THEATER REVIEW : ‘Beauty’ No Pretty Picture--but It’s Fun

Shelly Garrett is back.

The controversial impresario has landed at the Wiltern Theatre with “Beauty Shop 3,” an outrageously flamboyant sequel to his two earlier musical comedies about the fictional Pamper Me Salon in Los Angeles.

Garrett’s previous works earned some notoriety because of their scatological and homophobic content. Yet “Beauty Shop 3” will likely inspire more awe than ire. This show, which producers say is bound for a 50-city international tour, is a colossal shrine to bad taste.

How low does the humor go? Well, writer-director Charles Chan includes a splashy, Las Vegas-style striptease--performed strictly for laughs by a male dwarf.

The rest of the evening likewise thumbs its nose at political correctness. Chan’s script is a melange of one-liners directed at overweight persons, sexually active women and homosexuals.

The amazing thing is that, on its own debased terms, “Beauty Shop 3” succeeds.

For all its sophomoric crudeness, Garrett’s sequel is nevertheless loud, brash and obnoxious enough to keep the viewer involved, if not always amused. Judging from the hoots and hollers of the Wiltern audience Tuesday night, Garrett--whose name, curiously enough, is emblazoned above the title but listed nowhere else in the credits--is proving that garbage can be staged with crowd-pleasing elan.

The beauticians at Pamper Me work hard at avoiding work. What there is of a plot involves erstwhile playboy Roland (Marc Ram), who is having doubts about his new marriage to hairstylist Margaret (Tasha Carroll).

But the evening is really devoted to trash talk among the beauty-shop regulars, including stereotypically gay hairdresser Christopher (Gerald Asbell Jr.), resident dunderhead Sylvia (Stefanie Warren) and wisecracking sage Wilbert (Chan himself).

If all that isn’t enough, Chan begins the show with a 30-minute curtain-raiser, including an off-color but very funny stand-up routine from comic Jeff Butler and a “Solid Gold”-style dance routine from a quartet of funk dancers. None of this has anything to do with what follows, but who really cares?

Though the program lists no songwriting credits, the three-piece band perched on top of the beauty-shop set grinds out a number of familiar and not-so-familiar tunes, all amplified to ear-splitting volume.

And about that program: While souvenir show bills are available for $5, this show offers no complimentary program of any sort. Evidently in this respect, as in so many others, Garrett prefers to do things his own way.

* “Beauty Shop 3,” Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m., Sunday, 7 p.m. Ends Sunday. $18.50-$28.50. (213) 480-3232. Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes.