Unfunny | "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha" @ Pasadena Playhouse

[cahwyguy]

This show is titled “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha”, implying it is a funny, funny, show. It isn’t. It is bizarre; it is an attempt at avant-guard improvisational humor, often at the expense of others. Some people in the audience were laughing, so some might find it funny. But if you are a traditional theatre audience member, the only thing you are thankful for in this production is that it is over in barely over an hour.  A long hour.

If anything, this show reminds me of another Pasadena Playhouse one-woman show failure from early 2024: “Kate”, starring Kate Berlant. That show was also bizarre narcissistic comedy that you either loved or hated, and we hated. The Playhouse is two-for-two on one women comedy shows. Improv can be funny — look at “Freestyle Love Supreme“, which was funny. But people go to the Pasadena Playhouse for plays and musicals, not this … stuff … which has no story, no characters, no … substance.

If you want to get some other ideas of the show, read the McNulty review in the LA Times, or the Broadway World writeup. Both reviewers seemed to be at the same show. They someone enjoyed it, for reasons I don’t understand.

Additionally, the music and volume is far far too loud; my wife got a headache from the volume.

Let me describe the show we were at. Masli wanders out with a headpiece with lights on it going “Ha” in a strange pronunciation, going up to audience members until they start trying to repeat what she is saying because they can’t figure out anything else to do. She wanders on stage and gets a golden leg, which she uses as an arm with a microphone. She then wanders out into the audience going “Problem?” until people respond. At some point, she breaks a chair on stage, and she uses a subsequent problem to get someone to go on stage to try to fix it. Similarly, at some point she gets someone to go on stage to take a shower in front of the audience. She collects socks from audience members, and burns one of them. These seem to be stock bits (at least they were in the other reviews), although the problems that lead to them. At our show, she had a pizza and salad dropped from above.

Let’s see if I can remember the problems. There was someone who didn’t like the direction the world was going in. That led to her getting audience members to go on stage to rebuild the broken chair to repair something, and finding a white guy to take a shower to wash off the guilt. There was a guy who missed the crisp air and crunchy leaves of New York, so she dragged out a stage fan and had him sit in the breeze, while she threw lettuce at him. There was someone who had foot problems, so she dragged out a Chinese Acupuncture doctor to sit on stage to solve people’s medical problems. There was a fellow who needed commercial directing gigs. She couldn’t solve that one (why she didn’t suggest making a commercial for her show was beyond me).

I just didn’t find it funny. I found it exploitive, and I don’t think it was what the people who paid good money for a “show” were expecting. I know I’d be pissed if I paid LA Theatre prices for a show where I became the butt of a joke.

It just seems that there was no script. Each show was dependent on the “problems” that came from the audience.

If you like bizarre comedy, perhaps you’ll like this. If you’re looking for traditional theatre, stay away. If you’re wondering why we went: This was part of the Pasadena Playhouse season, the TBD show that was added at the last minute when something slipped on the schedule. We didn’t specifically buy tickets for this.

Are we upset about the show? Again, no. When you subscribe to a theatre, there are occasionally shows that just don’t land right. You take that risk to be exposed to new theatre. This one just wasn’t for us, but the Playhouse’s track record is overall quite good.

Why did the Playhouse do this? All I can guess is that some folks provided sufficient monetary support to put on the show, because they liked it at a Fringe Festival, and the Playhouse said “Thank you. That fills a hole in our production schedule nicely.”

“Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” continues at the Pasadena Playhouse through November 9. You can get tickets through the show page. Perhaps you’ll enjoy it. We didn’t. But at least it wasn’t “Girl from the North Country” bad. It was more like “Kate” bad.

Credits

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Created and performed by Julia Masli. Directed by Kim Nobel

Cast: Julia Masli Creator and Performer

Production and Creative: Kim Noble Director; Lily Woodford Lighting Design; Alessio Festuccia Sound Design; David Curtis-Ring, Annika Thiems, Alice Wedge Costume Design; Sarah Chapin Associate Producer, Production Manager, Stage Manager, Improvised Lighting Score; Sebastian Hernandez Improvised Sound Score; Maria Manuela Goyanes, David C. Frederick, Sophia Lynn Consulting Producers, Brad Enlow Technical Director, Production Supervisor; Davidson & Choy Publicity Press Representatives; Bonnie McHeffey General Manager; Jenny Slattery Assoc Artistic Director.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, and 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• November: ♦ Jaja’s African Hair Braiding at CTG/Taper; ♦ Paranormal Activity at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Suffs at BIH/Pantages;
• December: ◊ ACSAC Conference; ♣ Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson at CTG/Ahmanson; ♣ Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at The Soraya; ♦ Stereophonic at BIH/Pantages;
• January: ♦ The Notebook at BIH/Pantages; ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad;
• February: ♦⊕ Applause at MTG (Pending); ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Unfunny | "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha" @ Pasadena Playhouse by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.