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| L - R Rob Elk, Joe Keyes Photo: Roger Nygard |
By Joe Straw
Bob (Rob Elk), owner of Bob Finhead’s E-Z Insurance Agency of
Neuterburg, Iowa, invited me to his holiday party and I really had my heart set
on going. His Christmas holiday wingding is the social event for this tiny town,
population 376, or so, and he’s been doing this since 1996.
One really couldn’t count on an abundance of food at his parties. There was plenty of cheese and cheese whiz
and some lugubrious drollery once the beer and scotch had taken its effect
I was offered a comfortable decorated red chair and was
there to just look around and observe nature. And boy, did I see things,
natural and unnatural, but I’ll get to that later.
Bob’s Holiday Office Party written by Joe Keyes and Rob Elk, directed
by Justin Tanner, and produced by Rob Elk, Joe Keyes, Julian McMahon and
Charlie Loventhal is now playing at the Pico Playhouse through December 26,
2013. Bob’s Holiday Office Party is a wonderful gossipy type of play, which one
goes to see “outrageous” in its finest form and then report back all the
craziness you’ve seen.
The Christmas accouterments in Bob’s office made the place
seem like home, like the set you’d see in “It’s A Wonderful Life”, garlands and
fake hollow candy canes all over the place, an old fashion Christmas tree, with
old fashion lights, and an old Mr. Magoo Santa hanging on the wall. Oh, what
the halls, everything looked old! But it was clean, so clean you could eat off
the floor, which I’ll be getting to later as well.
The phone always rings in an empty room and that’s how
things get started this night. Bob comes in, with a case of beer in his hands,
and hastily picks up the archaic phone. This time, on this night, he answers the
call of a woman who has suffered a personal injury. The woman, on the other end, fell into a
ditch, some thirty odd feet, and she needed to have her insurance payment back
dated so she could collect a tidy sum. A
tub of apple butter jelly would serve as tender on this holy night. And she
wouldn’t be coming to the party tonight because both her ankles hurt.
Okay, Mom. – Bob
Police Chief Joe Walker (Joe Keyes) is an officer who knows
the pulse of his community of this one-van town. He lacks a police uniform tonight – the
victim of someone enjoying the festivities, too much, on this holiday puke
fest. Still he is there for a reason.
“I come here to party with the Lord, which I do.” – Joe Walker
Strange thing about Joe, bringing up bad blood between Bob
and him, knowing where the bones are buried, past relationships, and an affair
that has everyone talking. All this
thinking out loud has created a disturbance in Joe’s bowels and he moves toward
the bathroom, but the door is broken, no matter, he places the door to one side,
drops his pants and carries on a very natural, yet straining, conversation. Taking
the toilet paper tube, he wraps the paper around his other fingers, tears, and
wipes, walks away from the toilet without looking for the handle to flush.
No matter, Bob, claps his hands twice, and the excrement
finds it way to its final destination. He’s invented the “Clapper Crapper” and
that’s something Bob has been known for all his life, an inventor of sorts, albeit
odd things – the things nobody thought of wanting - still if he had his druthers,
he would invent fulltime and move to Des Moines.
Not much for decorating, Joe tires of placing silver icicles
on the tree and starts throwing clumps on the branches and before he departs
for a short while.
Shortly thereafter, Roy Mincer (David Bauman), the mayor of
the town enters in white hat, white scarf, white sweater, white pants, and
white boots, not paying much attention to his Labor Day faux pas, and looking
elegantly gay in the process. Tonight, he
is enjoying the company of his male houseguest.
And after a trip to the day spa he needs to get back and get ready for
their vacation together, leaving his wife at home.
A small time later, Elwin Beewee (Michael Halpin), a highly
successful businessman, nattily dressed, with an impressive toupee, comes in to
speak with Bob. Beewee is well-spoken
now, but the eerie shadow of a boyhood incident terrifies him. The time when he was duct tape naked in the
gym because of a bad stutter, something that he has not completely gotten
over. But now, his sagacious business
eyes are set on the building Bob occupies knowing that he can convince this
simpleton to sell his old and dilapidated property.
Next in are the Johnson twins, La Voris (Linda Miller) and
La Donna (Maile Flanagan), a pair of unlikely twins, fraternal, and are only
alike in their political leanings. At
first glance, one would think that La Voris is the “luckier in love” one. La
Voris is tall, and La Donna is small, each dressed in elf-like holiday costumes.
They’ve been hearing rumors about Bob and Margie and they want to get to the
bottom of it. If they could stop making
those annoying sounds for one minute. That aside, these girls are ready to
party!
Margie Mincer (Andrea Hutchman), the mayor’s wife, and Bob’s
current amour, arrives a short time later with her face colored the same shade
as raspberry jam, a victim of an overextended stay in one of the town’s tanning
salons. And while everyone knows what’s going on between the two – the
accusatory looks and the behind the back snickers will not die down.
Well, every Christmas needs a Jesus, and Marty (Cody
Chappel) fits the bill. When he takes
off the skullcap, he is downright the spittin’ image of the Lord’s son. But there’s something wrong with this
guy. He talks and acts like a
Californian and lives and drives around in his van that is covered in pie
plates, that’s supposed to be receiving alien messages, and he keeps running
that van into other people’s car.
Carol (Colleen Wainwright) is a woman that has escaped from
a mental institution who joins them once the party gets started for a much
needed musical interlude before the lyrics gets crazy and she flips out. Brandy (Colleen Wainwright) arrives later and
she is a woman who needs a man 24/7/365, and that’s when the party really starts
to rock.
One can’t help but feel right at home serving as a witness
and participant in this delightful comedy that is in its 18th
season. Certainly if you are seated in
the audience you feel you are part of the party.
