Silly ‘3 Oranges’ no laughing matter

LA JOLLA, Calif. —  Once upon a time, a melancholy prince was fated to die unless he could be made to laugh. Fortunately, the young prince’s best hope was not a ticket to his own story, as told in the slapstick fairy tale “The Love of Three Oranges,” for if it had been, he’d have been a goner for sure.

Based on a 1761 scenario by the Venetian writer Carlo Gozzi, “Oranges” is the brainchild of Romanian director Nona Ciobanu, who might best be described as the Julie Taymor of her country. Her work caught the eye of La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff, resulting in an invitation for her to come here to create a show. Working with nine American actors, she has developed a present-day approximation of the classic art of improvisational comedy known as commedia dell’arte. To this, she and co-designer/collaborator Iulian Baltatescu have added some vaguely arty flourishes that involve draping, billowing and stretching a yellow curtain into phantasmagorial shapes. The unfortunate result is a sort of low-rent Cirque du Soleil as performed by the Teletubbies.

In the show’s first moments, the curtain swells, as if pregnant, and a tube begins to inchworm, Mummenschanz-like, from its navel. The prince (Jim Parsons) is spit out of its end; he greets the world with cries of unhappiness.

Physical comedy and sight gags, additional hallmarks of commedia dell’arte, are meant to propel the sketchily explained events that follow. The family and friends at Sunday’s opening laughed gamely; future audiences might not be so kind.

The prince is born wearing PJs that are the same sickly yellow as the curtain. This turns out to be the universal wardrobe in Lugubria, where everyone shuffles along with the childish gait of Teletubbies. Everyone, that is, except the elderly king (Time Winters), who pulls himself along with his hands while his legs trail uselessly behind. To protect his hands, he shoves them into slippers.

Are you laughing yet? This is as sophisticated as the comedy ever gets.

The king despairs because no one, not even the jester (John Altieri), can make the prince laugh. Perhaps this is because the jester’s repertoire is limited to pale impersonations of how Nathan Lane might play the role.

Certain factions, meanwhile, hope the prince will die of his unhappiness, so that they will inherit the kingdom instead. In league with them is the witch Fata Morgana (Donald Corren), who inadvertently makes the prince laugh. Upon realizing her mistake, the old crone curses the prince with a burning desire to obtain three magical oranges. The quest surely will kill him.

Those who ponder bringing young children to the show might want to take into account a few events on this journey, such as the encounter with a character who, for all too obvious reasons, is named Tit, or the man-to-tree intercourse committed to obtain the oranges.

The content and form of commedia dell’arte, with its stock characters and broad humor, might seem worlds removed from today’s audiences. But Taymor artfully turned Gozzi’s “The Green Bird” (a sequel, of sorts, to “Oranges”) into one of her puppet extravaganzas, seen at La Jolla Playhouse in 1996. And a previous Ciobanu production of “Oranges” is reported to have been a long-running hit in Romania. (The American version features text by James Magruder.)

Ciobanu inventively incorporates a puppet (yes, it’s a green bird) and a couple of masks, as well as a flying effect that enables a benevolent magician to glide-walk along the side of a mountain. The effects are momentarily diverting in this 90-minute show, which is performed without intermission. But the storytelling is off, because the underlying themes -- the universal tug of war between sadness and happiness, the virtues of friendship and teamwork -- are hard to read through the infantile buffoonery.

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‘The Love of Three Oranges’

Where: La Jolla Playhouse at the Mandell Weiss Forum, Revelle College Drive at La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Oct. 17

Price: $29 to $52

Contact: (858) 550-1010 or www.LaJollaPlayhouse.com

Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes