Move over Little Shop Of Horrors. There’s a new killer musical in town and it’s Randy Rogel’s murderously clever dark-comedy gem Did You Hear What Walter Paisley Did Today?, now making its World Premiere debut at the La Mirada Theatre.

Like LSOH, DYHWWPDT? has us time-traveling back to mid-20th-century America, though this time round we’re not at Mushnik’s Florist “down in skid row” but at San Francisco’s Café des Artistes, where the coolest cats hang and where proprietor/poet Maxwell (Ross Helwig) prides himself in displaying the trendiest new pieces, no matter how crazy and cryptic they may be, because (as the entire cast sings in the show’s opening number) “That’s Art.”

And Café des Artistes is precisely where waiter Walter (Steven Booth) hopes one day to see his sculptures displayed, if only he possessed sufficient talent to achieve his goal.

In the meantime, Walter tends to the coffee needs of a beatnik crowd while crushing on aspiring modern dancer Carla (Vanessa Sierra), no matter that she’s dating Max.

And speaking of unfulfilled desires, that’s precisely what Walter’s libidinous landlady, the zaftig-and-zany Mrs. Swickert (Kathy Fitzgerald), feels for her nerdy-cute tenant as she attempts to convince him to ignore their considerable age difference because “the older the violin, the better it plays.”

Interrupted only by visits from the lusty, busty Mrs. Swickert and his avian buddy “Walter Pigeon,” Walter’s dreary day-to-day changes radically when, in an attempt to free Mrs. Swickert’s escaped cat from behind the woodwork where he’s gotten himself trapped, Walter’s knife hits an unexpected target and inspiration strikes.

Why not simply cover the unwittingly murdered tom (and the knife still plunged into its back) in clay and see what kind of reaction it gets among the art connoisseurs who frequent Café Des Artistes?

Lo and behold, a sculpting star is born.

Anyone who recalls Audrey II’s increasingly voracious appetite in Little Shop (from drops of blood, to slabs of meat, to live animals, to Orin Scrivello, DDS) can probably guess where Walter’s quest for victims-to-turn-into-art is heading, but that doesn’t make the getting there any less fun for anybody whose sense of humor runs dark.

Rogel’s fiendishly cunning book (adapted from the 1950s Roger Corman horror flick A Bucket Of Blood, though the program makes no mention is made of this) is filled with 1950s beatnik slang (“Your poetry is the living end. Your rhymes are hip and trip and straight off the lip.”), his lyrics are every bit as delightful, and his catchy tunes run the gamut of styles, from syncopated doo wop to vampy blues to 1950s pop to show tunes to jazz to French chanson.

Not only that, but since Did You Hear What Walter Paisley Did Today? packs in a grand total of 20 musical numbers into two 45-minute acts, there’s never a long wait until the next ditty has you singing along inside your head.

BT McNicholl (who developed DYHWWPDT? during its journey “from the blank page to the full stage”) directs its La Mirada Theatre World Premiere with abundant pizzazz, eliciting once fabulous star turn after another from his leads and plenty featured gems to match.

Leading man Booth’s “Richie Cunningham” persona (a role La Mirada audiences will recall him playing in Garry Marshall’s Happy Days) makes him the ideal choice for Walter as he goes from boy next door to neighborhood serial killer.

Raven-haired stunner Sierra gives Walter plenty to crush on while displaying Broadway-caliber pipes and dance chops in equal measure, Hellwig reveals hitherto unrevealed triple-threat talents as the deliciously pretentious Maxwell, Fitzgerald steals every scene she’s in as the no-holds-barred (and no-man-unlusted-for) Mrs. Swickert, and Kingley Leggs is terrific too as Walter’s friend-turned-agent Leonard.

Josh Adamson and Janna Cardia delight in multiple cameos, particularly his as murder-investigating Detective Lou Raby and hers as art maven Lili Von Vondergraff.

  Ashley Moniz and James Caleb Grace are dance standouts as Beatnik Guy and Girl (and more), and emerging talents Lucas Blankenhorn, Jamir Brown (Clive, Mayor), and Carlin Castellano complete DDHWWPDT?’s multitasking ensemble to whiz-bang effect.

Fresh from Broadway’s Beetlejuice, Connor Gallagher choreographs one powerhouse dance number after another as the cast sing along to Andrew Orbison’s expert musical direction and a six-piece live band*.

Last but not least, Did You See What Walter Paisley Did Today? benefits enormously from an all-star La Mirada Theatre design team: John Iacovelli’s splendid sets, Ann Closs-Farley’s groovy costumes, wigs, and makeup, David Lander’s vivid lighting, Ryan Marsh’s entertaining projections, Aran de la Peña’s adorable puppets, and Pamela K. Marsden’s period props (and Disney-esque animal sculptures), and the whole shebang sounds as fabulous as it looks thanks to sound designer Cricket S. Myers.

Dance arrangements are by David Dabbon and orchestrations by Larry Hochman. Kimberly Grigsby is musical supervisor.

Casting is by Binder Casting, Chad Eric Murnane, CSA, and Amber Snead, CSA.

Bree Sherry is production stage manager and Bridget Rooney is assistant stage manager. Gene O’Donovan is technical director. Matthew Herrmann is general director. David Elzer is publicist.

Did You Hear What Walter Paisley Did Today? is presented by La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts and MB Artists, Inc. (Kevin Bailey and James J. Mellon, Producers).

World Premiere musicals with Broadway aspirations tend to require major changes before they make it to New York. Songs get replaced, running times get trimmed, and characters end up on the cutting room floor.

None of this seems necessary with La Mirada Theatre’s newest musical treat. As clever as it tuneful as it is fabulously performed, Did You See What Walter Paisley Did Today? could well be on its way to the Great White Way.

*Benet Braun and Amy Liu (keyboards), Julian Cantrell (bass), Austin Farmer (drums), Ian Felchlin (drums, and Frank Fontaine (woodwinds, reeds)

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
March 18, 2023
Photos: Jason Niedle

Tags: La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, Randy Rogel