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Arts & Entertainment

Theater Review: 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'

The Lee Hall adaption at the Deaf West Theatre is darker than the Disney version, and better for it.

Long before the story of the wooden boy who came to life was subtly stripped of its dark themes and turned into a lighthearted Disney movie, it actually had some character.

The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi in 1880, chronicled the turbulent mishaps of a marionette who is lured away from school by entertainment, adventure, and fortune. When he finally learns to help others and work hard, he becomes a “real boy.” The plot can come off like a reprimand (do well in school, or you’ll turn into a donkey!), but Lee Hall, who wrote the script for Billy Elliot, adapted it into a humorous and absorbing drama in 2006, which is the version Deaf West Theatre .

Director Stephen Rothman had a lot of work: finding the lively, titular character, maneuvering around the often dreary tale to make it suitable for younger audiences, and seamlessly blending a cast of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing actors so the performances are accessible to anyone. I’ve been to Deaf West before, but I’ve never seen a performance that combined ASL with voice-over. I was anxious to see how this alliance of abilities would transpire on stage. I was happy to see it start on a humorous note. Matthew Henerson (who doubles as Geppetto and Puppetmaster) tried to start the “Once Upon a Time” introduction a couple of times before he called upon Colin O’Brien-Lux, his signer counterpart, for assistance. They developed a charismatic banter over the course of the play, and Lux became his own character, rather than a shadow of another actor. It helped, of course, that Lux and Henerson have starkly different physiques: the first, tall and lanky, the latter, short and stout. It would be impossible to mistake one for the other, and it would seem rather dull and mundane to cast the interpreters to look exactly like their counterparts.

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The titular wooden boy wasn’t much of a boy at all; played by Amber Zion, who seemed too feminine to play the role of an adolescent boy, but proved, somewhat remarkably, that the success of the role depends on one’s grasp of body language and ability to represent an aura of naiveté. She moved like a person that had just discovered they were equipped with a body. Darrin Revitz played the squeaky voice of Pinocchio, and though she dressed almost identical to Zion, her character took on the role of a friendly consciousness. She directed Zion where to go, shook her head on the acquaintance of sinister characters, and lively voiced the thoughts of a misguided marionette.

 And, as the tale goes, Pinocchio meets quite a few nasty characters: a conniving cat (Lexi Marman) and fox (Vae) team, a ringmaster at Play Land (James Royce Edwards), and the rebellious classmate who brought him there, Lampwick (Tommy Korn). The small ensemble took on so many roles that it became comforting to see familiar faces enter the stage continuously as different characters. Marman ebbed effortlessly between her roles as a cunning cat and the forgiving blue fairy girl. Lindsay W. Evans vocalized three characters: Cricket, Lampwick, and Cat. Vae played the cricket with a conscious, as well as the fox and the schoolteacher.

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With a beautiful set design by Evan Bartoletti and Artistic Direction by Ed Waterstreet, I almost mistook the small theater in North Hollywood for a town in Tuscany. But the ornate décor can’t distract the play’s haunting story of caution and metaphor for adulthood. Pinocchio is given so many chances that it becomes tedious to watch him fall into traps over and over again, and I hoped for him to become a premature boy.  Then my own conscious kicked in, and I remembered that life can't be rushed, and it is only with personal experience that one learns how to do something right. Escaping from a whale's mouth in the easy part. 

“The Adventures of Pinocchio” plays at Deaf West Theatre through March 27. 5112 Lankershim Blvd. Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. (818) 762-2773 (voice), (866) 954-2986 (video). 

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