Coming in Like a ‘Lion’

Making an uneven but encouraging debut, the brand-new children’s theater company Bread and Jam has launched itself at Two Roads Theatre with what was once one of the most produced children’s plays in the country, Aurand Harris’ delightful commedia dell’arte-style romp, “Androcles and the Lion.”

This play, with its messages of freedom, kindness and justice, built upon Aesop’s fable about a slave who aids an injured lion, is always worth doing, and director Tekla Ackelson-Wright, despite limited resources, has taken pains to give it its due.

The show opens with style, its colorfully costumed cast initially overcoming the disadvantage of the theater’s very tiny stage by playfully parading into the aisles as a band of strolling players, announcing the play about to be seen and donning the traditional, wildly unsubtle half-masks of the characters they are going to portray.

Julie Mullen is masked in cranky red and hunched beneath a cape as Pantalone, the wicked old miser; prettily gowned Nickie Benner is his young ward, Isabella; and clean-cut Chad Rogers is her smitten admirer, Lelio. Bruce Wright, in his beak-nosed yellow mask, is the foppish braggart Captain, charged to keep the young lovers apart so that Pantalone can keep Isabella’s dowry.

Justin Pecot, his blue mask snub-nosed and anxious, is Pantalone’s slave, Androcles. He longs for his freedom and helps Isabella elope with Lelio, although it leads to his being dubbed a runaway and condemned to be eaten by a ferocious beast as punishment.

The not-so-ferocious beast is played by Debbie Sachs, who also delivers, sans her lion mask, the play’s prologue.

The adult actors are capable; Mullen’s Pantalone is well-defined, and Rogers, who is adept at any number of appealing comic expressions, both as ardent Lelio and as a flowerpot-topped garden wall--shades of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”--is particularly winning.

Movement, exaggerated and stylized, is an important element in this theatrical style, however, and the cast is intermittently successful in accomplishing it with flair, hampered, too, by the tiny stage.

The very appealing Pecot, who has many enjoyably comic moments, could be a standout with a tad more physical and vocal assurance--and how about turning down the loud recorded musical accompaniment that overwhelms his light singing voice?

The play loses rhythm during the second act’s chase through the woods. It’s awkward at best in the limited space, and Sachs’ performance as the lion has little sense of the play’s intended style.

Valerie Wright-Ballin’s colorful costumes add panache, and Bruce Wright’s simple set design is visually pleasing.

It’s not a bad beginning, however; this fledgling company, radiating commitment, shows promise. A little more room to grow in wouldn’t hurt.

* “Androcles and the Lion,” Two Roads Theatre, 4348 Tujunga Ave., Studio City, Saturday, 4 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $4, children; $8, adults. (818) 982-1475. Running time: 90 minutes.

Beat It: Be cool, be hip, be there--when UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum presents “The Beat Generation” on Saturday, a day of family programming related to the current exhibition, “Sunshine & Noir: Art in L.A. 1960-1997.”

The day kicks off at 11 a.m. with the acclaimed Advanced Dance Theater Group from Beverly Hills High School in “Energy Made Visible,” a performance using the elements of movement, space, time and energy to explore chance and abstraction.

At noon, noted performer Peter Kors is a “beatnik” storyteller, serving up “Beat Tales” for “kidniks.” The event ends with a “Pacific Composers Forum,” in which composers will re-create a Beat Generation “happening,” experimenting with traditional concert settings, instruments and the role of the composer.

* “The Beat Generation,” UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, Saturday, 11 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Family programs are free. Admission to exhibitions: $4.50 for adults; ages 17 and under, free. (310) 443-7000.

Stringing Along: An all-day “Puppet Jamboree,” for children, puppet enthusiasts and puppeteers, will take place at Valley Cities Jewish Community Center on Sunday. Performances include Doug Seymour and His Marionettes, Rene and His Puppet Artistry, and a special puppet variety revue; workshop artists will feature Seymour, Rene, Alan Cook, “Mr. Fringey” and many other professionals.

* “Puppet Jamboree,” Valley Cities Jewish Community Center, 13164 Burbank Blvd., Sherman Oaks, Sunday. Puppet shows: 11:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; workshops, 10:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. All-day adult passes, $10-$12; ages 12 and under, $5-$7.50. One activity only, $2-$3; puppet show only, $5-$7.50. (818) 786-6310.