By Jackie Demaline
Enquirer staff writer

Loveland native Ann Randolph's one-woman show, Squeeze Box, opened off-Broadway at the end of July to generally friendly if tepid reviews.

Squeeze Box has been a work in progress for the last few years, debuting in Los Angeles (which Randolph calls home these days) to strong reviews. There have been a handful of local performances, including an alteractive series date at Playhouse in the Park in 2003.

Randolph, "excited and totally nervous" a few days before the opening, raved about her producer, Oscar winner Anne Bancroft (aka Mrs. Mel Brooks).

After the couple saw it in L.A. two years ago, "Immediately after the show they came up to me and said they wanted to take it to New York and make a movie," Randolph says.

"For the last two years, I've been rewriting the show from notes they gave me. They've been wonderful."

It sounds as if the rewrites have perhaps been over-enthusiastic in taking the show from two acts to one.

The New York reviews I read were unanimous in pointing both to potential and to a lack of dramatic structure in the 70-minute monologue. But all were encouraging.

"It's clear what Ms. Bancroft saw in it," wrote The New York Times, remarking on Randolph's "definite talent for sketch comedy" and noting that "when she sings, she lets everything go with her wildly expressive face and her deadpan demeanor."

Internet theater mag CurtainUp calls her "an adept storyteller" and says Squeeze Boxis is "conscientiously written and vigorously performed." TheaterMania.com reports that in her pantheon of characters Randolph is "a hoot as a lesbian at a hootenanny," and it credits her for taking on "an unexpected subject" and discussing it "cogently and personally."

Newsday's Linda Winer was the toughest critic, writing that Squeeze Box "is a disjointed journey that, for all its goodwill and potential, never makes us want to go along."

Squeeze Box is set to run through Oct. 17 at the Acorn Theater.