A Dysfunctional Family Trailer Park Musical - LA Weekly - Sandra Ross

This affectionate, good-natured spoof of white-trash culture is loads of silly fun. Seen in previous Dysfunctional Family comedies at this venue, the characters revel in their socioeconomic limitations: The matriarchal clan favors big hair, big shoes and big boobs. But these gals are big-hearted, so familial tensions dissipate when they pull together to save their favorite soap opera — and survive a twister. Penned by Cynthia Galles with Virginia DeMoss, this musical (with score by Drayfus Grayson) continues the further adventures of the Bleeker clan. Before the performance, the actors chat up the audience, offering cheap wine, convenience-store cuisine and Maybelline makeovers. Galles, who also directs, plays Aunt Jolene, the mediator of squabbles among her brood of former strippers, cosmetologists, hippies and wannabe artists. The plot defies description. Much of what transpires is interactive: The high point of the evening was watching an enthusiastic audience craft (and wear) alien masks out of tinfoil. Mike Brown's videos provide an additional wacky dimension for the proceedings, and the kitschy, uncredited set design is a wonder to behold. If there's one criticism, it's that too much is going on simultaneously, with various characters competing for our attention. Found Theater, 251 E. Seventh St., Long Beach; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; thru Nov. 2. (562) 433-3363.  (Sandra Ross)

                           A Dysfunctional Family Xmas Carnival - LA Weekly - Jim Crogan

              This cast-written production really has very little to do with Christmas, and that's part of the
              joke. Ma Bleeker, the matriarch of a white-trash clan, has gone to Washington, D.C., to
              organize the Million Mad Moms Against Contractors. So the family heads off in their
              movable truck set, which doubles as a stage, to have Xmas dinner with their Vermont
              relatives. Along the way they meet Loretta "Lordy" Lovejoy (Lauren Nave), a wandering
              Christian minister. (Nave demonstrates her prodigious singing talents by belting out
              deliberately offensive and very wacky homophobic tunes.) Midway, the itinerant group runs
              out of money and throws a goofy carnival highlighted by the Sugar Plum Fairy Dance,
              choreographed by addled makeover queen Dori Bleeker (Laura Bosworth). Director
              Cynthia Galles (who doubles as zinger-wielding Aunt Jolene) has difficulty with some soggy
              transitions and carnival bits that don't quite work. But in a show like this, such quibbles
              don't matter too much. Found Theater, 251 E. Seventh St., Long Beach;
              Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; Dec. 21-22 and Jan. 11-26. (562) 433-3363. (Jim Crogan)

It’s sibling rivalry gone postal.  It’s The Bad Seed making it to adulthood. It’s Evil Twin, the Found Theatre’s thoughtful and thought-provoking laundry list of the various and sundry ways someone who’s out to get you can mess up your life and mess it up royally.  Imagine identical twins—the first sporting a purity and goodness not unlike that of Mother Teresa, the other a psychopath possessing the street smarts of Arthur Fonzarelli.  It’s a bad mix and you wouldn’t want it to happen to you.

Diabolical Delilah, brilliantly portrayed by Kay Richey, starts at a tender age to make a living hell for her twin sister Adelle (Virginia DeMoss).  As the painful process continues right on into adulthood, what was once the stealing of homework or Halloween candy runs into honest-to-goodness identity theft.  We’re talking credit cards, social security number and that’s not all—not by a longshot.  Putting it mildly, Delilah could really foul up your credit rating, not to mention your life. Cynthia Galles and Lewis Leighton play the twins’ inept parents, while some of the most challenging minor roles are acted by the fabulous John Sturgeon.  Writers Galles, Maureen Swatfield, Sturgeon and DeMoss have obviously devoted the time and effort necessary to make Evil Twin something more than merely a farce lampooning yet another example of everyone’s worst nightmare.

On the contrary, the Foundlings have conceived a strong plot, added a suspense theatre score along with well executed visual trickery, and showed uncharacteristic restraint while methodically building to a clever and largely unpredictable twist ending.  Oh, we’re endowed with the customary Found Theatre gags, just fewer than usual, and more strategically placed.  Along the way, we’re treated to Adelle’s bad dream—an ingenious sequence of carnival scenes in which Delilah literally pulls all the strings.  A vivid Beauty and the Beast number highlights a segment in which Adelle escapes to the theatre one evening.
In truth, you won’t believe the number of ways the Foundlings have invented Delilah to wreck Adelle’s life.

Surprisingly, and perhaps unintended by the Foundlings, the action can easily be taken seriously.  In fact I found myself alternating between caring very much about what happens and snapping out of it when the knowledge that this is The Found would periodically hurl me back down to Earth.  Evil Twin has it all – comedy, suspense, angst, even characters you root for and against.  Top all this off with superb acting and you’ve got one of the best productions I’ve seen at The Found.

