‘Tambourines’ Plays On a Bit Too Long

“Tambourines to Glory” at Los Angeles Theater Center’s Tom Bradley Theater should run much shorter than it does. Edmund J. Cambridge’s staging of Langston Hughes’ comic drama clocks in at 3 1/2 hours.

Sluggish set changes alone eat up at least half an hour of this painfully protracted running time. Despite the fact that this capacious stage easily could have accommodated several playing areas, the action grinds to a halt after each scene while the crew totes furniture on and off stage. The enormous cast maneuvers awkwardly, while molasses-slow pacing, shameless mugging and frequent line flubs drag the evening out even more.

Set in the late 1950s, the play revolves around two struggling Harlem women who establish a thriving evangelical church. The saintly Essie (Jozella Reed, alternating in the role with Philura Williams) is sincere in her beliefs; the worldly Laura (Marla Gibbs, alternating with Dwan Smith) has purely mercenary motives. To Essie’s increasing discomfort, Laura has fallen under the influence of Buddy (Clinton Derricks-Carroll), a womanizing gangster who is actually the devil made flesh.

Those not familiar with Hughes’ play will find it difficult to determine just how much of the playwright’s original intent has survived the general mayhem of this production. What is patently clear, however, is that Cambridge has violated nearly every principle of stagecraft in this massively undisciplined misfire.

Despite its many sins, however, the show has a saving grace in its superb gospel music--full-blown, raise-the-rafters numbers delivered by a live band and some of the most bodacious Bible belters this side of the Heavenly Choir.

* “Tambourines to Glory,” Los Angeles Theater Center Bradley Theater, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 4 p.m. Ends Feb. 21. $15-$22. (213) 467-7545. Running time: 3 hours, 30 minutes.