On stage: 'Obama' the musical leads week's offerings

The president, a sex farce and metaphysical musings are all among the openings on local stages this week:

"Obama On My Mind"

Through Nov. 15, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Seattle; $15-$24 (206-386-1177, www.brownpapertickets.com).

Opinion writers and cable-news pundits remind us daily, sometimes gleefully, that the young presidency of Barack Obama morphed some time ago from the blind faith of "yes, we can" to the harsh realities of "sometimes, we can't."

Watching Teddy Hayes' musical comedy "Obama On My Mind" a year after the historic election of 2008 is a spirited if lighthearted way of recalling just how outsize was the optimism of many Obama supporters.

Hayes' farce, currently making its American debut at the Langston HughesPerforming Arts Center, includes a few characters stirred by palpable excitement over the Democratic nominee. But the play's setting, an Obama campaign office with a mixed-race staff of pros and volunteers in an unidentified city, also embraces folks who secretly feel conflicted over their man for reasons of race and ideology.

Rounding things off are seasoned campaign vetseither railing against local media or massaging it.

Like an old Norman Lear sitcom from the 1970s, "Obama On My Mind" is more a collection of sociopolitical types than complex people. But that works quite well for Hayes' jokey show, which spends most of its first half in big musical numbers defining the campaign perspective (and private agendas) of a political director, a marketing guy, an office manager, etc.

Some of those tunes work better than others, especially Demene E. Hall's lustful ode to Barack; Annie Jantzer's vampy take on being a communications director; and Umémé's disheveled lunacy as a weary fundraiser.

Hayes could almost pull off a complete revue format, but he adds a curious, Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur-like "Front Page"-ish element when an outraged staffer (Ron Davids) threatens to confront an offstage newspaper editor, who in turnattempts suicide. This minor story string proves a convoluted way of addressing Obama-esque empathy, which already comes through much more gracefully elsewhere.

Tom Keogh Special to The Seattle Times

"Measure for Pleasure"

Wednesdays-Sundays through Nov. 14, ArtsWest, Seattle; $10-$32. (206 938-0339, www.artswest.org)

David Grimm's "Measure for Pleasure" is a Restoration comedy for modern sensibilities. It's also a blatantly raunchy, in-your-face sex farce in which the good life is defined by erotic pleasures. It isn't a great play, but it is a funny one.

In director ChristopherZinovitch's production, the actors prance about the stage in handsome period costumes and wigs (by Sarah Lee Day). There isn't a weak member in the 10-person cast, all of whom have descriptive character names like Molly Tawdry, Hermione Goode, Lord Lustforth.

With verve and élan, they grope their way through sexual encounters as they spout their couplets and rhymed verse. Evidently low comedy can nourish stylish acting.

This is especially evident in the second act, where the play manages to combinedebauchery with tenderromance. Here the main characters become more than cartoon figures and love takes its place alongside lust. Here, too, the same-sex couple who are the stars of the play find their happy ending.

The set by Dan Schuy, with its gossamer drapes and folding screen, is cleverly designed to allow the imagination to fill in where the assignations aren't acted out, front and center. Andrew Chin's sound is effective.

So why is this less than a great evening in the theater? Too much of a good thing! The never-ending stream of double entendres becomes tiresome. The sexuallyexplicit visual gags are a bit too predictable, especially in the first act where there is little else.

Though not memorable, "Measure for Pleasure" is naughty though lighthearted entertainment for mature audiences.

Nancy Worssam Special to The Seattle Times

"The Believers"

Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 21 at Annex Theatre, Seattle; $5-$15. (800-838-3006, www.annextheatre.org).

When you start wondering if a play doesn't make sense or you're just too dense to get it, it's hard to keep paying attention.

That's the main trouble with "The Believers," an arid, mind-numbing new script written and staged at Annex Theatre by Jim Bovino.

Bovino's characters areciphers who deliver inscrutable, jargon-filled meta-monologues about truth, movies, theater and other big topics, and not much else happens (apart from some nifty shadowy/glowing lighting effects). After a while, whatever metaphysical snarl the author is trying to verbally disentangle becomes a moot point. (And don't blame the actors — what can they do about it?)

Perhaps Bovino could transform his script into a lecture on semiotics? As a live performance piece, it turns an hour into an eternity.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com