By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
The action is fully packed and the songs are plentiful in this season’s reimagining of “Arizona Smith and the Relic of Doom” at venerable (35 years old now) Gaslight Theatre, which never met a pun it didn’t like.
Mike Yarema shines as the happy archeologist in the dusty fedora, Arizona Smith, a guy for whom every day is a new adventure. Veteran Gaslight watchers will spot this production as a livelier trip than most, with 13 song parodies packed in among the pre-Columbian relics that have the power to conquer the world.
Which is exactly what a villainous combo of Nazis and sympathizers want to do – find and use the mysterious Relic of Doom and bend its powers toward evil deeds.
On this stage it always takes a heap of singing and dancing to set things right.
Cairo in the 1930s would seem to be the time and place, in a marketplace teaming with opportunists speaking in French, German, British and Arizona accents – well, not Arizona Smith, he is our hero. He would never be an opportunist.
A couple of songs pass by before we notice this scene is also ringed in white skulls with glowing red eyes. Hmmmmmmm.
There is also a secret treasure map, looking rather tattered, and a couple of rogue assassins for hire who slink about in robes, hiding behind massive beards.
It isn’t long before we are rolling around in the Pyramid of Rah, searching for the Book of Rah, and prompting several of these searchers to raise the musical question “Who Wrote the Book of Rah” – which did sound rather like that old pop favorite “Who Wrote the Book of Love?”
When the Book of Rah reveals they need to find the Skull of Doom, the race is on. Scenes move quickly from a desert pyramid to a jungle hut to a rickety bridge suspended on ropes across a high mountain chasm.
So do they sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough?” Does the Sphinx have a nose?
But really, lets pause right here to give Todd Thompson and his full-bodied backup singers a sincere compliment on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” That one was mighty fine.
The pace quickens as we race for the happy ending guaranteed at every Gaslight show. Just in time for loads of 1970s fashion laughs in the aftershow Olio recalling that iconic TV sit-com “The Brady Bunch.”
Orange bellbottoms were a popular statement on the times. Purple pants and wide lapels added their own sign of a sartorial overdose. This crescendo of colors swept us up to the combo worn by the character of Davey Jones, making a guest appearance wearing a pink shirt with green striped trousers.
Don’t try to visualize it, you just have to be there.
“Arizona Smith and the Relic of Doom” continues through June 2 at various times, Tuesdays through Sundays, at the Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway. Tickets are $18.50 adults, $16.50 seniors, students and military, $8.50 children 12 and under. For details and reservations, 886-9428, www.thegaslighttheatre.com
No comments:
Post a Comment