"It's A Very Merry XMAS Carol At The Bleeker Home"
Reviewed by Neena Strichart, The Signal, December 28, 2000

I've seen many plays in my lifetime, yet none as funny as the Found Theatre's "A Dysfunctional Family Xmas Carol".  And although there must be a script, audience members are sure to assume that the entire production is ad-libbed.  The appearance of unyielding spontaneousness (is that a word?) is ever present.

As the audience is seated, cast members serve punch and chat with us as if we are part of "the family."  As the play unfolds we learn that it's "Xmas" eve at the Bleeker household, and, as usual, catastrophe runs rampant.  Hanlon (the never seen Patriarch of the family, is stuck at the office with an IRS audit.  Brenda is entertaining the in-laws in the basement, because their fly-by-night contractor ripped the roof off a month ago and hasn't been back since.  One of the twin daughters and her lesbian girlfriend are going to have a baby.  Aunt Fanella is rehearsing her comeback as a stripper.  Christian music star Loretta "Lordy" Lovejoy arrives, disoriented after a car accident, and seems to be staying indefinitely.  Dori is working on her "Night Before Xmas Rap" for the school talent show.  To top it all off, rich, conservative Aunt Desiree is coming to dinner, and may be changing her mind about loaning them the rest of the money for the renovation...especially after she gets a load of all the kooky goings-on.

To add insult to injury, the Ford Explorer is sitting in the driveway on cinder blocks, still waiting for its replacement Firestones, and Brenda hasn't been able to do the grocery shopping.  So she turns to the internet grocery shopping for help.  Once the frozen turkey arrives, poor Brenda tries to defrost it by using a steam iron, hair dryer, and a curling iron.  Definitely a very funny scene.

During the production, baskets of "Chex Mix," and trays of Ritz Crackers with squirt-on cheese are passed around to treat the audience.  Santa also favored us with small wrapped gifts thrown to the crowd.  (I got a a little holiday ornament.)  Although I thoroughly enjoyed the play, some folks may not appreciate the off-color humor. It is definitely an adults-only production.

So if you've ever come face-to-face with the Christmas bummer blues, this is the show to laugh you out of your fear of family in the season of jolly folly.  Forget your troubles and enjoy somebody else's instead!  The production continues January 5th through the 27th, with performances Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:30 p.m.

"Invitation to Found's 'Dysfunctional Family XMAS Carol' Worth RSVP"
Reviewed by Robert S. Telford, Gazette Theater Critic, Grunion Gazette

Well, another week at the Found!  What did I see?  What can I say?  The technical term might be “environmental theatre,” but a more accurate description would be “inspired mayhem.”   The Found keeps “finding” itself in various outlandish situations -- such as the restaurant that hired actors to serve dinner and do a musical on the Donner Pass debacle, the one that caused a flurry of letters to the editor and a run at the box office. The current one is called “A Dysfunctional Family Xmas Carol” and is a return engagement from 1996.

It can't really be called a “play” -- it’s more like a “happening.”  The only thing that retains any element of theatre is the row of seats on one side of the room.  Everyone is treated as a friend of the family who dropped in for Christmas dinner, served wine, soft drinks, crackers and cheese-whiz, candy suckers -- you name it.  The problem, you are informed, is that the contractor has torn the roof off the Bleeker house and then absconded with the money.  Mamma Bleeker (Virginia DeMoss) has moved the annual Christmas reunion into the basement and, with the help of Aunt Jolene (Cynthia Galles), attacks the frozen turkey with a clothes iron and a hair dryer, determined to serve dinner come Hell or High Water.  Both, of course, are close at hand.

What brings the party to life -- and the Found Theatre experience, unquestionably --  is the variety of guests who,
presumably like yourself, are attending the family festivities.  Each has a little something to offer, such as Nanci Andersen's “Interpretive Dance” a la Ramona Rappello, Sheri Cotner (Dori Bleeker) doing a Christmas Rap, Lewis Leighton’s return to the ‘60s as Dean Diamond, Barbara Duncan’s abortive fan dance, and Lauren Nave reprising Loretta “Lordy” Lovejoy, Christian Music Great.

If you can handle the mayhem and keep focusing and refocusing on one sideshow after another, you can't help but be amazed at the outrageous inventiveness of Galles and DeMoss.  It’s true that one can sit throughout the entire two-hours-plus and not crack a smile (I actually saw one “guest” do that), but if you've got one funny bone in your body, you won't be able to survive 30 seconds without some modicum of surprise, disbelief, amazement, awe, snickering, giggling or a couple of good old knee slaps.

Half the fun of the Found is that they dare to get away with the stuff they pull and the other half is that they do it so well.  It may be corn, but it’s salty, buttered and well popped.  And speaking of edibles, consider the acquisition of the “Bleeker Family Cookbook” for a sure fire way to recreate the distinctive Bleeker cuisine. “A Dysfunctional Family Xmas Carol” ran through Dec. 16 but returns Jan. 5 to 27, Fridays and Saturdays only.  Call
433-3363.

