Sunday, October 4, 2009
Gaslight Theatre FREEDOM Is Flying High
There’s lots of red, white and blue onstage at Gaslight Theatre’s brand new production of “The Adventures of the Freedom League of America” or “Tights Make Right.” The story takes us back to the early 1960s, back when saving the world from aliens wasn’t something that happened every day. We know it is the early 1960s because there’s not a hippie in sight.
Back then, everybody believed in the righteousness of Truth, Justice and the American Way. Foremost of these were Brent Baxter (Todd Thompson) and Alexis Archer (Deborah Klingenfus) a pair of ordinary-looking people who will become Megaman the flying singer in a red cape determined to fight the insidious forces of pure evil alongside the fearless Lady Liberty, who’s also pretty darn good with a song.
So what if singing cowboys became popular and singing super-heroes didn’t -- not even after “The Phantom of the Opera” was a Broadway hit. Our own Gaslight Theatre is out to change all that with a show reminiscent of the time when Gaslight’s special effects included costumed rag dolls getting tossed all over the place -- and no one gave it a second thought if flying saucers on very thin wires went spinning out over the audience.
When a campy imagination rears its fluffy head in this theater, you just have to go with it.
Joining Megaman and Lady Liberty in their fight to save the planet are Capt. Jack Rogers (Mike Yarema) speeding by as The Streak and love-struck Lili Lark (Sarah Vanek) turning up the heat as Megagirl.
Basically the plot pits the good folks against the bad folks, and then the good folks win. More important are the songs, drawn mostly from favorites of the 1960s. Thrown in there for flavor is a doo-wop rendition of “One Fine Day” and an enthusiastic go-around on “Shout.”
Of historical note is the menacing costume and make-up of David Orley as the intimidating villain Zagoor, ruler of those most unpleasant aliens in outer space, the Wrebulons (pronounced just like it’s spelled). Orley has definitely picked up the pace in making Gaslight’s melodrama villainy more menacing.
Cast against type is Armen Dirtadian as glamorous cigar-chomping billionaire Franklin Tremble, whose greed makes him vulnerable to Zagoor’s ambitious plan to pretty much blow Earth to smithereens. When Betsy Kruse Craig steps up as Galaxia, queen of the Wrebulons, these three qualify as the tallest trio of villains in show business. Adding comedy relief to this dastardly team is Joe Cooper as clueless Vlort, dressed all in green with a shiny chrome hubcap for a belt buckle.
The aftershow olio, lest we forget, has Cooper having fun as Chuck Barris running “The Gong Show,” working down a long list of one-liners. Typical is: “If swimming is supposed to be good for your figure, why are whales so fat?”
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