Wonder of the World

By Joel Hirschhorn

"Aren't I irrational?" shouts Cass, the heroine of David Lindsay-Abaire's frenzied farce about skewed relationships. The answer, regrettably, is a roaring yes, and while some of her adventures are amusing, more of them are outrageously contrived and totally unrelated to human behavior or motivation.

The plot of this West Coast premiere, which opened at Off-Broadway's Manhattan Theater Club in 2001 with Sarah Jessica Parker, begins promisingly when we see a TV clip of Marilyn Monroe's 1953 potboiler, "Niagara," and Cass (Madelynn Fattibene) announces to her flabbergasted husband Kip (Stef Tovar) that she plans to take off alone for Niagara Falls after discovering his kinky sexual secret. Seconds later, she's on a bus badgering Lois (Jan Sheldrick), a cynical stranger traveling with a barrel. The barrel is intended as a prop for Lois' planned plunge over the falls, and Cass decides to prevent this soggy suicide.

Cass smothers their conversation with irritating non-sequiturs, and it's easy to agree with Lois' exasperated complaint, "You've got to learn how to segue," as the two women inevitably and illogically bond. The one stable ingredient of the story is Cass' relationship with tourist guide Captain Mike (Robert Gantzos), and whenever these two are permitted to interact, the show attains a level of charm. But respites are brief, and Lindsay-Abaire's convoluted plot pulls in a pair of inept detectives, Karla (Margaret Silbar) and Glen (Larry Lederman), sent by Kip to track down his wife and force a reconciliation.

Unlike his uproarious "Fuddy Meers," where the insanity is cleverly conceived and organized, Lindsay-Abaire seems to have made a list of story complications here and laid them out in a mechanical blueprint. The central revelation -- Kip's lust for Barbie doll heads and his way of satisfying that lust -- is only one of many absurd twists that include the peanut butter jar murder of Captain Mike's wife and the silly circumstances of her death. By the time a therapist, Janie (Angeles Vara), dressed in Traci Kalaba's garish clown costume, pushes her unwilling patients into a replay of the Newlywed Game, the production has collapsed into chaos.

Lisa D. Katz's lighting leaps across the stage, nimbly tracking interweaving vignettes, and Cricket S. Myers' sound effectively reproduces the noise of Niagara Falls. Director Richard Israel and his highly charged cast are unceasingly energetic, but the approach yields mixed results. Show's opening setup needs to breathe, and it starts so frenetically that seemingly surefire laugh lines fail to register.

Although Fattibene's Cass is clearly a capable actress, she lacks the eccentricity and weirdness of a true comedienne. Too overblown at first, she calms down in Act Two and gives the character dimension, but her physical reactions and vocal inflections are short on individuality. Tovar's Kip is inherently funnier, especially in quick segments watching his old wedding video and crying, and despite the kinky hang-up meant to discredit him, he comes across more sympathetically than does his wife. Gantzos brings bumbling honesty and leading man appeal to his role as Captain Mike.

Israel's directorial talent is most evident in his inspired shaping of Jan Sheldrick's portrayal of Lois. Sheldrick, a veteran of TV's "Will & Grace" and the Los Angeles hit, "Judy's Scary Little Christmas," is blessed with a dry, smoky voice and delivers dialogue with the poised, stylish expertise of a Lucy or an Eve Arden. She's the only one who reacts plausibly to the abrupt, unnecessary demise of Captain Mike, and she gives flesh-and-blood strength to the trumped-up, life-affirming conclusion.

Opened and reviewed Feb. 20, 2004; runs through April 11. Running time: 2 HOURS, 15 MIN.