This mini-musical seemed to me as good a second time around. Audiences must think so, too, because the show has had several added performances and yet is sold out as I write.
Though The Great American Trailer Park Musical isn't free of raunchiness, director Kelly Woodland has been mindful of Venice's mostly conservative crowds. She keeps the show's satire pointed but not dependent on being risque with either dialogue or lyrics.
So Armadillo Acres is essentially a fun place, despite its intrigues and gossips about them. The focus is on a silver stream mobile home and a blue rental unit next door, with lots of space in front of them and little gardens (with flamingo decor) where park residents sun themselves and talk...and so on. The silver spot is occupied by Jeannie (effective actress-singer Nancy Denton), an agoraphobic since her and husband Norbert's newborn babe was kidnapped when she left him for just moments. She's practicing leaving the trailer, one step at a time, to go to the Ice Capades for the couple's 20th anniversary.
Meanwhile, Patrick B. Johnson's romantic, inconstant Norbert has been collecting more than tolls. He's getting some off-site action from Pippi, his renting neighbor. Seductively played by Rebecca Phippard, Pippi is a stripper who figures she can't pole dance forever. She certainly wants someone sweeter than Duke (Travis Rogers, rough and tough). When he isn't fully in pursuit, he sniffs Magic Markers.
A small but powerful quasi-chorus of Trailer Trash residents is led by Betty, AA Manager (cute Cara Herman with authority and big voice). Danae DeShazer as Lin (so called because she was born on a linoleumed kitchen floor) is as cheerful as can be when not pining for a husband in prison. Zanna Duckett-Martino plays a "hysterically pregnant" Pickles.
The book's soap opera material is punctuated by R & B, straight blues, rock, pop, and disco music. Jason Brenner does a fine job of producing it offstage. Costumes and scenic elements are site-appropriate, that is -- a hoot. I wouldn't be surprised to see the show back again in the future.
