L TO R: RONALD FEICHTMEIR, DEB ANDERSON AND RUTH E. STEININ BUS BARN STAGE COMPANY’S PRODUCTION OF GOGOL’S “THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR.”
PHOTO: JOYCE GOLDSCHMID
Patereau) renders a heartfelt poem “I Am the Land.” John Brewer is a larger than life performer and so is his “Miss Bible Belt” as she dominates the stage with her song “Bankin’ on Jesus.” Matt Haluza delivers a coy, raven-haired “Miss Industrial Northeast” with a Castilian lisp as she dances to the “Classical Fantasia in D Major.” Charming crowd pleaser Chris Bezanson as “Miss Texas” dances up a storm in “Texas Tap.” And Lawrence- Michael C. Arias is simply adorable as the glazed, unfocussed New Age beauty “Miss West Coast” who dances the rein- carnation performance piece “Seven Ages of Me.” Clearly a force to be reckoned with,
Director Whitney Pintello got her “dream cast” and keeps the pace brisk and funny while Mike Perry onstage with his synthesizer makes the music flow. Pageant runs through May 12 at the
Grange Hall on Swanston Lane in Gilroy.
Bus Barn Stage Company THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
D
irector Barbara Cannon and an intrepid cast of energetic per-
formers swing for the fences in Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s satirical comedy The Government Inspector. That it is not a home run does not detract from a noble effort and a single or a double often wins the game. The farce shreds the corruption of
A
19th Century Tsarist Russia. In a town deep in the vastness of the motherland far from the glitter of Saint Petersburg, a Mayor (Michael Sally) learns that a government inspector sent incognito from the capitol to sniff out political mis- deeds is making the rounds in his district and could show up at any time. The overbearing, bribe taking, business goug- ing scoundrel and his equally criminal cronies panic when they learn that a well dressed stranger – really a foppish
young, out-of-cash wastrel – and his valet have been staying at the town’s inn. Leaping to the mistaken conclusion that this person is the feared inspector, they fall over themselves to cover up their dis- honesty and curry favor by cringing, groveling and plying the pretentious phony with cash “loans.” In a directorial concept that borrows
heavily from the Marx Brothers leav- ened with a strong dose of The Three Stooges, the performances are over-the- top manic relying on exaggerated ges- tures and movements with characters adopting mannerisms that include lisping on odd phonemes, buck-toothed sibi- lance, and, in the case of the phony inspector Hlestakov (Kevin Hsieh), an absurd sashaying, flirtatious demeanor that calls to mind Bugs Bunny in drag. But is all this funny? Yes. I laughed a lot. The characters are funny and the sit- uations slapstick hilarious. The actors work hard giving everything they’ve got and as they settle into the run, they may find that they can do more with less.
OK as is OK with cha
~ continued on page 24 Out & About • May 2012 25
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