Gaslight checks in for 'A Night at the Padre'
Jul. 12—Bolstered by its last hit set at the iconic Alley Cat, Gaslight Melodrama takes inspiration from the bar's downtown neighbor for its latest production. Watch calamity ensue this weekend with "A Night at the Padre."
The show, which opens Friday, centers on the grand reopening of the Padre Hotel — and how everything that can go wrong does.
"It's always a fun kind of race when everything is supposed to be just right but it comes crashing down from every corner," said Michael Prince, the theater's artistic director who also wrote the show.
"It's finding comedy in the follies of everyday life. Everything that is supposed to go right goes wrong. It's nonstop chaos — our version of controlled chaos."
Trouble begins for hotel manager Carla Calamity (Jennifer Prince) right from the get-go. Her hotel staff is in disarray, with brand-new employee Alice DoLittle (Maddie Vendsel) stepping in after her personal assistant quits to pick up the pieces with the help of bellhop Jerry "Fearless" Lewis (Gabe Garcia).
World renowned master chef Wolfgang Pluck (Jake Chivington) departs after the food delivery truck fails to arrive, with chef Stu (also Chivington) taking over.
Famed lounge singer Lady Holiday (Kristen McGuire) is ready to perform on opening night — if only her band and backup singers would appear.
At the center of this misfortune is James Jameson (Michael Prince), Carla's high school ex and freelance reporter who is covering the event for The Bakersfield Californian. Aiding him is staff photographer Felix Flavin (Jack Prince), whose name is a nod to former real-life Californian photographer Felix Adamo.
"He's the ex-boyfriend who has had it in for her," Prince said of his character who may be responsible for some of the hotel's "bad luck." "He's from Boulder, Colo., but he requested to cover the story writing for The Californian. He's one of those idiot guys who can't let go of the past."
Although the real-life Padre Hotel reopened in 2010, "A Night at the Padre" was first presented in 2014 and owes a debt to Wes Anderson's comical "Grand Budapest Hotel," which Prince said helped inspire some of the aforementioned chaos.
The show's pace has a cinematic quality, Prince said.
"The first act is all in real time. It never stops — just go, go, go. It's chaos with an unrelenting fluidity to it that is really fun. Then there are wonderful, wonderful bits in Act II. It really plays like a movie. As a whole, it's so much fun."
"Padre" is followed by "The All American Vaudeville Revue."
"It's in celebration of all things American — Fourth of July and summertime — chock-full of patriotic songs and sketches and funny little vaudeville moments."
Prince said it's more of a classic vaudeville than the story-based ones the theater often does.
Stefani Dias can be reached at 661-395-7488. Follow her on Twitter: @realstefanidias.
