Review
by BACKSTAGE WEST - November 27, 2006
Deck
the halls with boughs of folly, frustration, chicanery, and a healthy
dose of ribald gallows humor. The show’s unnamed Chicago
cabbie (Bob Rusch on Sunday nights in this split cast) may be weighed
down by the Christmas blues, feeling powerless to impact his surroundings
and haunted by the notion he’s trapped in hell and driving
for Satan, but Hellcab is a slice of heaven for the audience. You
know you’re watching a good show when you don’t notice
the clock. And this is one great show. Director Eric Johnson’s
pacing is strictly pedal-to-the-metal. And writer Will Kern demonstrates
a tremendous ear and deft feel for realistic dialogue that is spoken
by a host of different characters.
Rusch
has the look, feel, and attitude of a real-life cabbie who must
navigate the human flotsam he encounters and still retain a sliver
of humanity toward even the most whacked-out of fares. The rest
of the Sunday night cast is also first-rate, as it jumps from one
character to another, no two the same. Chuck Raucci, who plays
very smarmy, very creepy people, is a hoot as the frazzled coke
freak trying to score. Benton Jennings and K.J. Middlebrooks show
tremendous range as they move in and out of the cab, alternating
among characters that are weird, threatening, buffoonish, or Middle
America. Diane Sellers is top-notch as a pregnant woman about to
have a breakdown and a baby. Catherine Davis Cox is fine as a sexy
contracts lawyer who makes a play for her driver. And Broocks Willich
deftly switches among an uptight Brit, a drugged-up street person,
a safe and sane receptionist whom the cabbie reaches out to, and
a down-and-dirty local gal who takes no shit and makes no apologies
for how she lives her life.
All
rolls out on a very small stage. Cox doubles as set designer with
James Sharpe; they deserve kudos for constructing a nifty set using
only the front of a cab and a backdrop photo of Chi-town in winter.
It’s not your usual Christmas fare, but it’s well worth
a look.
Presented
SkyPilot Theatre Company at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre, 4150 Riverside
Dr., Suite D, Burbank. Sun. 7 p.m., Mon. 8 p.m. Oct. 15-Dec. 11.
(323) 960-4418.
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