Gross Poles Run Amok

LAST SUMMER, THE AMERICAN REPERtory Theater created a sensation with "Ubu Rock," the company's most amazing, disgusting and hysterical production in years. Rarely do ART shows create cult followings, especially when tickets range from $20-$50. But "Ubu" is so fantastic, so bizarre, that once you have seen it you'll want to come back to make sure you were not dreaming. Bringing back "Ubu" for 10 days this March may be the best scheduling decision the ART has ever made.

"Ubu Roi," Alfred Jarry's absurd 1896 play from which the musical "Ubu Rock" was adapted, is a farce that was originally written to mock Jarry's arrogant math teacher. It is the story of how a revolting, scatological member of the wealthy bourgeoisie takes over Poland. Audiences were disgusted by the play when it was first produced nearly a century ago. A few Boston theater-goers may have been revolted by "Ubu Rock" (every once in a while, little old ladies walk out of the show), but most found the show's music, acting and writing riotous-in the best sense of the word.

The cast is perfect. Charles Levin knows how to play freaks. As the grotesquely funny Pa Ubu, Levin staggers around the stage as if he's broken his pelvis and cannot rotate his legs. "By my itchy dick" is his mantra. His gruff screams and almost Popeye-like facial expressions play into his wonderfully loathsome demeanor.

Francine Torres plays Ma Ubu with similar aplomb. Proving she is the ART's best comic female actor, Torres moves her body in the same odd fashion as Levin, but she screams, sings, gyrates and disgusts in entirely different ways. She is Jennifer Saunders on crack and Ecstasy at the same time (except with larger breasts, which she reveals to the excited audience).

As Captain Trash, Thomas Derrah amazes. Trash looks like a gum-chewing heroin addict, but in his escape from prison (the unbelievable number "Rat Seraban") and trip to Russia ("Russia's a big motha," he says), he proves he is more than just a whining yesman. "I think we should rip off their necks and piss down their throats," he suggests matter-of-factly. Derrah has never been more funny.

The musical numbers in "Ubu Rock" are wonderful. Most of the songs are catchy rock tunes with whacked-out lyrics, but the most infamous is "The Button Song." Derrah (in another role as a crotchety general) screams obscenities at the audience in between verses of the marching song: "My jacket has three buttons, three buttons. My jacket has four buttons, four buttons. Fuck you, you lazy assholes!" and so on. He and his back-up singers won't stop the song until the audience throws something at them: water bottles, bananas, broccoli, chickens. Really.

Nothing compares to "Ubu Rock." Don't miss this show.