I couldn't resist: an adults-only version of "Snow White" in Portuguese -- which I am guaranteed to understand -- interrupted by a right-winger out to make trouble. The performance of "Branca de Neve" didn't even approach professional quality, but as amateur entertainment, the 80-minute skit offered a welcome diversion. David Pratt, director, producer, narrator, and co-author with Rogério M. Pinto, has written two other fractured fairy tales in Portuguese, which he staged at the Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village. It seems a likely venue. I bet that after a few martinis, "Branca de Neve" is even funnier.
Audiences are greeted at the door by the very tall, broad-shouldered Mary Anne de Anne MacLane-Paris in a high-slit dress and a black-feathered headdress. On stage, juggling hats and expressions, Pratt plays all the roles: the Hyena or evil queen, the magic mirror, Snow White, and the Prince. MacLane-Paris interrupts frequently (often obscenely), persuading Pratt to change the script from seven dwarves whom they haven't hired to seven varied vibrators. After a few jokes, the lurking censor (the short, fierce Rosemarie Sciarrone) leaps from her seat in the audience (beside me) and demands that the performers cease and desist. The timing of her protest is perfect, just when the jokes are becoming tedious. All energy turns from telling the tale to subduing the intruder. She is tied and gagged, protesting, until Snow White is rescued by her Prince.
What makes the show captivating is the Portuguese narration. Attention must be paid to follow the simple dialogue and plot line. The minor intellectual challenge provides real delight. It's a clever gimmick, one that the star-writer-director-producer, who was born in Connecticut, said came to him when he fell in love with a Brazilian.