It takes great skill to write a comedy that's laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end, but Larry Coen and David Crane have accomplished this, helped by the perfectly paced direction of Richard Israel and a group of eight ever-so-earnest and enthusiastic actors. Here in the 1930s, when movie directors like Cecil B. De Mille filmed elaborate Biblical/Roman epics, 4,000 extras are being held captive in the Arizona desert to film "Exuent Omnes!" (translation: "Everybody Out!"). This is the story of two of those extras and the woman who captures their hearts.
With six months of acting lessons under his toga, Benny (Michael Spellman) leaves his mid-Western home to follow his dream of becoming a movie star. His older brother, Phil (Paul Kouri), follows to bring him home, but he, too, is quickly bitten by the acting bug—and who can pass up the chance to make $1 a day? They meet Louise (Madelynn Fattibene), the assistant director in charge of extras. The brothers vie for her love, the director quits (Michael Zemenick in the performance reviewed), one of the brothers steps in—because he's had experience in a marching band—Rome is built in a day, and because of production delays the Red Sea may have to be parted on the side. It's nonsensical, and that's what makes it so darn much fun.
Complete with trumpets and fanfares, Mark Ehrlich, John Steven Rocha, Angela DeCicco, and Ed Smaron play multiple roles, and each relishes the opportunity to chew the scenery, designed by Evan Bartoletti, that basks in the glow of lighting by Lisa D. Katz. Gina Davison created the marvelous costumes.
The writers and actors follow one of the most important commandments in comedy: Make it funny. And they succeed brilliantly. If the greatest truth be told, this is a 90-minute sketch (the kind the actors on The Carol Burnett Show did so well), and it's a stitch. Full of puns and clichés—no stone tablet is left unturned—Epic Proportions is good-natured silliness to the maximus.
"Epic Proportions," presented by and at West Coast Ensemble, 522 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. June 7-July 28. $20. (323) 525-0022.