Comedy comes in threes and I couldn’t help but think that
two more flushes at opportune times would have added to Justin Tanner’s directorial spectacle. Still, Tanner’s direction is exciting and enormously
enjoyable with characters that go to extreme to reach their objective.
Oh, objectives, that thing.
We know what Bob and Elwin Beewee want but not so sure about the other
characters and what they want from Bob. The characters misoneism, in this small
little town, is they want no change. We don’t see the accumulation of those
moments that give us a satisfactory result. These characters don’t come just to
get drunk and party, they have objectives, for the love of Santa. My guess is to keep Bob from leaving, or
demanding things stay the same, and that moment, or moments, must be recognized
so the ending is crystal clear.
Still, while things on stage may not have completely gelled
this night (because there are multiple casts and so few rehearsals) the actions
on stage have the audience howling. And
that is more than half the game in this really delightful comedy.
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| L - R Joe Keyes, Maile Flanagan, Linda Miller, Mark Fite - Photo: Roger Nygard |
Rob Elk plays Bob
Finhead and does some exciting work. Elk
gives us a man who is constantly being challenged by his friends, his
sexuality, his affair, all are open to fair game. And when he is caught he is taken aback for
only a moment and then moves on. But all
of these things happen for a reason. It
probably weights on his decision to leave or stay. Elk give us some wonderful moments in his
performance and there are delightful things going on internally as well.
Joe Keyes does a
grand job as Joe Walker. Walker leaves
his police job at the door, never giving his job a second thought even though
one character is parading around with a bag of marijuana. Joe Walker wants something but it is difficult
to determine. A little more work on the
relationships between a cop and the partygoers. Still some very fine work.
David Bauman does
a nice job as Mayor Roy. He seems rather
conflicted about his sexuality, his wife, and his insurance agent. He’s not on the road to a healthy
relationship with his wife. So why is he
there? Possibly to move on and give his
blessing is my guess. There is a reason why Mayor Roy shows up near the end but
not really sure how he got there and why he is dressed in that fashion. Still it is hilarious and Bauman does a
terrific job.
Michael Halpin is
exceptional as Elwin Beewee. Looking
back on his performance one sees him as Satan coming back to strip Bob of his
dignity, his business, his friends, and his white soul. One wonders why the
duct tape scene didn’t quite gel. Still, Halpin
is specific in his choices and does a great job changing from a successful
businessman to a blubbering, stuttering boy.
Linda Miller
plays La Voris Johnson with aplomb. La
Voris is the taller of the two twins. Miller defines the character with a big
smile and makes funny noises. And is she
a physical comedy diva. This is a very nice job.
Maile Flanagan is
La Donna Johnson and she plays along with her taller sister. She has a competition thing going on with
her. Who can drink the most? Who can
make the funniest noise? But misses out
on grabbing a man and dancing with him, which sends her into a tizzy with
extremely hilarious results before she collapses. Flanagan is amazing in her
choices and kept the audience laughing all night long.
Andrea Hutchman
is so plain as Margie Mincer, but plain in a terrific way. Margie, no saint, has a husband turning the
tide. So to get back, or have a normal
sexual relationship, she finds solace in the arms of another man, a real man. And
to look best for her new man she overdoes it.
But really, this is nothing to her, like her beet red face doesn’t
exist, like her husband doesn’t exist, or the front she puts up to let the
other know her marriage is falling apart, nothing bothers her, these thing just
do not exist in her eyes. But one thing
is missing. She has to keep her amour
from leaving and we really don’t see that or how she reacts when he has signed
the papers. Still, Hutchman is terrific
in the role.
Cody Chappel
plays Marty in a very good comedic turn but I’m not sure how he fits into this
comedy, why he’s there, or what is his objective. His character is silly. Everyone seems to not mind he is there. So why is he there? Chappel performance was chipper, but in the
grand scheme of things, where was he going? Where is he driving the van? All
that aside Chappel has a good look and should do well in this industry.
Colleen Wainwright
does a marvelous turn as Carol, a woman from an institution who happens to play
guitar and sing. But her vocal prowess
doesn’t ring a cord with her compatriots.
She is covered with a powder on her head (lice?). And I just wish someone would feed her
something. She is so thin. And then there’s Brandy, Wainwright fills the
role of an oversexed sexpot with an abundant amount sexual energy, it’s hard
for anyone to leave the office with her around.
Other members of this cast that will be performing during
the run are Melissa Denton, Johanna McKay, Liz Davies, and Mark Fite. Mark
Fite also created the character of Marty in this production.
There’s a reason why Bob’s Holiday Office Party by Joe Keyes and Rob Elk has been playing for many years. It’s because the writers have written an
alternative to the other holiday shows that are available out there. The
characters are extremely unique and slightly out of fashion. Not really people
you would want to be around for any extended period of time. Which makes this all so much fun.
The Original Set by Gary Guidinger looks pristine when you
first enter, and with partygoers doing their thing, dancing, eating, drinking
copious amount of alcoholic beverages, and writhing all over the floor. By the end of this show the set looks like a
war zone.
Other members of the crew are as follows:
Set Contruction – Sets to Go
Lighting Design – Steve Pope
Production Stage Manager – Jennifer Bendik
Assistant Stage Manager – Kriss Meier
Publicity – Philip Sokoloff
Assistant to the Producer and Hat Sewer – Kriss Meier
Graphics – Fred and David at Ultra Creative
Program Graphic Designer – Jeff Fontelera
Show and Pre-Show music courtesy of Eddie G.
Run! Run! Run! And take someone who has seen “It’s a
Wonderful Life” too many times.
ESTIMATED RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, no intermission.
CONSUMER ADVISORY: Suggested for audiences 16 to adult.
