Leguizamo Boogies Toward Adulthood

John Leguizamo quickly cranks up the party atmosphere in his solo show at the Wiltern Theatre, where he opened Wednesday. He begins with a raucous demonstration of differences in dance styles from various social groups, and he launches the second act by dancing with audience members in the center aisle.

His talk is as rambunctious as his moves. “We’re going to go nuts tonight,” he says, promising the show will be “raw” and “crazy” and his “last chance to party” before settling into responsible adulthood. Not much time goes by without an obvious laugh line. Even when he briefly gets serious, such as when he gives an account of the death of his grandfather, the actor-comedian slyly undercuts his sentiment.

The show, continuing tonight and Saturday, is slated to be titled “Sexaholix” when it hits Broadway this fall (here it’s simply “John Leguizamo Live!”). He does talk a lot about sex. He says his obsession with it during his college years dominated his most mundane activities--cue the funny physicalization of this thought. As a teenager, he and his friends called themselves the Sexaholix, although they talked a lot more than they acted.

Still, the rowdy talk in the show and the planned New York title are a bit deceptive. Leguizamo’s real news--in the sense of something that we haven’t heard about his life from his previous solo shows--is that he’s already settled down.

He has found his soul mate, on whom he showers nothing but praise. They’re not married, but they have two children. The show ends with Leguizamo reviving elements of his previously discussed childhood bedtime rituals with his own children. The audience’s final reaction is a heartfelt but somewhat mushy response to his tender feelings of fatherhood and the cycle of life. It has little to do with partying.

We learn that Leguizamo had previously gone through an affair with an older woman and then a marriage and divorce involving someone else. He describes both relationships acerbically but not without self-deprecation--one of the women told him, “If I have to say ‘Yes, you do so many fascinating voices’ one more time....”

Considering all this--and the lack of marital bliss in the family that sired him--it’s not surprising that he now rejects the notion of nuptials as a way to stabilize his relationship. He’s quite stable enough, he’s assuring us.

Which is great for him, but the complacency about his present life doesn’t sharpen his comedy (at least not in comparison to his last show, “Freak,” which was shown on HBO but was not performed live in L.A.).

Leguizamo’s performance skills are still impeccable--watch his impersonation of his children emerging from the womb--and it’s great to see him tackling new territory in the second act (the first act covers the same period as his earlier shows, although the incidents are different). But he could dig a little deeper.

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“John Leguizamo Live!,” Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Tonight and Saturday, 8 p.m. (213) 480-3232. $26-$46. Running time: 2 hours.