When one thinks of the comedic legend Mel Brooks, the adventures of a plucky cockroach and a ne’er-do-well cat don’t tend to spring to mind. However, LA-based theater company Foster Cat Productions seeks to change that with their season opener production of “Archy & Mehitabel”. Now playing through March 16, the musical is based a series of New York Tribune columns by Don Marquis dating back to 1916. First brought to the stage in 1957, Foster Cat has unearthed this rarely-performed musical marvel and breathed new life into it at the Broadwater Black Box stage in Hollywood.
Foster Cat Company Manger Will Fulginiti stars as Archy, a surprisingly poetic cockroach. He brings a love-lorn reliability and likability to an oft-reviled insect, which makes for a stark contrast to Jena Ziomek’s devil-may-care cat Mehitabel. The pair succeeds at wringing out a broad scope of emotion out of its audience – from laughter to heartbreak to concern – over the course of Brooks and Joe Darion’s punchy book and George Kleinsinger’s ragtime-influenced music. Rounding out the cast is a mysterious and stoic Cooper McAdoo as the musical’s narrator, along with Jaley Hoyt, Hope Golds, and Julia McCammon as the show’s chorus of harmonizing and always entertaining harlots, regardless if they’re on stage as alleycats or ladybugs.
Foster Cat Co-Founders Give Show-Stealing Perfomances Alongside Strong Cast in “Archy & Mehitabel”
The White brothers, Harrison and Elliot, also Foster Cat’s co-founders, give unforgettable performances in “Archy & Mehitabel”. Elliot’s portrayal of tomcat Big Bill transports one East with his convincing New-York accent, and Harrison’s fabulously foppish Tyrone T. Tattersall is even more impressive when one realizes he’s pulling double duty as actor and the musical’s director. Together, the cast and Harrison’s direction cleverly anthropomorphize the musical’s insect and animal characters. They also add a much-needed dose of genuine heart when the material shows its age in its attitude toward its female characters.
Even so,Foster Cat Productions has brilliantly delivered on its mission once again to highlight lesser-known works in the theatre with “Archy & Mehitabel”. The show is no less sharply witty and full of catchy tunes as Brooks’ more widely known musicals like “Young Frankenstein” and “The Producers“. The production follows Foster Cat’s Successful LA wildfire fundraiser last month, which raised over $800 for Best Friends Animal Society and featured performances from Emmy-winning talent. Next up for the fledgling theater company are productions of Nora and Delia Ephron’s “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” performed in rotating repertory with “Moby Dick, Rehearsed” from Orson Welles. In August, they’ll soar into the summer with what’s sure to be a super production of “It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman! the Musical“, also at the Broadwater.
