By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — Call me a snob, it matters not. Trailer Park humor was never high on the list of ‘tickle my funny bone’ laugh o’ meter comedy scale. Some nights it just doesn’t pay to get dressed, leave the warm fuzzy comfort of my home sweet home, fight the downtown traffic (that seems to be getting worse by the year) and the insanity of the parking structure at Horton Plaza just to sit through what is being hyped as The Great American Trailer Park Musical.
Let’s talk about that laugh o meter though. At the opening night production of the David Nehls (music and lyrics), Betsy Kelso (book) of TGATPM at the San Diego Repertory Theatre every bell, whistle and bong pushed the red stuff in the meter to almost breaking the glass.
The audience participation went wild in a series of Hee Haw’s throughout, so much so, that one might have thought we were at the Great American Laugh In! But, I guess that’s par if you dig on inane and trashy jokes. Director Sam Woodhouse pushes every gag line to make sure that each bag of tricks and off color lines (of which there were many) is delivered with excess by a talented cast, who bust their collective you know what’s, to make sure everything they do is way OVER THE TOP!
Picture this: A worn out, dilapidated and on the brink of sinking into an empty swimming pool, trailer park called Armadillo Acres, in Stark, north Florida as our background. On the property are three trailers. One trailer has a TV antenna another a satellite dish and the third is like the old Castro Convertible Sofa, it opens to a dance hall/strip club where, well, who knows what goes on behind Door #3?
In the front or back of one or the other trailers, two large plastic pink flamingos that have seen their last proud days are positioned to look away from the audience. One of the trailers is decorated with Christmas lights that have probably been there since the park opened and there are signs tacked to the telephone poles in the background. In front of Jeannie and Norbert’s trailer, a pink, discarded toilet is used as a plaTner. Three lawn chairs,situated in the dirty but empty pool, are used as props for the singers. Ian Wallace’s set design is clever and I’m going to venture, somewhat accurate.
Most of the singing, dancing and redneck humor takes place in front of the trailers, yet and every now and then we glimpse inside the center one showing the living room to what is called home to Norbert (David Kirk Grant) and his agoraphobic wife Jeannie (Courtney Corey). Their baby son was abducted in his carry all some twenty years ago, before anyone could say ‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’. Norbert is a tollbooth collector who cheats on his wife. Jeannie is a train wreck who hasn’t left her trailer in twenty years!
The, story, and I use the word loosely, is told by a Greek Chorus (of sorts) made up of Betty, Linoleum and Pickles (Melinda Gilb, Leigh Scarritt and Kailey O’Donnell) who sing, (there are about 16 or so songs) sway and dance (Javier Valasco) their way through the sorted secrets and not so secret goings on between Norbert and the new gal at the park, Pippi, (Jill Van Velzer). She’s a stripper who is on the run from her ‘magic –marker sniffing, ex boyfriend’. David McBean shows up later in the game as a surprise witness to this crime, but I will leave it to you to figure how he does or doesn’t fit in to the total picture.
The Great American Trailer Park Musical was performed in the first annual New York Music Theatre Festival in 2004. It had an off Broadway run in 2005 and seems suitable for some smaller theatres as a kind of in-between for the serious stuff shows. Just recently it played at the Coronado Playhouse.
More cartoon like than anything else and crass beyond, one can only find redemption and joy from this show in the fine and talented cast. One thing is for sure, Sam Woodhouse knows talent and luckily, he snagged seven of San Diego’s brightest to bring, what he referred to as ‘The Holiday Show’.
If anyone has ever seen and /or heard Scarret and Gilb then you know you are in for a treat. Both are musical comedy pros. Add Courtney Corey, Jill VanVelzer and Kailley O’Donnell and you’ve got the divas down to some of the best in the county. Put some outlandish get ups on them (Alina Bokovikova), gawdawful wigs (Loutcia Grier) and have them speak like they never left the south and we’re talkin’ trailer park. David Kirk Grant is in fine voice and crazy as he is as Norbert, he pulls it off without a hitch. Chameleon, David McBean is as nutty as ever and so far over the top that it hurts.
The only downer is with the music. It is just too damn loud (Tom Jones) and none of the lyrics is discernable. Lonnie Alcaraz’s lighting design fits right in with the rest of the outlandish look. The band, under the musical direction of Anthony Smith on piano, with Jim Mooney on guitar, Kevin Cooper Bass, and Danny King on drums is semi-hidden behind trailer #3 but that doesn’t stop the sound from resonating throughout the theatre.
I purposefully left out some of the sordid details of the characters and the predictable story so as not to spoil the fun. You be the judge.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Dec. 4th
Organization: San Diego Repertory Theatre
Phone: 619-544-1000
Production Type: Musical comedy
Where: 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown San Diego, CA.
Ticket Prices: $37.00-$57.00
Web: sdrep.org
Venue: Lyceum Stage
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com