Laughs are plentiful, cheap in 'The Play About the Naked Guy'

The Play About the Naked Guy

The Arizona Republic
Kerry Lengel
Publication Date: February 17, 2010

The friction between art and commerce ignites the comedy in "The Play About the Naked Guy," as the Integrity Players - a struggling theater company devoted to "lesser-known classics" such as "The Haypenny of Brixton Street" - jumps into bed with an impresario whose stage hits are borderline gay porn.

Playwright David Bell skewers both camps, the "art for art's sake" crowd and the shameless panderers, although his comedy falls more on the side of the panderers. Raunchy, politically incorrect and gleefully blasphemous, it's laugh-out-loud funny, but it traffics in cheap shots based on potentially offensive stereotypes.

Directing for Stray Cat Theatre, Damon Dering keeps the punch lines flying. Samuel E. Wilkes and Michael Thompson turn the swish dial to 11 as T. Scott and Edonis, two-man entourage to Eddie Russini, the dissolute director of shows with titles like "Naked Boys Running Around Naked."

In that role, Doug Loynd mixes a flamboyant theatricality with a hint of darker realism, the perfect illustration of George Carlin's observation that "Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist."

More cartoonish but just as entertaining is Johanna Carlisle as Mrs. Anderson, the mother of the Integrity Players' lead actress and the story's tart villainess. As the company's sole investor, she is none too happy with her daughter's husband, the artistic director.

"From a business standpoint, I'd sooner invest in modern dance," she snaps.

That line got a huge laugh - from a certain arts journalist in the audience, at least. This is just one of many examples of inside humor for theater types. If you don't know who Uta Hagen is, you're going to miss a couple of jokes.

But no matter, there are plenty of laughs left over. You don't need a master's degree to understand a wardrobe malfunction.

Reach the reporter at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/stage/articles/2010/02/17/20100217na...