The Broadway Theatre in Vista is quite an enterprise. The company, which is operated by Randall Hickman and Douglas Davis, hosts theatre workshops for kids, produces shows for both children (at the Off-Broadway Theatre) and adults (at the nearby Broadway Theatre), runs drama camps, and each year does a talent showcase. The Broadway Theatre is a homey operation, offering inexpensive tickets, free coffee and cookies at intermission, and a raffle for door prizes before the show begins. And, the cast lines up outside the door following the show to thank the patrons for coming and to engage them in a bit of conversation. Obviously, it works--the program boasts that the operation sells 98.7% of its tickets. With those kinds of numbers, reviews are really superfluous.

The company's current show, "Ruthless," Joel Paley and Marvin Laird's 1992 off-Broadway musical hit, is an outrageous spoof on the world of theatre. It's easy to see why it might appeal to people who have devoted their lives to developing young people as theatre lovers. "Ruthless" tells the cautionary tale of Tina Denmark (Natasha Portnoy on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Lou Rasse on Fridays and Saturdays) who more than anything wants to be cast in the lead of her elementary school production, "Pippi in Tahiti, The Musical." Her mother, Judy (Eileen Bowman Sylwestrzak) is delighted in all of the positive energy her daughter displays, as well as her desire to be involved at school, but she considers herself to be without talent and wonders where Tina got hers. It certainly wasn't from her father, who is always not at home for one reason or another.

Tina's ambitions are egged on by Sylvia St. Croix (Leigh Scarrit), who introduces herself to Judy as a talent scout and manager, though it is odd that Sylvia takes such an interest in Tina. But, Tina is not cast by Miss Thorn (Renetta Lloyd), the teacher who wrote and is directing the play. Instead, Miss Thorn casts Louise Lerman (Amanda Everett), the daughter of the couple who have essentially bankrolled the production, and Tina is forced to play Pippi's dog, a pantomime, non-singing, role. After Sylvia persuades Miss Thorn to allow Tina to understudy Pippi, Louise is found hanged from the theatre's catwalk. Even though everyone suspects Tina, the show must go on and Tina plays the lead to a rave review from Lita Encore (Richard Grant Muir), who has her own reasons for admiring a third grader in a school musical (everyone's behavior in this show is reprehensible, but theatre critics are the most reprehensible of the lot).

Act 2 is set in a New York penthouse. It seems that Judy has discovered that she had talent after all and has gone to New York to star in the Broadway version of "Pippi in Tahiti - The Musical." This role has led to others, and Judy is now the toast of Broadway, living the high life and attended to by her personal assistant, Eve (Ms. Lloyd). But, she has ignored Tina altogether after Tina was sent to the Daisy Clover School for Psychopathic Ingenues for her part in Louise's death, and Sylvia is the one who has looked out for her. While Judy is in the process being interviewed by Miss Block (Ms. Everett) for Thespian Magazine, Sylvia, and eventually Tina, barge in. Chaos ensues, a gun appears, and by the end only Tina is left standing.

Of course, this is all extremely campy and over-the-top. References to "The Bad Seed," "All About Eve," and a bunch of familiar musicals abound, and the songs, while the weakest part of the show, are intended to parody various Broadway styles. And while the cast is technically an all-female one, the original Sylvia was played by a man in drag (Mr. Hickman's production continues that tradition by making Lita Encore a drag role, and Ms. Scarrit's make-up could easily be worn by a drag queen). Mr. Davis, who does triple duty as host, tech person and dancer, even warned the audience in introducing the show that it was intended to be outrageous. But, the audience seemed not to enjoy the show at all, offering feeble laughter at the jokes and polite applause for the musical numbers and even for the entire cast at performance's end. This audience seemed to enjoy the raffle and the coffee and cookies at intermission, however.

So, wrong choice of show? Perhaps. Maybe just an off night for the audience. The cast certainly works at being as in-your-face as the script, and Mr. Hickman's direction was sharp and carefully thought out. Cast members did struggle to stay on pitch during the musical numbers, however, and I think that they might not have been able to hear the recorded piano accompaniment (by Mr. Davis). At some points, I thought that I was listening to Schoenberg instead of show tunes.

For the right audience, "Ruthless" is a very funny show. And the Broadway is doing so much right that I'm sure all will be forgiven if audiences decide that this one isn't for them.

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