Death, Sex a riot at Balagan

Balagan Theatre's Death, Sex has it all: a vampire, hot chicks, passionate Russians, a drowning man, a magician, a waitress, a bigoted defense attorney, a lying defendant, a mean dad, a disappointed teenager, and about an hour's worth of belly laughs.

Weisenheimer caught the opening-night performance of Death, Sex, a collection of six ten-minute comedies, on Feb. 6. It will be running all month, but you ought dash out there tonight; it would be a perfect Valentine's Evening outing.

The cast are all marvelous and hard-working. LaChrista Borgers puts in triple-duty, playing Simone, one of the babes stalked by the Vampyre in the opening segment; as Tanya, who may cause Mike Dooly's Volodya to stray from his "kitten" Lili (Megan Ahiers) in The Only Leg He's Got; and Lisa, the poor young thing who doesn't get a very good present for her birthday in Shel Silverstein's The Best Daddy. Borgers is especially hilarious in the latter, as her daddy, also delightfully portrayed by Ashley Bagwell, torments her with "Birthday fools" gifts. What's under the blanket? A dead pony? Her dead sister? The motorcycle she's always wanted? Who knows.

Chris Bell is a riot as Langford, the vampire in Vampyre, and he's a real one, not just an actor acting in a vampire flick. He's also great as the magician in Orange, Lemon, Egg, Canary, courting Ahiers the waitress in the segment that's far more sweet than the others. Jason Harber directed that one, and acts in two others, as Derek the director in Vampyre and as the defendant in David Mamet's Scene 2 of Romance.

The show received a strong review from the Weekly. Balagan is value priced and marvelously entertaining. Go!