Theater Reviews

Jun 18, 2007 - Bruka Theater's "The Golden Screw," a title not without meaning, is better than its name

By By Jack Neal

Frankly, by-passing "The Golden Screw, or That's Your Thing Baby," the new forty-one year old musical now (June 2007) at Reno's Bruka Theater, seemed a good idea. The Bruka Theater company – the closest troupe Reno has as a professional semi-professional acting company, has been doing great business with its recent crop of productions.

"Reefer Madness" packed audiences in for nine weeks without an empty seat to be had. Now it's "Golden Screw" time and the thought passed my mind – it's just another earthy crowd pleaser. I couldn't have been more wrong. Not that it doesn't please. It does, but it's much more than just a crowd pleaser.

Written (the script) and composed (the music) by Tom Sankey and produced as an off-off Broadway presentation in 1966, "The Golden Screw" was not quite an over-night sensation, but it came close.

What Sankey has wrought is a terrific off-beat little show that runs 90 minutes with intermission. It boomerangs between being a hippy concert a la folksinger, interspersed with parallel snippets of dramatic action – most of it very funny. It's a mild flip-off commentary about American society that wreaks of 1960's musicals such as "Hair."

The show does have a conscience, even if it's a conscience that sometimes puzzles as much as it enlightens. Its humor is cornpone - like "Greater Tuna," only with music. The Bruka experience, the environment itself, evokes a Bohemian ambiance that's appealing. Young people love laughing outrageously at every nook and cranny of nuance that amuses. I love that feeling of sharing youthful exuberance over a loveable show that entertains. Kudos to director Jim Martin for putting the glow on this splendid little show.

James Cavanaugh is the folksinger. He couldn't be better. A smooth combination of singer, storyteller and magnetic presence that is the glue that makes the show's words and music dance. Mary Bennett, a stalwart for Bruka Theater, is back in a multi collusion of roles and she's just right in all she does. But she's at her best in a soliloquy called "Can I touch you" that's an attempt at reconnecting between a couple that might have been happier before the husband's success and ego took over their lives.

David Simpson has a wildly happy face that reacts to each sketch with a joy that rarely registers so vibrantly on an actor's face – unless, of course, the actor is David Simpson. Andy Luna completes the show's acting threesome and he's equally sensational whether he's playing Simon Sez or the hilariously challenged employee of an Army-Navy surplus store.

There's a terrific backup band, "The Flat Head Screws," that collaborates with the folk singing Cavanaugh during "The Golden Screw's" second half. Gary Kephart on bass guitar and drummer Frank Ferreira add oomph and luster to an already lustrous show.

At is finest "Golden Screw" touches. "But I'm thinking most of you, my friends," the show's last song goes. "You're the first I'll tell it to: I'm looking for that holy frail, I'm looking for my virgin's eye, I'm looking for my little white dog."

Aren't we all?

"The Golden Screw or That's Your Thing Baby" can be seen at the Bruka Theatre, 99 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, June 14-16, 21-23, 28-29 (2007) at 8 p.m., and June 24 (2007) at 2 p.m. For information call 775-323-3221 or go online at bruka.org.