Missteps Undo ‘We Are Family’

After three failed marriages, Sam is being eaten alive by loneliness and a sense of failure. Determined to turn his life around, he decides to be like another group of men who always seem happy and carefree. So he proposes to an old buddy that they turn gay together.

As a premise for comedy, this could go two ways: It could reveal essential truths about human nature, inviting recognition and laughter. Or it could rely on gags that come dangerously close to offending a couple of core constituencies in its audience: namely, women and gays. Unfortunately, it takes the second path in Murray Schisgal’s “We Are Family” at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.

If the title sounds familiar, it’s because the play was scheduled at the El Portal Center in North Hollywood, then dumped. Ignoring the wisdom of that move, the usually smart folks at the Odyssey assembled an exceptionally talented veteran cast--Allan Miller, Salome Jens, Alan Blumenfeld and Michael Cavanaugh--to have a go at the script, under Conrad John Schuck’s direction.

As played by Miller, Sam is a man driven by the passion of the newly converted. “I’m convinced heterosexuality doesn’t work anymore,” he tells his strait-laced pal Billy (Cavanaugh).

The reasoning goes something like this: To get the respect they deserve, women have had to become more aggressive. This has caused a rift between the sexes, making same-sex company seem more desirable.

Schisgal has goofed around with notions of identity before, most notably as co-author of the screenplay for “Tootsie.” Here, however, he can’t get the tone right. It’s never entirely clear whether he’s blaming women and gays for the way things are, or good-naturedly acknowledging that his straight male characters have brought problems on themselves.

Director Schuck further muddies the waters by writing in his program notes that Schisgal’s plays “are warnings to us, that what seems normal or logical in the moment could eventually destroy us and the society we hold so dear.” This sounds awfully like those hoary old claims about feminism and homosexuality destroying the American way of life.

With the introduction of two more characters in the second act, the play seems ready to move in a more promising direction. Blumenfeld has fun inventing coy poses and come-hither looks as a buddy ready to try Sam’s experiment, while Jens demonstrates how a woman can be both strong and irresistibly sexy.

But Schisgal keeps walking the line of bad taste. And frequently steps over it.

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“We Are Family,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., except this Sunday and March 17, 2 p.m. $19.50-$23.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.