REVIEW: Gay sci-fi doings yield lowdown laughs

Everett Quinton triumphs amid ‘Devil Boys from Beyond'

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

Hunky invaders from Pluto land their saucer in Lizard Lick, Florida, in 1957 and the local ladies go wild while a spunky gal reporter tries to nab the story in "Devil Boys from Beyond," a ridiculously gay (in a good way) opus now up for laughs at New World Stages.

Co-scripted by writer Buddy Thomas and director Kenneth Elliott, the 90-minute farce offers a madly bawdy turn by Ridiculous Theatrical Company eminence Everett Quinton as a sexed-up Florida matron, plus amusingly tacky special effects, a sufficiently silly tale and two extremely buff fellows as the scarcely dressed aliens.

The co-founder of Theatre-in-Limbo with playwright Charles Busch, Elliott directed many of Busch's greatest hits including "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" and "The Lady in Question." In certain respects, "Devil Boys from Beyond" suggests a classic Busch comedy staged without Busch's glowing presence (or that of his incomparable sidekick, Julie Halston).

The equivalent of Busch's drag role here is taken by Paul Pecorino as Mattie Van Buren, a steely reporter dogged by Chris Dell'Armo's rival female scribe as they stalk those ravishing Plutopians. Elbows and hips cocked at aggressive angles, Pecorino infuses his hardboiled Mattie with a Crawford-esque streak of masochism that complements juicy lines like (to the boozehound shutterbug played by Robert Berliner) "You're trying not to drink and I'm trying not to love you!"

But it's Quinton's fearlessly lowdown depiction of a desiccated Floridian dame who becomes a sex bomb that detonates the biggest laughter. Caterwauling in a crazy Southern drawl, shimmying in bizarre get-ups, Quinton goes beyond "Beyond" in his demented campiness.

Also a Limbo veteran, nutcracker-jawed Andy Halliday slyly portrays another lust-besotted townswoman rather in the manner (and bedizened withered-apple looks) of Ruth Gordon. Peter Cormican's barking bulldog of a newspaper publisher is straight out of a Warner Bros. vintage flick. Jeff Riberdy and Jacques Mitchell are nicely favored as those devil boys who cause all the fuss.

This cheerful camp-fest is surely and speedily staged by Elliott with wittily minimal sets by B.T. Whitehill (loved the airplane flying in the thunderstorm bit), comical costumes by Gail Baldoni and requisitely cheesy sci-fi sound effects by Drew Fornarola. Quirky stylization is essential to the success of queer larks such as "Devil Boys from Beyond" and Elliott knows better than most how to foster such ridiculousness.

"Devil Boys from Beyond" continues through Dec. 30 at New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.devilboysfrombeyond.com.