On Theater:

No doubt playwrights Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore had Joe Orton’s 1960s comedy “What the Butler Saw” in mind when they came up with the title for their farcical comedy “What the Bellhop Saw.” The latter is as wild and wacky as the former, with Orton’s subtle digs at society replaced by sheer theatrical mayhem.

Golden West College has seized on this rather unfamiliar piece to close out its 2008-09 season in the intimate Stage West Theater while the large Mainstage Theater is being refurbished. It gets a tad crowded, but the proximity to the onstage silliness is a definite plus.

“Bellhop” tells the story of a mild-mannered accountant (David Chorley), who uses the connections of his bellboy brother (Sean Coutu) to secure a room in a posh New York hotel where he intends to seduce his shapely secretary (Julie Patzer), who’s unaware of his impending advances.

When a fugitive author (Tony Torrico) with a price on his head takes up residence in the same room, shadowed by a CIA agent right out of “Get Smart” (Lawrence Hemingway), things begin to get out of hand. Throw in a jealous wife who resembles Rosie O’Donnell (Kim Brown) and a terrorist who resembles Brown’s character (Christian Navarro) and the pot really begins to boil, stirred by an oversexed hotel maid (Bethany Hamrick) waiting to be discovered.

Physical comedy is the prime mission of director Tom Amen’s bullet-paced production, with all the spies, terrorists and hotel employees filing in and out seemingly at random. Amen employs a lengthy madcap chase sequence to close out the first act to the tune of “Mission: Impossible.”

Some sterling performances rise to the top, primarily Chorley’s frustrated would-be philanderer and Brown’s mannish, mustachioed comic turn as his ballistic spouse. Torrico entertains as a metaphor-mangling writer, while Patzer is a treat as the virginal object of Chorley’s affections. Hambrick’s gyrations are calculated to make the guys in the audience sit up and take notice, and Hemingway’s macho miscalculations are hilarious.

Straighter roles are filled nicely by Robert Heger as the hotel manager and Joshua Steinberg as an unfortunate guest in the adjoining room. True, effective farce depends more on high-velocity physical timing than pinpoint characterization, though this also is important. At Golden West, both elements are present in abundance in “What the Bellhop Saw.”

If You Go

WHAT: “What the Bellhop Saw”

WHERE: Golden West College Stage West Theater, 15744 Goldenwest St

WHEN: Closing performances 7:30 tonight through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

COST: $10 to $12

CALL: (714) 895-8150

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.