Peace squad goes 99

Peace squad goes 99, Ken Roht, the most persuasively manic counterculture musical auteur since Busby Berkeley, introduces his third annual extravaganza of virtuoso holiday lunacy, bringing together 50 gifted local performers and 20 designers to collaborate on this wacky descent into Roht-dom. Featuring sets and costumes using items culled strictly from 99-Cent Only Stores, the campy Buck Rogers–meets–Wizard of Oz storyline introduces a happy Suess-ian village, governed by an ineffectual scatting mayor (Raul Clayton Staggs), which has been overrun by the Hollow Mirror Man (Mark Bringleson, a WASP-y Cab Calloway back in Betty Boop Hell).

Featuring knockout performances by Will Watkins, charismatic 15-year-old standout Chris Dane, and Roht, a hearty seven-member all-singing, all-dancing Peace Squad descends upon the scene, singing songs inspired by Korean pop tunes, joining forces with a charming gaggle of children to depose the oppressor, and concluding with a rocking finale that includes a pelting of the audience with inflatable beach balls.

Roht's spectacular choreography defies every rule, perfectly complimented by John Ballinger's infectious score and Roht's wonderfully silly lyrics--including a rap song about 99-Cent Store goods that even rhymes the word "expectorant." The talented ensemble members couldn't be better, moving around one another's Saran-Wrapped bodies with well-rehearsed precision.

For all its glory, the star of the show is the colorful, outrageously whimsical costuming, by Ann Closs-Farley and her crew, resplendent with bathmat corsets, overskirts fashioned from laundry baskets, dangling votive candleholder earrings, and tablecloth gowns accessorized by tap-on closet lights. Ken Roht's annual foray into 99-Cent goofiness is becoming a new Los Angeles holiday tradition, one certainly worth celebrating.