Heart of ‘Virgin Love’ more crass than comedic

Humor being subjective, it is conceivable that “Virgin Love” will find an audience. This third presentation by the Ricardo Montalban Repertory Theatre Company is certainly resolute in its crossover quest to merge commedia dell’arte with modern erotic currency.

“Virgin Love,” first produced at Theatre 6470 in 1993, comes from Tim Groff, a founding member of Troubadour Theater Company. Hints of lunacy start at the theater entrance, where we meet clown-faced servants bedecked in designer Jennifer Soulage’s fine, festive costumes.

Together with gifted percussionist Al Keith, these zany zanni -- Lorraine Ressegger, Napolean Thomas, Eliana Horeczko, Charlie Romero and Heleya De Barros -- strive for spontaneity. The curtain reveals Roy Rede’s agreeable town-square set design, as a call-and-response of Latin moves creates a virtual salsa demo and “Virgin Love” begins its well-appointed trek.

It follows two contrasting archetypes: impish Arlecchino (Les Borsay), his virginity hardly a secret; and Leandro (Lawrence S. Smilgys), a legendary roue exhausted from servicing the spouses of greater Latinia.

Those include alcoholic Pasquella (Nicole Ortega), the wife of Latinia’s vintner (James Tumminia), and capricious Franceschina (Kikey Castillo), married to its jeweler (A. Torres-Salazar). And there’s swishy Peppe Nappa (Fernando Luis), who with fan-wielding Donna Isabella (Antonio Vega) elicits “Virgin’s” campiest uproar.

Arlecchino and Leandro become allies to find Leandro a bride and end Arlecchino’s chastity. Enter dizzy Bonita (Kristen Marie Nielsen), a sweetly bubble-brained dish, whom Arlecchino encounters in the forest while dressed as the Bunny Messenger of the Gods. Convolutions pile up by the couplet, ladling mistaken identity, swordplay and sexually transmitted parasites into an anachronistic melange.

Though director Felipe Alejandro aims for a saucy romp, the Broadway-scaled venue exposes perilously thin material. The diverse cultural elements do not coalesce, with the mix of classical tropes and bedroom jokes favoring crassness. There are five undistinguished songs (music by Torres-Salazar, lyrics by Groff), generic in their canned accompaniment. Choreography credit goes to a lewd pseudonym, leaving no one accountable for the underfed dances.

Ultimately, this alleged musical commedia owes what charm it has to its tireless cast, a talented, likable troupe. One hopes to see them turned loose on worthier properties than “Virgin Love,” which, regrettably, suggests a hybrid of frat-house karaoke and “The Carol Burnett Show.”

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‘Virgin Love’

Where: Ricardo Montalban Theatre, 1615 N. Vine St., Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Dec. 9

Price: $15 to $25

Contact: (323) 461-0663

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes