STAGE REVIEW : ‘X’ an Unrevolutionary Solo Portrait

With the opening of Spike Lee’s film, “Malcolm X,” the arrival on the video market of no fewer than three documentaries on the black leader, plus the mythic momentum that has been steadily mounting around the man, it would have been good to report that “Brother Malcolm X: Reminiscences of a Black Revolutionary” at the Ivar Theatre was/is as compelling as the object of its focus.

The timing of this production is no coincidence, according to presenters Woodie King Jr., Shay Wafer and Angela Gibbs, whose National Black Touring Circuit successfully co-produced the engaging “Checkmates” a few years ago. But any thought of capitalizing on the current tidal wave of popular attention for Malcolm X is dampened by the show itself.

“Brother Malcolm” is too standard-issue a monodrama to make more than an informational impact: Malcolm X returns from the dead to set the historical record straight for us, the audience. Some modest tinkering has updated the 14-year-old script by Frank G. Greenwood, but it is the events of Malcolm’s life more than the writing that provide what fire there is.

Duane Shepard in the title role derives his considerable power from the intelligent dialectic and wisely makes no attempt to look like the cool, sculptured African-American leader he does not physically resemble. But he’s fighting an uphill battle with interruption by an expendable intermission, technical snafus such as chancy lighting and a muffled loudspeaker that virtually cancels out a recorded prologue, and Ron Milner’s shapeless staging on a cluttered, uncredited and unnecessary set.

Previous local productions of the piece cited the onstage presence of a musician to support the verbal trumpeting. Good idea. Such a choice might help modulate what now seems more like unfocused ranting than the charged, charismatic coherence of the real Malcolm X.

“Brother Malcolm X: Reminiscences of a Black Revolutionary,” Ivar Theatre, 1605 N. Ivar, Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Nov. 29. $15; (213) 464-3667. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.