THEATER REVIEWS : Troubled Script Snags ‘Kitty Claws’

In its heart, “Kitty Claws and the Magic of Dreaming” is a simple fable about a sad band of orphaned cats rescued from the evil cat-catcher because they find the courage to hope.

A simple fable, however, is definitely not what is onstage in playwright-director Molly Hardy’s production, which opened last weekend at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and continues at the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove through Dec. 12.

The heart of “Kitty Claws” may be a preschooler’s bedtime story, but the body of the show is a nightmarish mixture of little-kid cuteness and jaded jokes for grown-ups, staged with a staggering lack of imagination.

The performance opens with Tom Keyes, as a cat named Ricco Corleone, doing what amounts to a master-of-ceremonies stand-up routine in front of the curtain before taking his place behind an electronic keyboard, where he’s joined by bassist Michael A. Stockwell as his partner, Dawg.

Keyes’ spiel about Ricco and Dawg’s show-biz travails has no bearing on the story that follows and must be incomprehensible to the half of the audience that is under four feet in height.

The whimsical costumes (uncredited in the program) are the only element of the production in which the aim is clear. The cats definitely look like cats.

They never act like cats. But then, “Kitty Claws” never acts like a children’s production. It has a snide comic flavor that elicited a few chuckles from the adults but sparked nary a giggle from the kids.

What child is going to get oblique references to the Who’s “Tommy,” or feel good about a needy kitten being adopted by a child who drags her offstage by her tail?

The performers are game enough, but most of them are sunk by a script that just doesn’t know who its audience is.

Moreover, they get no help from Hardy’s staging, which either banishes them to a corner, isolates them center stage, or lines them up like a firing squad. The production moves around the stage with the grace of an under-rehearsed primary-school pageant.

The music, too, which ranges around blues and soft rock, seems geared for grown-ups.

*

Several performers manage to shine through the confusion: Brandi Karren is cuddly sweet as Orangey, the innocent kitten, and Toma Johnson, as Rags the Rasta cat, makes the most of his reggae beat.

The villain, Mr. Meanguy, is played with gusto by Frank Buttacavoli. A cackling blackguard with a sinister appetite for cat meat, he looks like a cross between Fagin and the Penguin.

Buttacavoli is so thoroughly evil that it’s a positive relief when he comes on stage. Not only does his energy brighten up the action, but there’s no doubt at all about how we are supposed to feel about him.

* “Kitty Claws and the Magic of Dreaming,” Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Friday and Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 12. $9-$11. 1-800-49 KLAWS. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. Terry Christopher Kitty Claws

Maureen O Hanlon: Snow

Brandi Karren: Orangey

Docy Andrews: Trixie

Max Connor: Butch

Toma Johnson: Rags

Frank Buttacavoli: Mr. Meanguy

Kristi Gossett: Margaret

Krista Cardinale: understudy

Ron Jonas: Tommy

Monica Mannarelli: Joy

Julie Williams: Lady Sarah

Hans Smith: Hodges

Debbie Buttacavoli: Tommy’s Mother

Tom Keyes: Ricco

Michael A. Stockwell: Dawg

A Molly Hardy Production, in cooperation with Saddleback College, L.O.C.A., West Coast Performing Arts Center and the Gem Theatre. Written by Molly Hardy. Music by Tom Baba, Tom Keyes, Max Connor, Judette Warren, Maureen O Hanlon, Toma Johnson, Jim Boyer and David James. Lyrics by Molly Hardy and Jim Boyer. Directed by Molly Hardy. Choreographed by Jenny Pierce. Stage manager: Krista Cardinale.