An A-list cast piles on comic chaos in this naughty and sublimely silly pasquinade.
Some of the keenest wags in literature have demonstrated their genius for farce on stage over the years. Playwrights like Oscar Wilde (“The Importance of Being Earnest”), William Shakespeare (“The Comedy of Errors”), and Moliere (“Tartuffe”) are among those that come to mind immediately. And let’s not forget the great Noel Coward (“Blithe Spirit”). These artists knew full well how to trigger uncontrollable guffaws, titters and howls from their audiences in rapid-fire succession.
Further, no list of the best masters of the babbling sex farce would be complete without the inclusion of Tony-nominated Frenchman Marc Camoletti, whose “Boeing-Boeing” is credited with being the most frequently performed French play of all time. That show’s six-year run, however, was matched by Camoletti’s follow-up farce (adapted by playwright Robin Hawdon), “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” which accounts for why all the gags unfold at breakneck speed and maximum spasticity, and which is presently drawing belly laughs under the direction of long-time regional director, film producer and acting coach Christopher Williams at Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach through September 22nd.
So, then, it’s 1960 (back when mere naughtiness was still titillating) and British expat Bernard (Brian Robert Burns), no longer a bachelor playboy, is married and living in a converted farmhouse outside Paris (rendered in rustic elegance by designer Marty Burnett) with his wife Jacqueline (Kim Morgan Dean). Jacqueline is going off to visit her mother at any moment, and Bernard is salivating over a weekend romp with his mistress Suzanne, a voluptuous model inhabited by kewpie doll Katy Tang.
Also expected for the weekend is old pal Robert (award-winning actor Brandon J. Pierce). Unbeknownst to Bernard, Robert is having an affair with Jacqueline, who swiftly cancels on mother when she gets wind of her paramour’s arrival. Jacqueline was to be packed off for a visit to her mother. But when she discovers that Robert has unexpectedly returned from Kuala Lumpur, she decides to stay in town for a surprise tryst of her own, feigning a bout of flu with la mère, setting the stage for a collision course of assumed identities and outrageous infidelities.
Mr. Pierce's Robert is all befuddlement and double-takes, while the more panic-stricken Brian Robert Burns veers between flustered frenzy and debonair poise. And, with her chilly composure giving way to mounting fury, the lovely Ms. Dean plays well off the two men sharing her Jacqueline.
The prime source of the play’s accelerating confusion is Suzette (a quite animated Veronica Dunne), a Cordon Bleu chef hired by Bernard for the evening. Given their similar names, Robert initially assumes she is Bernard’s mistress, Suzanne, and passes her off as his date to cover for his friend. By now, things are going turbulently awry, and by the time he wises up, it’s too late to correct the mistake without exposing either his own hanky-panky or his buddy’s. Unfazed by the eccentricities of her clients and realizing an opportunity, Suzette is happy to play along and pose as Robert’s girlfriend, niece or whatever, extorting hundreds of francs from both men for each fresh layer of deception. Ooh la la!
More than the vortex of duplicity, thwarted sexual shenanigans and raging suspicions, it’s the wiliness of Suzette that gets some of the biggest laughs as the servant continues to fleece her foolish employers. The gifted Ms. Dunne is a sober Plain Jane one minute and a rubber-limbed, Cointreau-soaked vamp the next, joining Robert in a killer tango. With help from costumer Elisa Benzoni, her instant transformation from uniformed maid to mistress in a slinky LBD is easily the production’s most hilarious sight gag.
Subtlety, as they say, is not a requirement, or even an asset, when playing farce, and the cast of “Don’t Dress for Dinner” certainly makes no attempt to underplay. As the increasingly addled Bernard, in a permanent state of damage control, Mr. Burns leaps and scurries about the stage, arms gyrating in mad, semaphoric maneuvers that sometimes looked like he was guiding airplanes to their gates. Meanwhile, Mr. Pierce wildly contorts himself into various suggestive poses with impressive athleticism and exudes an air of mortal terror as he tries to keep up with Bernard’s convoluted machinations.
Ms. Dean is comparatively restrained as Jacqueline, simmering with pretentious outrage at the thought that her lover has had the audacity to bring another mistress to her home. As the coquettish Suzanne (bright and showily costumed), Ms. Tang gaudily brays and pouts in dismay when Bernard insists that since Suzette is pretending to be Robert’s mistress, Suzanne must in turn pretend to be the cook. Suzanne, of course, can barely boil water and has one pasty scene after another.
Director Williams has blocked the show down to the slightest gesture, guiding the action along at a steady trot, with the chaos hinging mainly on someone getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Finally, Suzette's intimidatingly brawny husband, George (Jared Van Heel), makes an appearance to untangle things, but compounds the situation considerably. Ultimately, just when we think nothing could get funnier in this romp-a-minute classic, Mr. Heel bursts in to prove us wrong.
When all is settled, husband and wife registers faux moral indignation over the idea that the other could ever be unfaithful, makes up and hits the sack. Meanwhile, lights out, and just when Suzanne and Robert appear to be tiptoeing off to bed, we discover that there just might be a third act lurking in the cowshed.
I must say, watching these six lurch about in the madness of this play's manic beat as if they're all under some inner metronome was one of the best times I've had in theatre in weeks. The perfectly cast ensemble is truly a crackerjack team of inspired zanies — a philandering man, an equally wayward wife, her flimflammed lover, a bodacious mistress, a spicy cook, and an over the top jealous husband — all collectively executing rapid fire repartee, racy double entendres and madcap action as precision-timed as a Road Runner cartoon. I totally recommend!
WITH: BRIAN ROBERT BURNS (First National Tour: “War Horse”) as Bernard; KIM MORGAN DEAN (Steven Dietz’ “Murder on the Links”) as Jacqueline; VERONICA DUNNE (Disney Channel’s “KC Undercover”) as Suzette; BRANDON J. PIERCE (Broadway: “Birthday Candles”) as Robert; KATY TANG (Laguna Playhouse: “Love Among the Ruins”) as Suzanne; JARED VAN HEEL (Laguna Playhouse: “Tartuffe”) as George.
LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS, DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER, Directed by Christopher Williams; Book by Marc Camoletti; Adapted by Robin Hawdon; Scenic Design by Marty Burnett; Costume Design by Elisa Benzoni; Lighting Design by Matthew Novotny; Sound Design by Chris Luessmann; Properties Design by Kevin Williams; Production Stage Management by Vernon Willet; Casting by Michael Donovan CSA, Richie Ferris CSA.
DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER plays September 4th through September 22nd in the Moulton Theatre with an opening on September 8th. Laguna Playhouse is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach. Performances will be Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30pm; Thursdays & Saturdays at 2pm and 7:30pm; Sundays at 1:00pm & 5:30pm. Tickets range from $66 - $105 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787).
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
8.5/10
コメント