Steadstyle Chicago
November 2008 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
Don't Dress for Dinner
Regular readers know that farce is not my favorite art form. And yet I approached the Chicago premiere of "Don't Dress for Dinner" at the Royal George Theatre with an open mind and found myself having two of the most rib-tickling, hilarious hours I have spent in the theatre in some time. It's amazing what the right combination of smart writing, polished acting and slick direction can do to energize a tired genre. "Don't Dress" marks the maiden journey for Damian Arnold's British Stage Company, which fully delivers on its promise to bring smiles to our faces.
"Don't
Dress for Dinner" is the kind of fare one might have seen about
thirty or forty years ago at Drury Lane Evergreen Park or a similar
stock or dinner theatre. It comes with a pair of familiar
television faces (Jeffrey Donovan and Patricia Kalember), solid
production values and all the elements of a screwball sitcom
farce. What's surprising is how thoroughly engaging and
delightful the writing is. Bernard and Jacqueline are a happily
married couple living in a French suburban farmhouse two hours from
Paris. At the play's outset, Jacqueline is preparing to spend a
vacation with her mother. Bernard has carefully laid the
groundwork for a weekend of bliss with his mistress and best friend
Robert, who unbeknownst to Bernard is carrying on an affair with Jacqueline.
When she finds that bachelor Robert will be coming, Jacqueline throws a wrench in the plot by deciding to stay home, plotting her own extramarital tryst as soon as the lights go down. Complications continue as a cater cook shows up and is mistaken by Robert for Bernard's mistress (both girls are named Suzy). Lies, lies and more lies follow as the couple try to get through dinner with a pretend mistress (the cook) and a pretend cook (the mistress). Follow? On the surface it doesn't sound like anything terribly special. But the authors know how to marry and manipulate language with physical comedy to form the perfect, side-splitting union. A sample of the wit: Jacqueline asks Suzanne if she is Cordon Bleu, the response "No, I'm a vegetarian".
Read the impressive list of Director John Tillinger's credits and you will realize this is an absolute pro, thoroughly capable of mining comic gold from every plausible implausibility. It helps that Tillinger's got a very fine script, written by Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon. Tillinger's staging is appropriately breezy yet sharply honed. It's all strangely logical too as each character attempts to either keep from being caught with their hand in the cookie jar or to cover up for someone else's indiscretion.
As
Robert, handsome Jeffrey Donovan is the nominal star here, and he
acquits himself with breathless timing, droll expressions and some
impressive pratfalls. Patricia Kalember is cooly elegant as
Jacqueline, Mark Harelik delightfully exasperated as her philandering
spouse Bernard. Spencer Kayden's deadpan expressions, brilliant
timing and hilarious ability to profit from others' misfortunes make
Suzette the cook a standout. You can bet the bank that the cook
will come away from the affair well rewarded for her extra
efforts. The transformation from dowdy servant to femme fatale
may be the most hilarious since Peggy Cass' legendary Agnes Gooch in
"Auntie Mame". Jamie Morgan, a dead-ringer for a
young Dyan Cannon, is delicious as the blonde mistress Suzanne, and
Chris Sullivan rounds out the cast as Suzette's big bear of a husband.
There's a large, handsome wood beam converted farmhouse onstage courtesy of designer Jim Noone that sets the standard of professionalism. Everything about the production exudes class, right down to the charming tango choreography by Arian Dolan that keeps the audience smiling through the bows. Virgil C. Johnson supplies the smashing costumes, with a particularly ingenious strip-away slip for Suzette. Although the play is set in the early 1990's, the pre-show music (rock and roll standards sung in French) give the show a decidedly retro feel.
Kudos to Fight choreographer David Wooley for several split-second bits that will have you in stitches. If the cast comes away by the end of the run with only minor bumps and bruises they will be lucky. Ah well, all in the name of art! "Don't Dress for Dinner" could be a text book example of how to create the perfect farce. And the British Stage Company's production at the Royal George will be a hard one to top. May they keep audiences smiling for many productions to come.
"Don't Dress for Dinner" plays through April 19, 2009 on the Royal George Theatre Mainstage, 1641 N. Halsted Street. The play runs 2 hours 10 minutes with intermission. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m., Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 4:30 & 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 & 5:00 p.m. Tickets range in price from $49.50 - $59.50 and are available at the Royal George box office, by calling (312) 988-9000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information, visit www.dontdressfordinner.com.
About Joe Stead
Joe
Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has
involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for
the past twenty-five years. He served as founder, producer and
Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland
and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida. Favorite productions
have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap,"
"The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker,"
"Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie
Brown" and "Godspell". He has also performed
leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin,"
"The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page,"
"You Can't Take it With You," and "La Cage aux
Folles". Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa
Technical Institute. As a critic, he has reviewed major
regional theatres throughout the United States ranging from the
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New
Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre
in Sarasota, Florida.
Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America. He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers. He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene. Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays. His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).