ROOTS SHOWING REPRISE! PRODUCTION OF 'BLONDES' DOESN'T QUITE SHINE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

Both Reprise! and its New York cousin, Encores, exist to give audiences a taste of musical theater we don't often get to see. Selections usually consist of buried treasures that are either simply too big and unwieldy to tackle properly or that probably don't deserve a full production. Jule Styne and Anita Loos' ``Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' falls into both categories.

While hardly lacking in pep, director John Bowab's production of ``Blondes'' - which closes out Reprise!'s fifth season at UCLA's Freud Theatre - displays its considerable warts almost from note one.

The source material is a big problem, some aggressively awful costuming pours kerosene on the bonfire and, sadly, the talented Alice Ripley seems to be summoning the ghost of Marilyn Monroe instead of putting that performance to rest and building her own. It's a natural temptation, since Monroe played riches-seeking flapper Lorelei Lee in the 1953 movie version of ``Blondes.''

Only the most ardent fan of flapper fluff could have a soft spot for a plot this piecemeal and a score this unmemorable. Director Bowab clearly knows what he's up against, and his approach is to flaunt the dumbness of ``Blondes'' rather than evade it. An example: About five minutes before the play ends, in a display of fourth-wall-breaking weirdness, actress Ruth Williamson banters chummily with the audience, selecting someone from the audience to read two lines. This little riff carves out time so the play's two leading ladies can change costumes. No big finale follows.

Oh, and speaking of those costumes ...

Costume designer Bill Hargate is either shining a spotlight on the play's tackiness or using 2 1/2 hours of stage time to exact revenge on the female sex. Maybe both. From the odd pancholike black and whites of the hoi polloi to the glittery midriff-exposing duds favored by Ripley's Lorelei to the turkeylike garment he places on primary dancer Kimberly Lyon, Hargate doesn't flatter a single figure. Admittedly, ``Blondes'' probably needs something to keep audiences' mind off the story, but this?

Lorelei Lee, the sexy/naive gold digger brought to life in Loos' novel, sails to Paris with fun-loving flapper Dorothy Shaw (Valarie Pettiford) while her button-magnate fiance Gus Esmond (Tom Beyer) stays behind. When she learns that Gus has found out about her questionable past in Little Rock, Lorelei breaks off the engagement and tries to hunt down a new man, the richer the better.

Dorothy, meanwhile, is romanced by handsome Henry Spofford (Hugh Panaro). A subplot involves a lecherous British aristocrat (Ian Abercrombie), his tipsy wife (Williamson) and a diamond tiara that Lorelei will go to great lengths to acquire. Because, as you know, ``diamonds are a girl's ...'' You get the idea.

Ripley performs that particular song - made famous by Monroe and brought to another generation by Nicole Kidman in her Oscar-nominated performance in ``Moulin Rouge'' - seated on a stool in front of a semi-circular mirror. Two tuxedo-clad hunks emerge periodically to slip some rocks on Lorelei's bracelet or ears, and Ripley gives an orgasmic little gasp each time a diamond touches her flesh.

It's a canny number and one of the few times the versatile actress - last seen in these parts in the Hollywood Bowl's version of ``Showboat'' - seems truly at home in the role. More often, she seems to be dipping into a smorgasbord of archetypes: a little Monroe, a little Billie Holiday, a little sex kitten.

Panaro and Pettiford are winning enough as the love-struck couple who have to manufacture their own conflict. Music director Peter Matz and Alan Johnson have the ensemble Charleston-ing up a veritable storm, particularly during the frisky ``Keeping Cool With Coolidge.'' Lyon, despite her awful garments, makes hay of her ``Moulin Rouge'' number, ``Mami Is Mimi.''

``Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' may simply need more cheek than the Reprise! company can supply. What it emphatically does not need, as Bowab and ensemble have demonstrated, is a full-scale production. Such funds would be better invested in diamonds.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES - Two stars

Where: Freud Theatre, Macgowan Hall, UCLA.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 7 p.m. Sunday; through March 17.

Tickets: $55-$60. Call [phone].

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Photo:

Hugh Panaro, Alice Ripley, center, and Valarie Pettiford lead the cast in the Reprise! revival of the musical ``Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' at UCLA's Freud Theatre.