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Thursday, December 6, 2007
‘Children’s Scientology Pageant’ @ Dad’s
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant” Grade: B -
Hey, Suri Cruise. Have we got a show for you.
If you want to make your daddy Tom Cruise very, very mad one day, tell him his little angel has landed a part in “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant.”
Once it’s all over with, just make sure you tell Daddy you didn’t mean for your role in this delightfully perverse satire of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to give him such a colossal “engram,” to use the Dianetics term for life-warping trauma. Tell him you are truly sorry for appearing in a show that makes him look about 3 feet tall.
OK, OK.
I confess that this is just my paparazzi-fantasy-gone-wild way of telling you about the wickedly funny holiday bon-bon playing at Dad’s Garage. For adult audiences, yet starring an ensemble of adorable children with glimmers of deadpan irony in their dimples, Kyle Jarrow and Alex Timbers’ cleverly conceived musical biography imagines the Hubbard saga as the sort of low-tech church or school pageant that might be happening right now in your own neighborhood.
Like a subversive “Our Gang” for the fringe theater crowd, “Scientology Pageant” received rapturous reviews from the New York press last year, even as Atlanta’s own Dad’s Garage quietly slipped the zinger into its holiday punch.
Happily, the hourlong frolic is back for a second run, which seems custom-tailored for alternative audiences who like their seasonal entertainments with a dash of bitters.
In our great land of tax-exempt religious freedom, the writers seem to say, people willingly give gobs of cash to messianic healers who offer “real answers” to the questions of life. One of the running gags of the play is that even Hubbard’s fiercest skeptics eventually yield to his hypnotic pitch.
You can form your own opinion about the Church of Scientoloy, and the organizations’s website (scientology.org) happens to be a good place to start the quest for a “civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war.”
For now, it’s time to celebrate what a talented bunch of straight-faced farceurs director Mary Claire Dunn has assembled. Small of stature though they may be, these kids are pretty much winners all.
In particular, you can see how Jason David (who makes a really excellent George Washington) has a knowing wit that will serve him well as time goes on. Also good are Max Greenhouse (as L. Ron’s best friend, Donald), Sarah Gooding (as the smirky and balletic Angelic Girl) and Zoe Spencer in a variety of roles.
Actually, all the youngsters except Hunter Ballard (who plays Hubbard quite handsomely) perform multiple roles — quite convincingly. Alex Vannier and her brother, C. Philip, have resumes that would be the envy of many post-collegiate actors. For the record, the Vannier siblings are 12 and 9, respectively, and it’s tiny C. Philip who gets to play Tom Cruise.
Though there were a few technical glitches on the night I saw this show, a little clutziness seems to go with the territory, doesn’t it? When the big opening number — “Hey, It’s a Happy Day!” — turns into hooky disco pablum, you start to realize what a seductive song-and-dance “Children’s Scientology Pageant” can be.
Bring out the E-meter. I’m ready to get audited.
How ’bout you, little Suri?
THE 411 : 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. Also, Monday , Dec. 16-17 and Dec. 23. Through Dec. 23. $10-$25. Dad’s Garage, 280 Elizabeth St., Atlanta. 404-523-3141, dadsgarage.com
BOTTOM LINE: A smart satire for adults, performed by kids.
