In the wake of the announcement that John Ashton has sold operational control of the Avenue Theater back to founder Robert Wells, the company has opened “Parallel Lives,” which they first mounted in 1998.
Written by Mo Gaffney (“That ’70s Show”) and Kathy Najimy (“Sister Act”), the show is a series of comedic sketches loosely bound by the appearance of two female supreme beings who kibitz over the ground rules for the human race and, later, revisit the planet to see how their plan is shaking out.
To open this “new chapter in the Avenue’s history,” as Wells put it on opening night, he has cast two local pros, the versatile comedian Beth Flynn and the zany improv veteran Pam Clifton to handle the heavenly duties and broad range of supporting characterizations.
As the two goddesses initially gaze down on Earth, they struggle with whether the white race will be jealous of all the other beautiful people of color, and how to balance the gift of birth given to females. They decide to keep an eye on the whites, make birth especially painful, and give men “as much ego as possible.” Talk about a setup!
As it turns out, some of the skits are hilarious, some amusing, and some flat with age. But in all cases the writers make their points, and Flynn and Clifton, who naturally complement one another, prove inventive and engaging.
After the creation of the world, we visit college-aged Kris and Jeff who, after watching “Mork and Mindy” on their first date, decide to catch a bite at a “queer Denny’s.” Though it is an eye-opening experience for Kris, and while she is otherwise a conventional person, she instinctively rushes to the defense of a gay customer who has been slighted by the waitress.
Though didactic in tone, the exchange sets up a few other sketches – Flynn’s affectionate portrayal of a Jewish matron who discovers that her favorite nephew is gay, and a mocking take on two radical feminists – that are charming for the innocence they reveal about the nature of gay rights as it was perceived 20 years ago, when Gaffney and Najimy were first performing this piece in San Francisco.
Equally quaint, after years of exposure to Catholic guilt in “Nunsense” and its host of knockoffs, is the sketch involving a pair of parochial schoolgirls caught between the ceaseless indoctrination of the church and their own instinctive curiosity. The material is freshened by Flynn and Clifton’s endearing portraits, which seamlessly morph from prepubescent to adolescence to adulthood, as the girls grow out of their childhood solipsism.
Contemporary notes are struck with a look at television advertising’s assault on privacy, where a widowed Russian peasant woman does an endorsement for feminine hygiene, followed by a topsy-turvy world in which two male ballplayers discuss their “monthlies.”
Finally, there’s Clifton’s virtuoso rendition of a morning wake-up, shower, toilette and dressing routine choreographed to the fourth movement of Bizet’s Symphony in C.
The Avenue has always grounded itself in a mix of improv and topical comedy, and Wells and his cast do this as well as ever. But in recent years the company has found a good measure of critical success with serious drama and sophisticated comedies. While “Parallel Lives” and the recent stopgap “Murder Most Fowl” play to the company’s loyal clientele, it will take a multifaceted approach to meet financial obligations at its new space. Hopefully this includes some new material.
Bob Bows reviews theater for KUVO/89.3 FM, at ColoradoDrama.com and for Variety. He can be reached at BBows@ColoradoDrama.com.
“Parallel Lives”
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COMEDY|The Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave.|Written by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy|Directed by Robert Wells|Starring Beth Flynn and Pamela Clifton|THROUGH JUNE 26|7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays|2 hours, 20 minutes|$15-$20|303-534-4440
