THEATER BEAT

The luxurious beachside home of the LeVay family on Martha’s Vineyard bespeaks old money and cultural refinement. However, don’t let the A.R. Gurney trappings of Lydia R. Diamond’s “Stick Fly,” now at the Matrix Theatre, deceive you. No tale of WASP angst, Diamond’s sprawling drama gives a fascinating perspective on a privileged African American family, as seen from the very top of the social scale.

Dr. Joseph LeVay (John Wesley), patriarch of the clan, is a self-made neurosurgeon who scrapped his way up from humble beginnings. LeVay vaulted into the elite when he married a blueblood whose forebears were the first black landowners on the Vineyard. LeVay’s sons Kent (Chris Butler), an aspiring writer, and Flip (Terrell Tilford), a plastic surgeon, relate to their father’s tales of early privation as quaint family myth. Dark secrets begin to surface shortly after the arrival of Kent’s fiancee, Taylor (Michole Briana White), an entomologist abandoned early on by her Pulitzer-winning father, and Flip’s white girlfriend Kimber (Avery Clyde), herself born into wealth. At the other end of the social spectrum is Cheryl (Tinashe Kajese), teenage daughter of the family’s maid. When a shocking revelation lances her festering resentment, poison flows freely.

Diamond’s overly discursive family drama takes some gratuitous segues into coincidence but ultimately takes on the leisureliness and heft of an August Wilson work. Shirley Jo Finney’s staging bristles with verisimilitude in every particular. Christian Epps’ shifting seaside lighting, Mitch Greenhill’s oceanic sound, Dana Woods’ subtly upscale costumes, and most particularly John Iacovelli’s lavishly detailed set, are all superb. But Finney is first and foremost an actors’ director who has put together the optimum cast and elicited superb performances from each and every performer in her charge.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Stick Fly,” Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 31. $25. (323) 960-7740. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Frothy, ‘Goat-y’ confection

A musical about a drought feels appropriate as we enter the parched months of summer. Chance Theater’s production of “The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat” tells the story of an ancient Greek town where the lack of rain has turned the inhabitants against each other in a comic war for water. This piece of musical fluff isn’t particularly memorable or inventive, but those desiring light romantic farce can be sure that their thirsts will be slaked by the end of the evening.

The show tells the story of Clemnon (Glenn Koppel), a middle-aged miser who shamelessly price gouges the town for access to his well. His grip on the local economy falters when his daughter, Xanthippe (Tanya Mironowski), falls in love with Xander (Armando Gutierrez), the son of wealthy business owners. Various family squabbles ensue, with several characters ending up trapped at the bottom of Clemnon’s well by the time intermission rolls around.

With its comically anachronistic gloss on antiquity, the musical invokes “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and any number of BC farces. The songs were written by Mark Hollmann, a Tony winner for “Urinetown,” which itself used a drought as a premise for its plot. The book by Jack Helbig is witty without being overly clever and moves the action along at a well-paced rhythm.

This production by the Chance Theater is the first time that “The Girl, the Grouch and the Goat” has been produced by a professional company after several workshops. There’s a great deal of commercial promise in the material, and it could easily land a spot off-Broadway. .

Oanh Nguyen’s direction never mistakes the show for more than it is -- a whipped-cream dessert entertainment. Fittingly for a musical about drought, the story practically evaporates from mind as soon as it is over.

-- David Ng

“The Girl, the Grouch and the Goat.” The Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills. 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. $35-$45. (714) 777-3033. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Beatles’ tunes are just the ‘Ticket’

“Ticket to Ride,” a tribute show to the Beatles that’s currently playing at the La Habra Depot Theatre, features performances of 23 hit songs by the legendary rock group. There’s not much else to this likable but rather crudely assembled production. The show’s creators know that when it comes to Beatles simulacrum, it’s the music that counts, not the story arc.

Leaping from one high point to another, the show begins with the group’s discovery in a Liverpool club by recording executive Brian Epstein (Greg Wilmot), who serves as our narrator. Then it’s off to the U.S., where the Beatles appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and perform at Shea Stadium. The second act charts the band’s hippie years and ends with a performance of “Imagine” by John Lennon (Gilbert Bonilla).

With virtually no plot to speak of, the show allows us to focus on the Beatles’ evolving musical style, not to mention decades of bad hair. Paul McCartney (Frank Mendonca III, sharing the role with Benny Chadwick) gets to perform a few solo numbers. Ringo Starr (Louis Renteria) is mostly confined to the drum kit, while George Harrison (Omar Oliveras) recedes into the background.

There are great swaths of Beatles history missing here (no Yoko Ono, for one thing.) But the show, written by P.M. Howard, who once played Harrison in “Beatlemania,” delivers where it matters, which is to say that the hits keep coming.

-- David Ng

“Ticket to Ride,” La Habra Depot Theatre, 311 S. Euclid St., La Habra. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 3. $20. (562) 905-9625 or www.lhdepottheatre.org. Running time: 2 hours.