Figuratively if not literally, “Girls Only” is a show that gets started well before the lights go down.
The audience members arrive in talkative clusters, all female and many with the shore-leave giddiness of mothers temporarily freed from duty. This is exactly the female esprit de corps that Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein plumb in an intelligent, astute melange of scripted sketches and improv.
Gehring and Klein introduce themselves as the best of best friends forever. Meeting as adults seems their relationship’s sole misfortune. They are such kindred spirits that each still possesses diaries they kept as adolescents — diaries that form this show’s bedrock.
Their journals verify adolescence as a period that seems unutterably lonely and interminable and singular, and just as mercilessly so in retrospect. Not a new notion, but Gehring and Klein interpret it with affectionate wit, provoking more squeals of recognition than cringes.
The set is a 13-year-old’s bedroom in sleep-over mode, with posters, makeup, popcorn and the sort of magazines that present Photoshopped models in unlikely poses and unlikelier clothing. They affect their own poses, adopting that am-I-constipated? expression favored by high-end models. Klein exacerbates the effect by exhaling lustily into Gehring’s face, blowing her long hair into storm-tossed mode.
They sing a conflicted ode to breasts (“It’s my bra, my bra” to the tune of “Que Sera”), stage a truly brilliant shadow-puppet show that Alfred Hitchcock would approve of and deftly draw in audience members for a bridal-shower parody and a guided trip down Memory Lane, thanks to Klein’s and Gehring’s stupefying collection of girlhood ephemera. (Do we envy their stash or put in an emergency call to a decluttering guru?)
They’re at their best during these improv bits — Klein and Ghering are two-thirds of the notable comedy troupe A.C.E. — and it’s great fun to watch their whirring mental gears. One regifting bit involves ransacking the purses of two audience members — inspired, and instructive for those of us whose intentions are better than our memories for birthdays and anniversaries.
Among the best of the scripted pieces is a gag aimed at menopausal women (a substantial portion of the audience) who find themselves with a surplus of feminine hygiene supplies. “Kotex Craft Corner” offers novel solutions that also serve as Exhibit A for grumpy males who might otherwise claim “Girls Only” discriminates against guys.
The show was sold out almost as soon as tickets went on sale, requiring the Avenue Theater to add some Tuesday performances, which also promptly sold out. The response guarantees that a version of “Girls Only” will become an annual staple. Perhaps next year, Klein and the visibly pregnant Gehring can stage “Girls Only: Labor Day.”
Claire Martin: 303 954 1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
“Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women” *** (out of four stars)
Chick comedy. Avenue Theater, 717 E. 17th Ave. Through March 2. Starring Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein. Entire run is sold out. go to
3 more theater
Opening Saturday. Moving into the Galleria Theatre for the Denver Center Attractions’ latest homegrown cabaret musical is “The Last Five Years,” running through June 29. In this unusually staged musical, we see a love affair play out from one character’s point of view from beginning to end – while the other character’s perspective is told from end to beginning.$34-$40. 303-893-4100 or
Ongoing. Breckenridge’s Backstage Theatre stages “The Housekeeper,” James Prideaux’s odd-duck romantic comedy about a self-styled literary artist who, after losing his dominating mother and inheriting her large Victorian house, advertises for a housekeeper. He makes the mistake of hiring the worst housekeeper in history. (Mature content.). Through March 8 at 121 S. Ridge St. $10-$18. 970-453-0199 or
Monday. Now’s the time to break out your old journals or open up that shoebox of love letters and prepare for your 5-minute presentation for “Teacher’s Pet,” Buntport Theater’s monthly open-mic night . . . with homework. This month’s theme is “Heartbreak Hotel.” So bring your own story of unrequited adoration, clandestine passion or forbidden love. Signup 8 p.m., performance 9 p.m. at 717 Lipan St. $4-6, 720-946-1388 or
Weekly podcast
Running Lines with … Onahoua Rodriguez This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with one of the stars of the Denver Center’s “Lydia” and the FX Network’s “The Shield.” Joining in are company members Geoff Kent and Leslie O’Carroll. You”ll be taken to a miniplayer. Once there, click its triangular “play” button, and the podcast will begin, with no downloading necessary.
KritiKaraoke: Hear an audio version of a recent review
This week: George and Martha, those bickering lovebirds from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” read from John Moore’s review of Theatre13’s “And Baby Makes Seven.” . The link takes you to a miniplayer. There, click the triangular “play” button, and the feature will begin playing without your having to download.
