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Stage

'Big Bang' finds its fuse

By MARTY CLEAR
Published March 17, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Despite a parade of painfully lame jokes and a few dollops of racism and xenophobia, there's an undeniable element of brilliance to The Big Bang.

It's in the concept developed by playwrights Jed Feuer and Boyd Graham. The two have created a play about two guys who have created a really, really bad show.

Once they have established that premise, they can get an audience to sit through 90 minutes of mind-numbingly moronic humor it wouldn't normally tolerate. Feuer and Graham have twisted things around so that when they present us with stupid jokes, we laugh at the stupidity of the fictional characters who supposedly wrote those jokes.

So The Big Bang ends up being a bad play disguised as a parody of a bad play.

The concept has been used before. There was Springtime for Hitler, the play-within-a play in The Producers, and the Little Rascals' memorable staging of Romeo and Juliet, both of which are much more intellectually satisfying than The Big Bang.

But Feuer and Graham are so successful in making inanity palatable that the opening-night audience for the American Stage production roared with laughter. The central conceit behind The Big Bang is that two playwrights have written an epic stage musical about the history of the universe, from the moment of creation to the present. They're putting on a much-condensed version for potential backers, hoping to raise the millions of dollars the play needs.

They stage their version at the home of a doctor (a proctologist named Lipbalm, to give you an idea of the humor's sophistication). They use household accessories as costumes and set pieces: Curtains become togas, and houseplants become American Indian headdresses.

It takes about five minutes to set up the premise, then the actors (American Stage newcomers Candler Budd and Matthew McGee, both of whom are terrific) simply sing a series of unmemorable songs about historical, mythological and fictional characters.

Among the gags that got the biggest laughs on opening night: Julius Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, has a sister named Hernia. The Manhattan Indians hang out at the Algonquin Hotel. Pocahontas and Minnehaha have extra tickets for a powwow, so they scalp them.

The utter witlessness of the material actually highlights the talents of Budd and McGee, who are well-known to fans of the Show Palace Dinner Theater in Hudson, as is director Steven Flaa. That they can remain so likable, so energetic and even charismatic in the face of such intensely awful writing makes one long to see them take on something more worthy of their talent.

Set designer/dresser Amy J. Cianci also carried a huge weight beautifully. The set is gorgeous, and the props, which are more integral to this show than to most, work beautifully.

Still, no matter how hard the audience laughs at The Big Bang, it's hard to escape the feeling that Feuer and Graham are laughing even harder at the audience.

The Big Bang at American Stage, 211 Third St. S, St. Petersburg, through April 9. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday. $21-$34. "Pay What You Can" nights are Tuesday and March 28. 727 823-7529; www.americanstage.org

[Last modified March 17, 2006, 01:54:15]