I have written about the challenges and opportunities Lakewood Playhouse directors face when they stage shows in the theater’s in-the-round performance space.



The staging has to be sharp since the actors have to keep members of the audience on every side of them engaged and entertained even when at least one side of the performance house will see only the backs of actors during at least a part of the show. But then there are the opportunities offered by having the audience sit within inches of the actors while still being “flies on walls” to the action.



Such is the experience at Lakewood’s staging of Once in a Lifetime, a madcap comedy about the brilliance found in idiocy set in Old Hollywood as silent movies gave way to “talkies.”



Watching the action flash inches from the audience adds a level to this show that standard staging just couldn’t match. Director Marcus Walker knows his stage.



A series of blunders and misunderstandings that would rival a Three’s Company episode brings three washed out actors from vaudeville to the highest rungs of the movie-making business. The show is anchored by the Blake R York, a product of the South Sound’s theater program that includes some schooling at Pierce College and shows at Tacoma Little Theatre and Lakewood. He plays goofy well. While he was solid as the title role in the Nerd a few years back, he brought that character to the granite level in this show. The remaining members of the former vaudeville trio: Lewis Gorman and Nicole Lockett pulled their own in their roles. Another notable standout was Mark Peterson as the film production company owner who is taken in by the idiot turned theatrical visionary.



What took from this show was its length. This three-act show could have been trimmed by a good 20 minutes with nips and tucks here and there. Long strings of action should have been cut entirely. Not only did the audience seem to get fatigued, but the actors were looking a bit haggard by the time they were bowing for their curtain call. Maybe it was the fact that the playbill made mention of a standard intermission between act one and act two and then another “stretch break” between act two and three only added to the sense of a marathon show.



[Lakewood Playhouse, through June 21, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $14-$22, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood, 253.588.0042, lakewoodplayhouse.org]

Also on stage

For a show a bit more adult in nature, Olympia Little Theatre is staging The Little Dog Laughed, a show that is not often staged at community theater since it contains some hard language, sexual content and nudity. The play tells a cynical and funny story of Hollywood.



[Olympia Little Theatre, through June 21, 7:55 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1:55 p.m. Sunday, 1925 Miller Ave. N.E., Olympia, 360.786.9484, olympialittletheatre.org]