‘Funky Punks’ a great time

The most recent children’s show offered at Burbank’s Falcon Theatre

is “Funky Punks in Bright Ideas.” Keep in mind this is not a show,

but more of a series of circus clown skits. The actors aren’t punks

as much as they are just a big bunch of younger grown-ups, having

fun, doing circus clown skits. However, these punks don’t really get

any funkier than a big purple dinosaur named Barney.

On the plus side, all the actors are just plain charming. And

energetic. And funny. All 10 of them. Which leads up to the minus

side. This is a one-hour show. That’s just not enough time to get

used to 10 different characters -- in 10 different costumes, with 10

different names, 10 different personalities and 10 different talents.

Six clowns ... maybe. But why 10 when half the audience members don’t

have the alphabet down yet?

Special mention should be given to several performers for being

able to standout from the fast-moving crowd. Beth Kennedy, the smart

and self-assured “BK,” and woman of the never-moving-hat, is

following closely in Carol Burnett’s wacky footsteps. Dan Waskom

(Hungry Dan), an expert in sight gags, is just as comfortable walking

on stilts during the show as he is clowning with tiny audience

members afterward. And, then there is Tina Aguierre Groff (Monkey),

who is a living and breathing graduate of the Barnum & Bailey Clown

College, and it shows.

As to the bright and cartoonish (or should I say clownish?)

costumes by Michael Mullen, they are just great, and fully functional

for those times when you and your friends happen to find yourselves

bouncing off of a trampoline together.

Director Joseph Leo Bwarie is wonderful when it comes to crowd

control. This is a small theater space, after all, and he has turned

it into a one-ring circus.

As writer, Bwarie could have given his actors a little more to say

and less to do, especially when some of the actors, like Rory

O’Malley and Corey Lynn Womack, would be interesting to watch if they

just stood still for five minutes.

As it is, there’s nary a scary thought or deed, and not a mean

banana in the bunch. The plot? It has something to do with cleaning

up their shared apartment before the landlord comes. I think. The

highlight of the show? When a little kid from the audience was

invited up on the stage, to stand on the Funny Rug and tell a joke.

OK, so maybe I didn’t understand the joke. I did understand the

sweetness and innocence behind it.

Don’t come expecting a lot by way of plot, or wildly sophisticated

humor.

Leave your Caffe O’Lait attitude at home. Take the little ones,

and show them the kind of good time that little ones want to have.

FYI

WHAT: Funky Punks in “Bright Ideas,” written and directed by

Joseph Leo Bwarie

WHEN: 1 and 3 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 13

WHERE: The Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank

TICKETS: $12, $10 children 12 and under

CONTACT: (818) 955-8101

* MARY BURKIN is a Glendale lawyer and actress.