"Donner Party, The Musical! -- LB"
Reviewed by Zach Udk, BACKSTAGE.COM

Don't worry. This isn't what you think. Producers have not oversold percentages of the profit only to close after opening night. This is no Springtime for Hitler. Sorry. What  writer and director Cynthia Galles has concocted is the ultimate drama spoof set at Hell's Kitchen Dinner Theatre, also known as "Brea's Finest Fun & Food Hot Spot." And what other tale could be more appropriate to steal the limelight at horrible dinner theatre than that charming piece of American history, the Donner Party     Crossing?  There's nothing quite like a singing cannibal to whet the appetite.

Audience members choose between spring water, fire water (white wine), or sodie (Diet Coke) for a pre-show beverage. The cast of the musical doubles as servers in several hilarious behind-the-scenes peeks at atrocious theatre management. Someone has seen Waiting for Guffman a few too many times here, but you can't argue with the winning, if not always completely original, results. On-stage, the cast belts out Drayfus Grayson's unforgiveably bad (bad is great, mind you) score with such hit jingles as "Ho to California," "Snow," "Bread," and the showstopper of the night, that jazzy and funky cannibalistic number "You're Looking Good to Me Now."

Just as the Donner Party begins to eat one another, dessert is served. Body parts get distributed to the audience in lieu of cookies. Oops! Galles stands off to the side for much of the show to play the drop-dead funny cook, who seasons the Styrofoam steak and chicken that's thrown at the audience in between scenes. The other two scene stealers are the dynamic Damon Kupper as James Reed and Barbara Duncan as the sentimental Margaret Reed. Duncan's character has the tendency to lip-sync the musical's voice-over lines, and offer personal commentary between scenes: "That part always makes me want to cry." The rest of the cast is equally horrible, or wonderful, rather.

Technically, the show is so awful that it's brilliant. A scrim drops for some scenes to be played out in silhouette, until the set falls on the actors. Travis Swanson is credited as "flipping all the switches," and he does a mighty fine job at lending the production a true sense of dinner theatre authenticity. With a change in venue and a move to the West Side, Donner Party could become this year's Reefer Madness. And if that crossing can't be made, audiences will have to flock out to the Marie Callendar's in Long Beach for what this critic hopes will be Galles' next effort: Heaven's Gate, the Musical!

© 2000 Back Stage and BPI Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

“Inspired Lunacy:" Found Fans Devour 'Donner Party' Show"
Reviewed by Robert S. Tefford, Gazette Theater Critic,  Grunion Gazette, August 10, 2000

If the rest of Long Beach gets wind of “Donner Party:  The Musical,” the Found Theatre is going to have to extend the run ‘til Christmas.  I’d suggest they move it to the Terrace Theater, but a good three-quarters of the show is what you see of back- stage preparation.  “Pandemonium” would be a better word.  The Found Theatre has always been known for its lunacy, but “Donner Party” borders on inspired lunacy.  The story is a simple one. The “Hell's Kitchen Dinner Theatre” has hired a group of actors (non-Equity, obviously!) to perform the harrowing tale of the Donner Party debacle back when the wagon load was swamped with snow in what's now known as “Donner Pass” and resorted to a slight touch of cannibalism.  All this, of course, is dramatized with choreography and musical accompaniment.  The music by Drayfus Grayson is clever, and his pillage of Rodgers and Hammerstein deserves either a Grammy or a lawsuit.

The book, direction and, we assume, the choreography — with accompanying pantomime and pandemonium – are the masterwork of theater dominatrix (and I mean that in the most complimentary of terms!) Cynthia Galles.  Every inch of the production is rib-tickling. And speaking of “ribs,” a favorite moment is when the actors mistakenly serve the props to the audience.  If you recall the Donner cuisine, you can imagine what the items were. You see, the Dinner Theatre manager has hired the performers to first serve the dinner (to the audience) and then do the “Donner” extravaganza.  As the chef explains to the irate (insanely) manager, they are frozen dinners, and he has a frightfully small microwave.

But the show must go on—on schedule! So the cast has to interrupt the performance incessantly to run into the audience with salads, then mashed potatoes and chicken legs, rib steak and – body parts!  (Don't worry, they're styrofoam.).  It’s enough to give shtick a good name. To list the shenanigans would tax the memory, but one can't forget the irate actress who wouldn't stop flapping the thunder sheet; the styrofoam snow flakes that had to be swept up and flung (no other word for it) at the Donnerites; the first fatality resulting in perhaps the longest death scene on record and the “Ode to Bread.”

Galles’ inspired lyrics include the following:  "Gee, you look good to me;"  "Give me your heart;"  "Give me some choice and tender parts;" "You're looking good to me."   You can't resist sentiment like that, even if it’s rooted in gastronomics.

The Found Theatre is located at 251 E. Seventh St., with street parking.   Call early because it’s a tiny theater and even opening night was sold out.  433-3363.  Cast, prepare for a long run!  I had a ball!  Can you guess?