{"id":246693,"date":"2013-11-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/diversionary-village-raises-she-rantulas-right\/"},"modified":"2013-11-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T08:00:00","slug":"diversionary-village-raises-she-rantulas-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/diversionary-village-raises-she-rantulas-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversionary Village raises \u2018She-Rantulas\u2019 right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Charlene Baldridge | Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/p>\n

Fred, the landlord, one of the first victims and an entomologist in \u201cShe-Rantulas From Outer Space \u2013 in 3D,\u201d should have seen it coming when precious, precocious little Suzie asks for her own \u201cT\u201d hat. The big red \u201cT\u201d stands for Tarrytown Tarantulas, but it is the hairy legs coming off the side that so fascinate the 7-year-old girl. Everyone should have known something was amiss when all the men in Tarrytown began to disappear. It\u2019s all part of a plan to rid Earth of humans so the Arachnids\u2014who are pretty indistinguishable from humans until they mature\u2014can take over.<\/p>\n

\"Gilb's<\/a>
Gilb’s got Houck’s number. Betty (Phil Johnson) looks on (Photo by Daren Scott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based on 1950s end-of-the-world, space-invaders, space-abduction, fear-of-the-\u201cother\u201d films, the world-premiere play is co-written by Phil Johnson (Betty, Suzie\u2019s blinkered mother) and Ruff Yeager (director). It is set in an apartment on Main Street in 1957 in a town awash with \u201cpost-war tranquility.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Diversionary\u2019s gender-switching company are some of the city\u2019s best farceurs: Andy Collins (Harry the randy handyman and Harriet the vamp), Melinda Gilb (Flora the Avon Lady and others), Fred Harlow (Fred and Freida) and Tony Houck (Suzie). Collins has perfected his leer, both female and male. He is dead-on when it comes to sexual repression. Johnson develops his most subtle and beset role so far. Like other women of her era, Betty\u2019s modus operandi is \u201cif we don\u2019t see it, it isn\u2019t there.\u201d Betty\u2019s mad scene, absolutely operatic, nearly destroying Chad Yeager\u2019s period set, warrants a return trip.<\/p>\n

Houck is masterful in tempo and pitch, especially as Suzie comes into her hairy maturity (maturity takes only eight years and her birthday party is a humdinger). Unsurprisingly, both Gilb and Harlow\u2014masters at physical comedy\u2014also inhabit the humanity of their characters, which makes the satire deeply funny.<\/p>\n

\"Betty<\/a>
Betty the typical ’57 housewife (Photo by Daren Scott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Humanity, dedication and sincerity are the soul of farce, especially when the farce is melodramatic. Timing is all-important as well. The entire company gets that and it can only get better as the run matures (this review is based on the opening night performance of Nov. 2). All are supported by Jennifer Brawn-Gittings\u2019 fabulous costumes, replete with crinolines and pointy-toe shoes, each funnier than the last; Peter Herman\u2019s period wigs and hair ornaments; Alberto Alvarado\u2019s makeup design; and Kevin Anthenill\u2019s original music and sound. Walter Murray is fight director; David Medina, the prop designer and set dresser; and Luke Olson, the lighting designer.<\/p>\n

As they say, it takes a village to raise a child. This one takes the cake in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays \u2013 Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, and 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov.\u00a0 11 (special industry night performance) through Nov.17<\/p>\n

Where: Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd. (University Heights)<\/p>\n

Info 619-220-0097<\/p>\n

Web: diversionary.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic Fred, the landlord, one of the first victims and an entomologist in \u201cShe-Rantulas From Outer Space \u2013 in 3D,\u201d should have seen it coming when precious, precocious little Suzie asks for her own \u201cT\u201d hat.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":246694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Diversionary Village raises \u2018She-Rantulas\u2019 right","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}