BWW Reviews: I LOVE LUCY Live On Stage Embraces Audience

Probably I don't need to reiterate how much I love the interior of the Hippodrome Theatre. Probably you'll recall that there's reasonably priced nearby parking. Probably you'd guess that the theatre is not only beautiful but wheelchair accessible- and you'd be right.

If you guess that I LOVE LUCY is performed as a standard period musical, however, you'll be wrong. The script deviates structurally from normal playwriting format immediately, before curtain, before the house lights dim, before we even reach our seats: we encounter a character from the show wandering the house in search of her mark, or a ladies' room.

Speaking of which, you should visit the ladies' (or gents') room before settling in, as I LOVE LUCY is performed without an intermission, and there are few easy exit or re-entry moments in the show. Also, it's lively enough that it's difficult to leave and risk missing some comedic gem.

The show opens and immediately smashes the fourth wall in the form of character Maury Jasper, our Desilu Playhouse Host, played most engagingly by Mark Christopher Tracy. We are welcomed to Hollywood, California and Desilu Studios, asked where we're from and instructed how to behave during tonight's filming event.

Cobbling together original material from the I Love Lucy television show, quiz show traditions, early TV tropes and actual advertising jingles, this production of Lucy Live feels less like a presentational show and more like an interactive experience. The audience involvement is intermittent, undemanding, and a refreshing change from the usual passivity of theatregoing.

There are abundant historical references which likely will baffle audience members under the age of forty. I was, however, reminded that I Love Lucy aired on Nick at Night to a fresh generation and is currently playing on the Hallmark channel, so there's every chance that an anthropologically-minded young person would enjoy the show, though I suspect the "live" commercials (of which there are many) would still be novel and surreal.

All technical aspects of this production are very well done, from the color pallette to the costume appropriateness, to the exquisitely accurate accessories- of special note, the shoes and the wigs- props to Shon LeBlanc and Diane Martinous, costume design and hair/wig design, respectively. Sound and light cues are on target, entrances and exits are seamless, and one divided and curtained set frames the performers in each vignette without being distracting, cumbersome or sparse.

The company of performers is likeable and highly skilled. Lucille Ball's iconic, clownish facial expressions and vocalizations are expected, and Thea Brooks in the show's title role enthusiastically mimics each of them. Kevin Remington as Fred Mertz would be spot-on were he not in fact somewhat more likeable than the television Fred. Lori Hammel as Ethel Mertz has better posture than Vivian Vance but captures Ethel's vocal timing very well. In what could have been a thankless straight-man role, Euriamis Losada shines as the linguistically challenged Ricky Ricardo. He is lovely, charming and clearly enjoying himself. He does get a bongo number with the band, and, while a better vocalist than drummer, is great fun to watch.

The ensemble members, who play cameramen, Crystaltone singers, band musicians, singing and dancing characters from commercials, and various production assistants, are strong and committed. Particularly commendable are Denise Moses as Mrs. Birdie Mae Figg (and other characters- for extra entertainment, play Spot The Denise! It's fun!) and Sarah Elizabeth Combs, whose operatic soprano lifts the Pleasant Peasant sequence from the banality it otherwise might deserve, and, as a Showroom Girl singing the Chevrolet song, is enchanting in an elegantly crafted pink satin gown.

One thing did perturb me from complete nostalgic immersion: the conspicuous absence of cigarettes. Philip Morris was the first and critical sponsor of the I Love Lucy show, and all the main characters smoked at one point or another on camera. In 1952, about half of all Americans smoked cigarettes, and an ashtray was as standard a household article as a telephone, including in the Ricardo "home". None of that is in evidence in the stage production. This is an understandable alteration, given our contemporary smoke-adverse culture, but in a show that is otherwise attempting an accurate slice of mid-century Hollywood, this omission seems disingenuous.

Overall, this show is charming, jaunty, esoteric and warm. You might well say it had me from Halo.

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See I Love Lucy Live Onstage at the Hippodrome Theater, 12 North Eutaw Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201; 410-837-7400, now through October 26, 2014, Tuesdays- Fridays at 8:00 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM, Sundays at 1 PM and 6:30 PM

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