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A Noise Within is currently running a fantastic revival of one of their signature productions, a rip roaring, hysterical Noises Off which has proved so popular they have extended the run through May 26. If you’ve never seen Noises Off, then you will be rolling in the aisles and if you know the show, you will love what co-directors, Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliot have done here.
This new iteration features most of the original cast plus some terrific performances from some of their newer company members. The story is an ingenious play within a play about an under-rehearsed small company of actors embarking on a tour of a silly show called, “Nothing On”, as things go from bad to worse on and off stage.
Characters range from the blowsy, past her prime diva actress played with utter abandon by Deborah Strang, to the put upon director played with exasperation by a distinguished looking Geoff Elliott, who has amorous engagements with the ditsy ingénue, Emily Kosloski, reprising the role with fantastic physical comedy, along with the poor stage manager, Poppy, played with charm and pluck by Erika Soto. The always terrific Jill Hill reprises her role as the troupe’s purveyor of gossip, Belinda Blair, and Jeremy Rabb is hysterical as the earnest actor Frederick Fellows.
Rafael Goldstein is lightening fast as he literally runs like The Flash all over the set doing the director’s bidding as Tim Algood who is their jack of all trades including stand in actor, which proves particularly hilarious in the final act. Apollo Dukakis is fantastically unsteady as the tipsy, older actor, Selsdon, and Kasey Mahaffy is just uproariously side-splitting as the lead actor, Garry Lejeune, who can’t seem to formulate a sentence when it’s not written for him and who becomes consumed with jealousy over his lover’s suspected affair.
It all takes place on an ingenious set by Fred Kinney that spins round so as to give the audience a complete behind the scenes peek at all the proceedings in the second act. The entire endeavor builds, joke upon joke, delivered with expert precision by the crackerjack cast, to its ultimate, ridiculously fantastic conclusion. At which point you may be unable to breathe.
Noises Off continues through May 16 at A Noise Within located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For tickets and information visit aNoiseWithin.org
