Charming, funny, and eager-to-please, “Simple Mexican Pleasures,” the world premiere comedy now on stage at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, finds playwright Eric Reyes Loo folding a mercado’s worth of ingredients into a delicious serving of a show.
Mixed race ancestry, femme shame, sibling relationships, parental approval, a break-up, a road trip, ghosts, lots of gay sex jokes, and a never-ending quest for delicious food are all stuffed into the play’s tightly packed single act.
A narrator-driven show with scenes that play like sketches, the play’s throughline finds a successful but newly single gay Los Angeleno licking his wounds, getting in his feelings, and connecting with deeper truths on a shake-it-off vacation to Mexico City.
Performed by a superb cast of four on Kate Boyd’s inviting, Crayola-bright set and directed by Evren Odcikin, who reliably balances intellect and entertainment in his work throughout the Bay Area, the show is immediately satisfying. But it gets served up and gobbled down in short order.
Despite a script that repeatedly name-checks Michelin-starred Mexico City restaurant Pujol, writer Loo leaves little time or contemplative space for audiences to savor the play’s component ingredients or appreciate the nuances of their interplay.
“Simple Mexican Pleasures” feels like it’s been oversimplified; trimmed to the bone in the workshopping process. It’s plenty good, but it’s potentially glorious.
While less is often best, I’m tempted, in this case, to make a request of writer Loo: Please sir, may I have some more.
Characters worth embracing
The protagonist of “Simple Mexican Pleasures,” shares the playwright’s name, occupation (writer), and ethnic background (Mexican mother, Chinese father; see, already not so simple).
When handsome square-jawed Alex Rodriguez appears on stage solo as Eric, then breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly, it feels like we’re in autobiographical monologue or spoken-word cabaret territory (Rodriguez’s resemblance to comedian Mario Cantone underscores that impression).
And, indeed, while each of the three other cast members –Marcia Aguilar, Ricardo Cortes, and Edric Young– has one extended showcase scene in which they bring a richly realized character to life, they spend most of their onstage time as a wisecracking Greek, Mexican and Chinese chorus of Eric’s ancestors. They’re brilliant, but they’re backup singers to his lead.
That’s a shame, because when each of the trio takes their featured turn, they’re every bit as magnetic as Rodriguez.
First, Aguilar does a Carol Burnett-worthy scene as Eric’s daffy-but-lovable overprotective mother. Soon after, Cortes gives us Mauricio, an architect who Eric flirts with at an art museum, so gently and soulfully rendered that I was sad to see him go.
And in a stirring scene toward the show’s end, Young unexpectedly manifests Eric’s straight older brother, Pat. Through some quicksilver thespian magic, this character, who until then has barely been mentioned, instantly becomes the play’s emotional anchor.
With just a subtle rocking of his lanky frame, some delicate vocal modulation, and a few shifts of his limpid eyes, Young made brotherly love palpable; not only creating an indelible scene himself, but also boosting Rodriguez to a new peak in his performance.
Given Eric Loo’s ability to build the foundations and write the voices for such funny, distinctive, and deeply felt characters, I’d love to see “Simple Mexican Pleasures” grow into the complex dramatic treasure one can see shimmering beneath its surface.
‘Simple Mexican Pleasures,’ through May 18. $25-$72.50. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave.
http://www.nctcsf.org
