‘Hunchback’ Offers Patchwork Satire

There’s a lot of talent on display in “Nicholas DeBeaubien’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” an original production by Sacred Fools Theater at the Heliotrope--but it is largely wasted on a patchwork that even snippets of comic invention can’t save.

Larry Larson, Eddie Lee, Rebecca Wackler and John Kohler co-wrote this incipient satire, which lampoons the destruction of a work of literature by a talentless interpreter. The vandal here is egomaniacal theater director Nicholas DeBeaubien (Patrick Towne), whose spectacularly farfetched workshopping of Hugo’s classic results in versions ranging from a “Cabaret”-type musical to surreal sci-fi.

Nicholas’ long-suffering cast includes touchy-feely New Ager Laura (Michelle Philippe), who plays Esmerelda, and hypochondriacal homosexual Ward (John Sylvain) as Frollo. Quasimodo in this play-within-a-play is Jackie (Andrew Friedman), who becomes the voice of the artistic conscience, rallying to defend Hugo’s text against Nicholas’ increasingly bizarre incursions.

This half-baked dialectic loosely connects what is largely a series of episodic comedy sketches. However, under Adam Bitterman’s direction, the actors have their hilarious moments. Perry Ash’s makeshift but extravagant costumes are very funny. Gene Lushtak’s original score, exuberantly performed by keyboardist Joel Zighelboim, nicely punctuates the silliness.

* “Nicholas DeBeaubien’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Sacred Fools Theater at the Heliotrope, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive, Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Sept. 13. $10. (310) 281-8337. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.