BWW Reviews: Falcon Turns to Impro for a WESTERN UNSCRIPTED

The Western Unscripted/A completely improvised play in the style of the classic Western/directed by Dan O'Connor and Stephen Kearin/Impro Theatre at the Falcon/through October 5

Impro Theatre's mission is to create a play from scratch in a particular style, right before the eyes of its audience. Their improvised plays include: The Twilight Zone, and the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Dickens, Tennessee Williams, even Sondheim - all unscripted. This time around it's The Western Unscripted, now onstage at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank through October 5.

As you sit glued to every word and action, it is hard to believe that there is not at least an outline on paper that these performers are following... they do it so, so well, whether in monologue or scene, along with the crew who spontaneously supply the props, lighting and sound cues like gun shots or galloping horses hooves. In this Western on Friday September 5, which we were told would be unlike any other, they created a sleepy town called Casualty run by fierce outlaw Rocky Montgomery (Dan O'Connor) who had managed to kill four sheriffs in succession. When the play opens, the new sheriff Billy Turner (Brian Lohmann), a former Texas Ranger from Dodge City, arrives with his lucky rabbit's foot, tied to his gunbelt - an heirloom suggested by a member of the audience at the top - ready to take on any danger...and any woman who will buy him a free drink, like Carlotta Jimenez (Kelly Holden-Bashar) who runs the Casualty Cabana. A Swedish cook/Irish maid Katie on the premises has a daughter Mary (Lisa Fredrickson), who also sets her eyes on Billy as well as on the young deputy (Nick Massouh), who may be quick on the trigger but surely not mentally. There's also a town drunk (Floyd VanBuskirk), who yearns to be deputy once again, an old mean Scot (Paul Rogan) who treats everyone brusquely, and a fumbling horseman, who also alternates as the Irishwoman Katie's husband Patrick (Stephen Kearin). Of course, the ultimate point of the plot revolves around Turner's defeat of Montgomery, who has kidnapped Katie, so the inept townsfolk - one and all - set out, attempting to cross valleys and scale rocky mountains, to save her, kill the outlaw and bring the townsfolk into a blissfully harmonious community.

There are laughs aplenty here with assuredly lame humor and lots of double-entendre lines like "The bigger the fist, the smaller the man" or 'Whatever he needs, fill that need!" or "I'd rather make peace with you than make pieces of you", but hey, when was the last time you caught a rerun of Gunsmoke or Bonanza and didn't laugh at many of the well-intentioned but dim-witted reactions? Remember Festus from Gunsmoke or big Hoss from Bonanza? They provided a whole shotgun of amusement, and so do these Impro actors whose great wit and imagination recreate a chaotic old Western shootout that will never be duplicated ... thank heavens! Kearin and Rogan have some dandy scenes together, as does Massouh with Lohmann and O'Connor. Kearin, Rogan and Massouh end up stealing the 90-minute set in two acts, replete with a ten-minute interval. Soapy background music and a couple of readily-improvised hymns add much enjoyment....as well as the constant reminder that things move fast in the old West, so it is possible for romance to blossom in the flicker of an eye or for a bad man to turn good within the snap of one's fingers. Those Westerns could never wind down without some kind of moral and of course, a sugar-coated ending.

Treat yourselves to a fun evening with Impro at the Falcon through October 5! You will marvel at their physical skill and comedic talent, and just have a good ole' time, so go on over to Burbank, 'ya hear?!

http://www.falcontheatre.com/