March 3, 2005

REVIEWS YOU REQUESTED: THE BIG EVER AFTER

by Miriam Jacobson

Playwright Amy Heidish’s unholy marriage of pulp fiction and Grimm’s fairy tales results in a hilarious clash of languages and archetypes. Heidish first sullies Cinderella, Bluebeard and Little Red Riding Hood by introducing hookers inspired by The Bad Girls of Pulp Fiction, then she fleshes out the detective stories from her own fertile imagination. An earthquake causes a fissure between the lands of happily ever after and never happily after, whereupon Cinderella (Jamie Virostko), Anne Bluebeard (Annmarie Hehir) and Red Riding Hood (Anna Quirino Miranda) tumble into "The City That Never Slept." They hook up with, respectively, loser Detective Galliant (Tom Groenwald), coke fiend Mickey (Frederic T. Rooney) and child molester Mr. Holden (Carlos Larkin) and, by the end of Act 1, teach these reprobates a lesson or two about life.

In Part 2, the shenanigans unfold in Fairy Tale Land, where gangster molls Bouncing Betty (Amy Tofte) and Judy (Hehir) get a shot at a respectable life with Prince Charming (David Stevens) and Bluebeard (Rooney), while juvenile delinquent Dina (Miranda) leads the Wolf (Larkin) on a wild goose chase. Truckloads of snappy one-liners delivered by a comically gifted cast, under the sure hand of director Richard Tatum, compensate for minimal lighting and a low-budget set, although Ryan Jessica Lennon’s colorful costumes perfectly fit the motley crew of characters. Ark Theater Company, in association with Playwrights 6, at Ark Theater, 1647 S. La Cienega Blvd.; Fri., March 4, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 6-27, 2 p.m.; Thurs., March 17 & 24, 8 p.m. (323) 969-1707 or www.arktheatre.org.

back