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Mention
“The Twilight Zone,” and it conjures up memories in my mind of childhood
evenings spent glued in front of the TV. To my girlhood self, “The Twilight  Zone” was more than a mere TV show, it was an event, rendered extra special
because I had to beg my parents to be allowed to stay up past bedtime to watch.
I loved everything about this show; from the eerie theme music, to the
melodramatically somber narrator, and, of course, the shocking plot twists at
the end of each mesmerizing episode. All these nostalgic elements of “The
Twilight Zone” are found in the latest show at The Mosaic Lizard Theatre, aptly
entitled “Like Something Out of The Twilight Zone”—except everything’s not quite the way I remembered them. John
Lithgow as a man with a severe fear of flying who happens to board the one
plane that’s got a monster on it? Sure, I remember that episode. But did he launch
into a vaudeville routine during that ill-fated flight? All in-flight entertainment
should be that enjoyable.
I
think that even as a kid, the thought had occurred to me that someone ought to
do a spoof of this show. And now someone finally has. Playwright & director
Jay Parker sets his zany sense of humor loose on the classic TV series, and the
result is satisfyingly wacky. Within these humorously revamped episodes of “The
Twilight Zone,” we meet a surly bartender who is harassed by an intergalactic
clientele, a talking doll that turns homicidal (I guess it is true that anything made in China will kill you), and The Grim
Reaper, in the guise of a young Valley Girl obsessed with texting. Oh, and
remember that classic episode where a boy with God-like supernatural powers
terrorizes his family and town? In Jay Parker’s version, Jerome Bixby’s
terrifying creation becomes an incessantly whiny teenage boy. Come to think of
it, that’s probably just as terrifying.
Whether
or not you’re old enough to remember the original “Twilight Zone,” you are
guaranteed to find something to tickle your funny bone in “Like Something Out
of The Twilight Zone.”
The
Mosaic Lizard Theater
General
Admission: $15 / Students & Seniors: $12
112 W Main Street
Alhambra,
CA 91801
Reservations:
(626) 457-5293
www.lizardtheater.com
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