Baby Jane Crashes Sunset Boulevard

The BLVD written by Joseph Castel & Danny De La Paz directed by De La Paz Macha Theatre, WeHo through April 18

The hit films Sunset Boulevard and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? have so much in common. They are both set in humongous decaying Hollywood mansions inhabited by faded movie stars. Mad About the Boy Productions has very entertainingly connected the two scripts for an onstage parody @ the Macha Theatre - and has succeeded quite well in satisfying our appetite for bizarre camp.

Set on Sunset Boulevard in present time with Joe Gillis now Joe Kirkwood, an actor, hustler and part-time nude dial a maid (hunky Quentin Elias) and faded movie queen Norma Desmond now transgender B-movie star Norman Desmond (Lana Luster), the plot remains similar to the original, with a few changes. There is a gay-themed love triangle in this version, replacing the Norma-Joe-Betty Schaefer triangle, with Nick (Miguel Angel Caballero) becoming the object of Joe's desires. Nick is producer of a film entitled Simply Divine, a biography of male actress Divine, which gives special attention to the grossly cult Pink Flamingos - this replacing Norma's Mary Magdelene opus in the original film. Max, Norma's ever loyal servant and the first husband, is still on hand (Joe Garcia) with quite a few versatile surprises in Act II. In fact, the whole of Act II entering the world of Baby Jane, in which both Norman and Max magically connect with Blanche and Jane...well, I don't want to spoil the fun. You must go and see for yourselves what they do do! I guarantee it's titillating.

The entire cast is terrific. Miss Lana Luster is a combination Charles Pierce/Charles Busch as Norman, managing to captivate with a totally feminine mystique and forcing us to practically pee our pants with laughter. Joe Garcia as Max is an actor's treasure. He is dutiful, sly and in Act II hilariously unsexy. Singer/model Quentin Elias is so beautiful to ogle and listen to with his muscular body and sexy French accent. This boy's a diamond in the rough as an actor. With a bit of training, he could make it big. Miguel Caballero is appealing and sincere as Nick and Brad Milne and Dany De La Paz himself ably play a variety of roles, including John Waters and Harvey Fierstein, which is a noticeably amusing turn for De La Paz.

De La Paz has skillfully directed, allowing the actors to be creative and have fun with the work - which is as it should be. This is campy humor, and if Elias and Garcia break character cracking up a la Harvey Korman and Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show, this adds a great deal to audience enjoyment of the piece. My only suggestion is to do even more; the campier, the better! Costumes and set design are credited to Castel and the actors, and it all looks simplistic and faded like a third or fourth copy of the original, even in some cases perfectly lacking in taste. This is parody after all. What detail - I loved the leopard tissue boxes!

This take-off is a double treat, well on its way to very possibly becoming the next cult stage hit.

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