Pointless fun wears thin in 'Life'

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'The Successful Life of 3' Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, University of Hawai'i-Manoa 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday $8, $7, $3 956-7655

Emma Palumbo directs "The Successful Life of 3" by Maria Irene Fornes as burlesque romp — a series of sketches that seem yanked out of vaudeville but are cloaked as an examination of gender conditioning.

In the 11 p.m. time slot at the University of Hawai'i, that cloak is mighty thin. A quote from playwright Maria Fornes in the program and hung as a banner across the stage does little to add clarity: "I have to live with my own truth. I have to live with it. You have to live with your own truth. I cannot live without it."

Looking for meaning too hard could destroy the fun. Unfortunately, the pointless fun doesn't fully sustain even the one-hour playing time.

The puzzle starts with the title and the character names. There are roles for "She," "He" and "3." Our expectation is that two of them are gender stereotyped and the third is indeterminate or a switch-hitter.

But two women play "She" (Leanne Baumung and Rachel Secretario). One is a dumb blonde sexpot . The second is an exhausted baby machine. We know this from their broad characterizations and their stick-on labels.

"He" (Kris DeRego) is a dogged bread-winner and provider who keeps striking out in the sexual department, while "3" (Nate Hayashi) is a philandering alpha male out for a good time. Anyone expecting threesomes or gender bending will be disappointed.

What's left is the vaudeville, most of which goes to the blonde and the philanderer, suggesting there's a Groucho Marx routine waiting to be discovered. The cast doesn't truly find it, but they do some soft-shoe and shoot for over-the-top delivery, staying loose and producing some sense of fun.