If Tennessee Williams were alive today, he might have written Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts, John Anthony Loffredo’s deliciously daring queer riff on Williams’ A Glass Menagerie, with a little bit of A Streetcar Named Desire testosterone (and some extended full-frontal male nudity) thrown in for seductive measure.

Like Menagerie’s Amanda Wingfield, middle-aged Southern belle Mamma (Reiko Aylesworth) has devoted her life to raising a couple of problematic, now 20something children despite straitened circumstances and the prominent lack of a male parental figure in the house.

Social anxiety-plagued L (Simone Brazzini) spends their days and nights holed up in their room, blogging on the Internet “for a bunch of people like me who never want to leave their rooms.”

Effeminate Harold (Patrick Reilly), meanwhile, dreams of becoming a professional ballerina, no matter his mother’s assertion that “ballet is for little girls in Paris, not for fit and able young men” who ought to be spending their time “fixing broken things and working.”

No wonder, then, that Mamma is concerned about her progeny’s futures, insisting that Harold stop dreaming his little girl dreams and that his younger sibling tie the wedding knot asap because no matter whom L marries, “life without a husband— Well— You’re better off dead.”

And if haste weren’t already of the essence, it most definitely is now that Mamma has been informed by her long-departed (but still very much alive) husband that he’s put their house up for sale and that barring a miracle, she and her two offspring will soon find themselves in the street.

Enter Man (Ryan Imhoff), a big, burly, bearded hunk of all-male meat who’s arrived upon their doorstep “hoping for a couch or a floor to sleep on,” a request Mamma is more than willing to agree to given L’s immediate need for a man to marry (and Mamma’s own desire to ravage him herself).

Let the romantic, sexual fireworks begin!

Though it’s not necessary to be familiar with the Tennessee Williams oeuvre to enjoy this Boston Court Pasadena World Premiere, those who are will immediately recognize Mamma as a tweaked Amanda and it soon becomes clear that L and Harold are each a little bit Tom and a little bit Laura.

Man, on the other hand, is far less Laura’s Gentleman Caller than he is Streetcar’s Stanley Kowalski, and his impact on Mamma, L, and Harold proves no less explosive than Stanley’s on Blanche DuBois.

All of this adds up to a dazzler of a World Premiere comedy-drama, one which takes the veiled homoeroticism of Tennessee Williams classics like Menagerie, Streetcar, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and unveils it (and then some) for a 21st-century audience.

Under director Zi Alikhan’s inspired direction, an all-around electrifying cast bring Frou-Frou to exuberant, enthralling life on the Boston Court Pasadena stage.

Aylesworth gives Mamma such a radiant, cheery demeanor in early scenes that when the tigress emerges and Mamma finally gets to let loose, the effect is even more shocking and explosive.

A sensational Reilly not only takes Harold from delicate and demure to confident and commanding but exhibits impressive balletic grace in dance sequences choreographed by Paul McGill.

Brazzini makes a striking Boston Court debut as a young person coming to grips with their gender identity, and Imhoff gives Man an imposing stage presence, dramatic chops, animal sex appeal, and no qualms whatsoever about baring it all on stage.

Anyone familiar with The Glass Menagerie will find scenic designer Samuel Keamy-Minor’s use of two rows of curtains inspired, and the additional design contributions of Danae Iris McQueen (costumes), Josh Epstein (lighting), Erin Bednarz (sound), Thomas Bigley (properties), and Nicholas Hussong (projections) make for an absolutely stunning production design.

Carly DW Bones’s intimacy direction and Edgar Landa’s fight choreography prove essential as well. Spencer Doughtie is assistant lighting designer. Grace Evanoff is dramaturg. Brandon Hong Cheng is production stage manager and Jaclyn Gehringer is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Victor Vasquez, CSA.

 You don’t have to be a Tennessee Williams aficionado to fall under Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts’ seductive spell, but the more you know about the man who gave us The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and The Night Of The Iguana (next on Boston Court’s theatrical calendar), the better.

Either way, you’re in for one breathtaking ride.

Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Through March 30. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30. Sundays at 2:00. No performances March 20-23.
www.BostonCourtPasadena.org

–Steven Stanley
March 1, 2025
Photos: Brian Hashimoto

Tags: Boston Court Pasadena, John Anthony Loffredo, Los Angeles Theater Review, Tennessee Williams