Audience is part of the asylum in MJC's 'Cuckoo'

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'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'

• RATING: ****
• WHERE: Modesto Junior College Performing and Media Arts Center, main auditorium, 435 College Ave.
• WHEN: 2 p.m. today, 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Nov. 1
• RUNNING TIME: 2½ hours, including an intermission
• TICKETS: $8-$10
• INFORMATION: 575-6776 or mjc.tix.com

When a free-spirited rule breaker meets a control freak disciplinarian, there's bound to be tension.

When mental asylum patient Randle McMurphy meets Nurse Ratched, it's a battle to the death.

Modesto Bee - MJC's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" stars Tyrus Loveless, left, as Randle Patrick McMurphy and Michael Martinez as "Chief" Bromden.

Director Lynette Borrelli's exceptional production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" offers audience members an up-close and in- your-

face view of life in the loony bin.

Definitely one of the most engaging productions in the valley this year (and that includes the professional shows at the Gallo Center for the Arts), this Modesto Junior College presentation makes you forget you're watching actors on a stage.

It helps that this is a great story, as anyone knows who has read Ken Kesey's 1962 novel or seen the Oscar-winning 1975 film starring Jack Nicholson.

Borrelli helps audience members feel as if they're really in a mental institution from the moment they enter the theater. Ushers dress in white coats and invite audience members to put on "visitor" badges. A mental patient writhes on the stage floor as people find their seats.

Watching lead actors Tyrus Loveless and Kathleen Ennis interact is like watching gladiators engaged in combat. These are two big personalities and neither one wants to give up an inch.

Loveless is virile, confident and the life of the party as Randle McMurphy. He laughs at everything — especially serious situations — and refuses to let the ward's depressing atmosphere get him down.

Ennis' Nurse Ratched is colder than Mount Everest, with no mercy for human failings. She never raises her voice but can control nearly everyone in the institution with her icy stares.

Michael Martinez is equally compelling as American Indian patient Chief Bromden, who pretends to be deaf and mute. Quiet and watchful in the beginning, he becomes more powerful than anyone could have imagined by the end.

Other memorable cast members include Sean Trew as brainy patient Dale Harding, Jim Johnson as kindly psychiatrist Dr. Spivey, Jamie Hudson as lively prostitute Candy Starr and Tim Glidewell as stuttering virgin Billy Bibbitt. Glidewell is also responsible for the outstanding fight choreography.

Ty Van Helton's set is cold and severe with gray walls and a tower office where the nurses can peer down at the inmates and bark orders from a microphone. Anne Shanto's costumes feature retro nurse uniforms, complete with pointy caps, skirts and tights.

The full house at Friday's opening performance gave the production an immediate, sustained standing ovation. Make room in your calendar for this production. It's one you shouldn't miss.

Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan can be reached at lmillegan@modbee.com or 578-2313. For more on Modesto area arts, visit www.twitter.com/lisamillegan.