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| Review: "Napolinator" worthy of larger crowds (A-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Chris Page, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| November 1, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Saturday night of opening weekend at the new $66.5 million Tempe Center for the Arts found variety-show host Brian Nissen and company playing to an audience seemingly half comprised of empty seats. Perhaps the growing number of folks who spent the past two seasons spreading giggly word-of-mouth about the Arizona-focused staged variety show at the Mesa Arts Center (including the riotous last show, dubbed “Arpaio-palooza”) didn’t quite get the word — the one about Citrus Valley heading to newer digs in Tempe for its third season. Which is a shame. Because the new show, “Napolinator and the Ex-Guvs for Justice,” is Nissen and co.’s funniest, sharpest effort to date. First, though, a primer: For the uninitiated, Citrus Valley is a stage production of comedy sketches and musical numbers, made to resemble an old-time radio show. Think, as always, of “A Prairie Home Companion.” But Citrus Valley’s aim is to skewer and celebrate the Grand Canyon State. Now, on to all good stuff of “Napolinator.” Like the title sketch, a superhero spit-take on our eccentric cadre of governors who use extraordinary abilities to battle California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Though Evan Mecham — whose “powers of insensitive speech” prompt him to call Gov. Napolitano “the Italian Stallion” — is quick to counter, “What superpower?”) There are barbs shot in the general direction of the East Valley (“Mesa’s Waveyard!” Nissen mock-announces. “Hey look, we built something other than a payday loan store!”) and a historical tribute to World War II’s Navajo code talkers that is entirely not as boring as it sounds. There’s Valley jazz singer Margo Reed, backed by Mesa’s lush Mountain View High School Chorale, performing an emotionally walloping take on the gospel tune “Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow.” And there’s Dwain, the mullet-sporting redneck who, in the show’s final sketch, manages to trace his hairstyle’s history back to both Benjamin Franklin (he, we’re told, had a “skullet”) and Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart,” though the latter’s even too absurd for me to describe here. Nissen and his cast (sound-effects man Mark Arnett, with actors Ben Tyler and Cathy Dresbach) are in fine form here — even when they crack up and the sketch skitters to a brief halt. It’s frustrating, then, to see a theater company at the top of its game nevertheless back to square one at audience development. Citrus Valley Playhouse What: “Napolinator and the Ex-Guvs for Justice” When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday Where: Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway Cost: $25 Information: (480) 350-2822 or citrusvalley.org Grade: A- Contact Chris Page by email, or phone (480) 898-5656 |
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