U.S. Drag
Ever wonder what became of Laverne & Shirley, those two blue-collar working girls from Milwaukee? According to the Furious Theatre Company’s season opener, “U.S. Drag,” their daughters grew up, got Ivy League educations and became the “I’m better than this dead-end job” generation.
This hilarious comedy by Gina Gionfriddo features Angela (Megan Goodchild) and Allison (Katie Davies) as college roommates transplanted to New York City (and smartly dressed by designer Christy Hauptman). Despite the many men in their lives, they complain of the appalling lack of eligible (read wealthy) men. Their lackadaisical attitudes and quest for the next Really Good Time mask an inability to make human connections.
“U.S. Drag” gets its name from writer William Burroughs when he describes the utter uselessness of struggling to get ahead. This premise lies at the heart of the play’s urban paranoia in the guise of the search for Ed, a mysterious hit-and-run attacker. The girls’ efforts to escape only hilariously push them deeper into the morass of urban society. Sounds like fun? In Giofriddo’s clever hands, the play juxtaposes wisecracking dialogue delivered with dead-pan delivery for some absurdly funny results.
Newcomer Darin Anthony’s zippy direction adds to the merriment as he gracefully threads multiple, cinematic scenes through Dan Jenkins’ comic-book, New York City set. He elicits marvelously crazy performances from Furious stalwarts Shawn Lee, Eric Pargac and Nick Cernoch as the men in the girls’ lives. Saffron Henke as Christen and others, Johanna McKay as Mary Stone and Noah Harpster as Evan are appropriately cockeyed as Ed-victims who have banded together for the common purpose of “not helping” Ed. But the play belongs to Angela and Allison, as the most incongruous duo since, well, L & S.
The highlight of the production comes with a smartly choreographed dance by Jessica Hanna to Doug Newell’s music and sound design. That energetic tableau should have been the cliff-hangar leading to a well-deserved intermission. Alas. The performance’s one failing is the lack of a break. At one hour and 45 minutes, it’s a bit of a slog through the second half of the play without one.
"U.S. Drag" continues through November 22, 2008 at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre in the Pasadena Playhouse Complex, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena 91101. Tickets, $30.00, online at www.furioustheatre.org or phone (800) 595-4849.