In the Westlake District of Los Angeles — to be specific — Hayworth Theatre, it is more than acceptable to show up wearing jeans and an un-ironed shirt. The seats are worn, the drinks are expensive and the bathrooms lack toilet paper. The venue is fitting for its current running show: “SILENCE! The Musical.” It is the unauthorized parody of “Silence of the Lambs.” The play is a raunchy comedy that is narrated by a chorus of singing lambs.
It follows FBI agent Clarice Starling as she tries to extract information from cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter so that she can catch a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill before he kills his next victim, the overweight daughter of a senator. By saving the young woman, Clarice hopes to stop the screaming of the lambs that she hears in her head at night as a result of a traumatic experience she had as a young child when she could not save a lamb from being slaughtered; this woman is her lamb to rescue.
Throughout the show, the audience is assaulted with crude, yet humorous behavior. In one of the earlier scenes, an inmate at the insane asylum ejaculates into the face of Clarice, a scene taken directly from the film. The whole performance is traced with sexual jokes and the latter half plays with racial stereotypes. Not a single scene went by in the show where there was not an outburst of laughter. However, much of the humor was juvenile. There were puns and plays on words that are heard in middle school about various body parts, sex and violence. In addition, some of the songs seemed inappropriate and drawn out, including “I wish I could smell her c—” which was heard twice in the show while a dancer highlighted her vaginal area. The characters themselves were entertaining enough to garner loud laughter without the need to introduce foul language, sex and nudity constantly; smaller doses would have been better.
During the scene that Buffalo Bill is dressed in drag, he is teasing the audience by quickly pulling his robe back and forth across his body as giant fans cover him so that the audience could not see his nude physique. This alone would have been enough of a thrill factor. As an audience member one would not expect to get a glimpse of any part of the human anatomy — but be forewarned, it does happen. At the end of the number, Buffalo Bill throws open his robe to reveal tucked under male genitalia.
With a cast of 10 and two additional standby members, most actors play multiple characters if they are not a lead. While not a major character, Jeff Hiller steals the spotlight throughout the show. He plays a lamb, an inmate and a sergeant. Every character he takes on, he embodies and adds a fullness of life and humor. His characters are all rather dumb and make scenes that were originally scary in “Silence of the Lambs” hilarious.
If you are interested in a quirky and entertaining night out, tickets can be bought online at www.silencethemusical-la.com, starting at $45. “SILENCE!” runs until Nov. 4 on most Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Bring an open sense of humor and a love for singing animals.
