Reviews: Donna/Madonna

Photo courtesy Rizzo 39 Productions

Perhaps one of the greatest unexpected pleasures in a committed theater goer’s life is seeing a small-stage solo show that doesn’t suck. Transcending the non-sucky to arrive at this entertaining accomplishment is writer-performer John Paul Karliak’s self-deprecating ode to his two mothers. To the horror of his adoptive parents, the pre-adolescent Karliak drops the first hint of his homosexuality during a self-produced living-room drag show featuring his uncanny Carol Channing vamp. Witnessing mom and dad’s slack-jawed dismay, Karliak scurries into the closet, and doesn’t come out until his teens, subsequently deciding that playing it straight in front of his kindly, fragile mother is the only way to ensure ongoing receipt of her love. He grows up and moves out of state, creating geographical distance in support of the ruse; mother-son weekly phone calls favor surface over substance. But when life in Los Angeles proves less than rosy, Karliak searches for his birth mother — certain she’ll understand him in a way his adoptive mother can’t. Surprisingly, he’s right. What follows is a study in compassion and abundance, a coming-of-age story that doesn’t rely on total abandonment of childlike ways. Though much of the situational comedy feels familiar, Karliak’s execution is top-drawer. His delivery is brisk but unrushed, his sense of humor, contemplative but unsentimental. Inhabiting the skin of his drastically different mothers, Karliak’s range is gleefully apparent. Rizzo 39 Productions at the Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlwd.; Tues.-Wed., 8 p.m. (added perf Mon., Aug. 1, 8 p.m.); thru Aug. 10, (323) 960-4420. plays411.com/donnamadonna. (Amy Lyons)