By Geoff Hoff

I had a surreal experience today.  I was in AOL (yes, I know, but I’ve had that email address for over fifteen years) and happened across one of those “Picture Gallery” articles (you know, the ones that open up in a new window and require you to scroll through a series of generic photographs stolen from Flicker that sort of illustrate the article you’re reading, which is presented as the captions to the pictures.)  This article was called “15 Things Guys Shouldn’t Do In Public.”   In the article were two things I’d never heard of.  One, saying “I’m dropping the kids off at the pool” to mean you’re going to the bathroom and two, calling someone butterface.  As in, I find by a quick Internet search, “She has a great body, but her face…”

I mention these because both things represent either punch lines of jokes or major plot points in the play I saw tonight.  I must be seriously behind in my pop cultural references.

Which brings me to the play. “A Don’t Hug Me County Fair” is the third in a (so far) trio of musical plays by Phil Olsen with music by his brother Paul Olson.  The first two were “Don’t Hug Me: A Minnesota Love Story With Singin’ And Stuff” and “A Don’t Hug Me Christmas”.  I haven’t seen or read either of these two previous plays, but I suspect they are much the same as the current one, which is presented in its world premier at the Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre this month; a rural setting, easy humor, likable characters and catchy tunes.

In this outing, it is summer in the small bar called The Bunyan in northern Minnesota on the first and second day of the Bunyan County Fair.  The owners of the bar, Gunner Johnson and his wife Clara (played by Tom Gibis and Judy Heneghan) and their one customer Kanute Gunderson (Played by Tom Lommel) await the fishing contest and beauty pageant associated with the fair.  Kanute’s ex-fiancee (and ex-waitress at the bar) Bernice Lundstrom (Katherine Brunk) shows up unexpectedly for the beauty pageant, as does the man who sold them their “automatic” Karaoke machine, Aarvid Gisselsen (played by Brad MacDonald) and Gunner’s estranged sister Trigger.  Trigger is played by Mr. Gibis’s sister Tina Gibis, and much humor is mined from the actors’ real relationship.

Throw in some staples of broad comedy; a rocky marriage, two men vying ineffectively for the affections of one woman and a sex starved bulldozer of a woman, and you pretty much have the story of the play.  The writer, Mr. Olson, goes to great lengths in the program and press information to explain that his plays have been published by Samuel French and performed all over the US.  I’m not surprised.  It is just the sort of play that an earnest, energetic small theatre company would love to mount.  It seems almost sacrilegious, somehow, to try to analyze a spirited confection such as this, but that, alas, is what I do.

The feel of Phil Olson’s script is a mixture of the Red Green show, Greater Tuna with a Minnesotan accent and sixties variety show sketch comedy.  The music is varied, fun, but a bit derivative.  Almost every song sounds and feels like you’ve heard it somewhere before. Often there are real “quotes” from traditional American pop music.  One song, in which the ensemble dance a funny “walleye fish” dance, strangely brings to mind a distant echo of the Timewarp from The Rocky Horror Show, believe it or not.  There’s even a rap song, because watching rural white people rap is funny.

The humor is easy and mostly predictable, although there are many genuinely funny moments, such as when one character asks another, “Can’t you be polite?” and the other responds, “What, are we Canadian?”  Even with the predictable humor, due to the apt direction by Doug Engalla and the energy and timing of the cast, there are moments such as the first half of act two, where the audience has trouble catching its collective breath for laughing.

The cast are all very good musical comedy performers.  Mr. Gibis, Mr. Lommel and Mr. MacDonald all bring good timing, stage presence and accomplished music hall schtick to their performances.  Mr. Lommel describes himself in the program as “the guy whose main job is to look vaguely familiar”, but he brings a sort of nebishy sexiness to the role.  Ms. Brunk is quite sexy (and not the least bit nebishy) and funny and has a good voice, although some of her singing sounds a bit thin, which is odd, since she often ends her phrasing with true power notes.  The standout actor is Judy Heneghan, playing Clara, who brings to the musical comedy/dance hall acting some very true humanity and has by far the best voice in the cast.  She is also quite funny.

Unfortunately, most of America thinks of the state these day only because of the on-going Senate contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, but people from Minnesota love being from Minnesota, love poking fun at the innocent rustic life of the rural communities, and really, really love the accent, which is very similar to what the Cohen Brothers brought to the main stream in the movie Fargo, located in North Dakota, the state right next door.  A lot of the charm of Don’t Hug Me (and it is charming) comes from the location and the fun the writer, director and cast poke at it.  You betcha.

There were several leaps in logic in the script, but it seems silly (and maybe even petty) to mention them in regards to a farce.  I love to laugh, and I did, so I guess that’s all that matters, even when (I can’t help myself) I am pushed beyond the point where I have trouble suspending my sense of disbelief.  This play is not for the pretentious, urban, sophisticate crowd.  (I am often guilty of being one of those loathsome creatures.)  It is mostly gentle, mostly prepossessing and the audience tonight enjoyed it a great deal.

The set by Chris Winfield is detailed and functional, helps tell the story, which is what a set must do, and contains little bits and pieces, for those who care to look, which add charm and humor to the piece.  The lighting, by Peter Strauss, is fine and simple as is the choreography by Stan Mazin and musical arrangements by Wade Clark & Paul Olson.

The play is performed Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm through Sunday, March 29th, 2009.

The Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Blvd., 1 block east of Vineland in North Hollywood

Ticket prices: $20.00 ($17.00 for seniors and students)

Reservations online at www.lcgrt.com or by phone at (818) 700-4878