffers in comparison with the original, which starred Robert Preston and Lynn Redgrave, but the theatrical context proves appropriate: A secrecy-shrouded reunion takes place in a theater one year after a disastrous play opening culminated in the apparent suicide of its leading lady. (If you guess the death wasn’t really suicide, you’ve already passed the first test.)

To prove his starlet fiancee was murdered, playwright-turned-amateur-detective Alex Dennison (Steve Ruggles) has invited the cast, director and producer to a read-through of his new play, a mystery -- naturally -- in which their roles suspiciously mirror real-life events. Leaving nothing to the vagaries of subtext, the parallel with “Hamlet’s” mousetrap play-within-a-play is duly made explicit.

Per the guidelines of the genre, each major character has a motive, and in good time the killer is dutifully unmasked as the person you least suspect. The appeal here is strictly cerebral -- even Ruggles’ Dennison seems driven more by the intellectual challenge than grief for his dearly departed bride-to-be.

Among the suspects, Noel Britton and Joseph Tatner provide some humorous, emotionally authentic relief as bickering, formerly married actors. In general, though, the largely community theater cast demands extra suspension of disbelief, and a fair amount of timing awkwardness suggests that “Rehearsal for Murder” is in need of more rehearsal.

-- P.B.

“Rehearsal for Murder,” West Valley Playhouse Theatre, 7242 Owensmouth Ave., Canoga Park. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends March 2. $20. (818) 884-1907. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.