LEE HARTGRAVE TONIGHT - "PARDON MY INVASION"

By Joy Cutler. Courtesy Photo 

JOY CUTLER'S 'PARDON MY INVASION' 
WILL TAKE YOU ON A BODY SWAPPING 
COMEDY TRIP 

This play is perfect for San Francisco. Where else can we find a soldier that inhabits the body of a teenage girl. Her mother is a pulp fiction writer, who like most writers, is torturing herself on the typewriter as she blazes along the stage in this fantastic black comedy. The story lines are all about gender identity that bring the world into a war -- and a teenager that believes that a good looking male soldier has taken over her persona. Is it real, or is it a horror story? 

This odd ball comedy will keep your eyes wide awake. Believe me! And wait until you see "Honey Babe" on the stage. Her overwhelmed bust keeps falling out of her dress. Yep, she's a "hot number' that's for sure. 

The Players smartly sneak up on you! And...oh yes - there is a lot of sultry words. It surely is a play for adults only. There are many "F Words" -- and tons of 'laugh a minutes' and below the belt saucy talk.

At times it is a little hard to understand what is going on. But eventually you get it. I did. And if I did you will too, as you get into the notably nuanced words. It sure as hell commands more than a kind of awe. It's extraordinary. Yes, I'll tell you the truth -- it is Deliciously unsettling and addictive. Joy Cutler's writing succeeds with High-Energy. I can't wait to get home to a Hot Tub to cool me down. 

STARS ARE BORN: Here they are: Sondra Putnam, Marissa Keltie*, John Flanagan*, Randy Blair, Juliet Tanner* and Marie Shell* (*Member Actors' Equity Association)  Now Playing at the Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason Street, San Francisco. Plays thru Feb 2nd. 

Directed by Joe Weatherby. Brisk Weather Productions Presents. And Equity Approved Project. 

RATING: FIVE GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!!!!

(((Lee Hartgrave has contributed many articles to the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Datebook. He also produced a long-running Talk Show Segment on PBS - KQED (7-years) 
*****

MY OPINION 

YOU WANNA SKIP A SHOW? O.K. - just skip the play - "Major Barbara". The play has been done before as a movie - (It was only a little over one-and a half hours.) It was also done as a TV Movie that lasted about the same (Great). That you can bear. However - three hours is way to long to sit through that much non-sense at A.C.T. Especially in the second act.  

There were not enough laughs to keep people from falling to sleep. Now playing at A.C.T. on Geary Street. The Cast scores -- the show doesn't. RATING: Two Stars**