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Zeitgeist Stage Company is rolling through a zinger of a play with "Valhalla," the wit-drenched Paul Rudnick play underway within the Boston Center for the Arts. Two hours have passed by quickly, as Zeitgeist's six-member cast has deftly brought more than 20 laughter-inducing characters from two time periods, to a simple and adaptable stage. The work is frothy fun, but then Rudnick's work throws the company a curve ball.
Were "Valhalla" to end 10 minutes earlier than it does, both Zeitgeist and Rudnick's creative endeavors would shine brightly. As is, the presentation makes for a well-produced foray into comedy that falls short when the playwright tacks on an uncertain endnote.
Those unfamiliar with Rudnick but fans of intellectual comedy are highly recommended to check out his other work, whether it be on screen ("In & Out"), stage ("I Hate Hamlet") or through the insights of his Premiere magazine alter ego, suburbanite mama and semicolon lover Libby Gelman-Waxner. The man, whom some critics have dubbed the gay Neil Simon, has a knack for lacing his writing with social commentary barbs that make points while cracking up his audiences.
"Valhalla" seems at first to be a typically ambitious gay-character-driven piece. Weaving together the lives of "Crazy" King Ludwig of Bavaria and fictitious James Avery of 1940s Texas, the play brings together two men who share an insatiable need for beauty. The key difference between the two (class, time and location aside) is that flamboyant Ludwig (Brian Quint) wants to be consumed by beauty and the simmering James (Jon Ferreira) wants to consume it.
With a performance stage loosely split in half - Ludwig's world on one end, James' on the other - the two lead characters are surrounded by 19 secondary characters portrayed in a revolving door of costume changes by Zeitgeist's four other actors. All serve as foils to, objects of or conduits for desire.
The men also share what they view as a history of parental cruelty, whether it be Ludwig's mother forcing him to act like a man and marry or the abuse James withstands offstage by his father. It is partly that which prompts the men to seek out the beauty each says he needs for survival. Ludwig loses himself in the opera and architecture, becoming a shoddy king in the process; James' focus centers on a quest for sexual satisfaction and possession. Without giving too much away, the lives come to intersect as both men realize that the life-long pursuit of beauty can end in ugliness.
But is that the point? It's not clear. There are two hours of one-liners and sight gags within BAC's Plaza Black Box Theatre, and many of them are worthy of the laughs they receive, but Rudnick spends most of his script offering little more than wit before. What amounts to an 11th hour shift in tone gives the impression that Rudnick realized in the writing process he needed to wrap up this duet of plots with a tidy conclusion. The result feels jarringly somber for what is otherwise a rollicking romp through time. The necessary character shifts lack a sense of motivation, no matter how admirably Zeigeist and Ferreira in particular attempt to fuel them.
After curtain call, attention falls not on the strong, appropriately campy performance experienced through Zeitgeist, but the sour aftertaste that precludes that final blackout. It is paradoxical, therefore, to walk out of a space that moments earlier was filled with laughter to find a puzzled look on one's own face.
"Valhalla," written by Paul Rudnick and presented by Zeitgeist Stage Company will be presented at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theatre through May 3, with performances scheduled at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays.Tickets $25/$30/$35, with a "pay what you can" performance tonight. For more information, visit Zeitgeist's official website.
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