The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe returns to L.A. 36 years after it first played here. The revised version stars “SNL’”s Cecily Strong in the Lily Tomlin role. It has also been cut from two acts to one and has been updated as well, with such comic targets as EST and geodesic domes being replaced by more modern references.
Though not as brilliant and subversive as the original version, Search still has a lot of life and humor to offer. And Strong is a spirited and charismatic performer, able to bring to life all of the many zany characters in Jane Wagner’s script.
These characters include Chrissy, an aerobics devotee, Agnus, a punk rock kid angry at the world, and Kate, a bored Manhattan matron whose only goal in life is to get her hair done.
Wagner pokes fun at just about ever facet of modern life, indicting everyone who has spent the last decade or so “trying to be politically conscious and upwardly mobile at the same time.” One of her main targets is Lynn, a woman who discovers too late that it’s impossible to change the system and be a “total woman” (replete with children, money and power) while doing all the shopping, cooking and housework to keep a family together.
The woman who narrates the show is Trudy, a bag lady who is conducting the metaphysical search of the title. She presides at the end, when almost all the characters (including several men) converge on stage at once and deliver their final comic pronouncements.
All of this takes place on a near-bare stage with only two cubes and a curve of twinkling lights for atmosphere. Sound effects are used instead of props.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is deftly directed by Leigh Silverman, who keeps the show moving swiftly and smoothly, but it’s Strong who deserves the highest praise, thanks to her dazzling comic gifts.
