THEATER REVIEW -- TOM TITUS

* Editor’s note: Independent theater critic, Tom Titus, is on

vacation. Today’s column is written by his daughter Mindy. She is an

actress and recent UCI graduate.

They say that “money can’t buy happiness,” but in Golden West

College’s newest production, “Sly Fox,” the opposite proves to be true.

The play was written by Larry Gelbart, who wrote the television comedy

series “M*A*S*H,” leading one to expect a mixture of puns, gimmicks,

schemes and cover-ups. Those expectations are fulfilled.

In addition to the classic comic appeal of the show, “Sly Fox,”

directed by Tom Amen, also combines some well-known human vices, such as

greed and jealousy, which turns the slightly hokey comedy -- based on Ben

Jonson’s Volpone -- into more of a social satire.

The play takes place in San Francisco during the late 1800s. The

underlying theme of the desire for money is illustrated from the very

beginning of the show.

The curtain rises and the audience gets its first look into the

bedroom of Foxwell J. Sly (Nick Cook). The bedroom, inventively designed

by Sigrid Hammer Wolf, consists of wallpaper with vertical stripes of

gold and white and a dollar sign pattern.

Tom Kubis’ choice of campy old fashion and upbeat music, sets the

perfect mood for this satirical look at human nature.

Sly is a rich man-about-town who makes his living off of other

people’s money. The opening scene begins with Sly’s servant, Simon Able,

performing his normal household duties. These include taking part in

Sly’s plan to feign a horrible illness in order to swindle gold and other

valuable gifts from people about town who believe that they will become

Sly’s sole heir when he dies.

The story allows for a variety of fun characters to be introduced as

Sly makes his fortune. Playing Sly’s indebted servant is Mark Bedard, who

stands out in this production, not only because of the size of the role,

but also because he has everything needed to carry the show. Bedard

portrays great cunning and cleverness with an interesting mix of charm

and devilishness that effectively captures the audience. In addition,

although the show calls for some over dramatic and almost farfetched

moments, Bedard’s Able is capable of bringing the audience back to

reality with his end-of-scene short commentaries.

Nick Cook has double duty playing both Sly and the Judge, to whom

Sly’s trial was appointed. Although as Sly he shows little variation

between the true Sly and the Sly faking his illness, his energy and comic

timing still make it a joy to watch him play the two characters.

Performing as the “woman-about-town,” Miss Fancy, is Amy Chantel, who

attempts to use her sexuality to get what she wants from men. Her desire,

along with everyone else in this play, is money. Chantel’s physicality

and suggestive gesturing provides for some entertaining moments

throughout the show.

To give contrast to Chantel’s Miss Fancy is Christa Mathis, who plays

the role of Mrs. Truckle the virtuous lady in town. Mathis plays the

pious Truckle with some over-exaggeration, but it fits the style in which

the play is being presented. Truckle is a blast from the past, being very

dutiful to an incredibly jealous and undeserving husband, played by

Michael Bielitz, whose over-the-top performance offered an amusing, and

at times almost scene-stealing, caricature.

Christian Navarro superbly portrays the dirty, but holy-sounding

Lawyer Craven The town’s old curmudgeon. Jethro Crouch is nicely played

by Bruce Alexander. Playing Crouch’s somewhat effeminate son, Captain

Crouch, is Patrick Devine. The choice to make the character of the

captain effeminate was a potentially hysterical idea, however, Devine’s

performance resembles more of a bratty teenager, and often proves to be

more distracting than funny.

Melodramatic acting and cheesy scenarios may not fit into everybody’s

idea of a good comedy, however, Golden West’s production of “Sly Fox”

proves to be most enjoyable, especially with the jabs it makes against

human nature. Amen’s direction allows us to take a lighthearted look at

how far we have come -- such as the women’s movement -- and how far we

still may need to go -- the influence money has on human nature. Money

still seems to “make the world go round;” and even though we are living

more than a hundred years after this play takes place, when it comes to

money, sadly, our values may not have changed.

FYI

WHAT: ‘Sly Fox’

WHERE: Golden West College

WHEN: Closing performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3

p.m.