Simple Times, Simpler Solutions
Reviewed January 7, 2005
by Neil Simon
Directed by Allan Dietlein
Hale Centre Theatre, Gilbert
(480) 497-1181
December 30th, 2004 - February 12th, 2005
$9.00 - $16.00
This was the show that made Neil Simon into a force in American comedic theatre in the second half of the 20th century. A memory play, the script of Barefoot in the Park is a salute to Simon’s first wife, his first apartment, and days when messages could include such currently politically incorrect sentiments as ‘give in to your man and shape your dream to support his.’ These days, a playwright who offers such advice is likely to be Bobbit-ed, but taken in context, it’s easy to see why newlyweds Paul and Corie and their older counterparts Ethel and Victor would entrance a crowd in the waning days of Kennedy’s Camelot. The current mounting at Hale Centre Theatre understands that context is everything. “The year is 1963” the program states, and the meticulousness with which Director Allan Dietlein recreates this period, from the avocado green slim line princess dial phone through the Corning drip coffee maker to the perfectly (hideous) period orange dress that Corie’s mom (Andrea Pruseau) sports is all the apology he needs to make to set contemporary audiences at ease. In a time this cloyingly sweet and unabashedly tasteless, chauvinism is a regrettable by-product. Dietlein has conjured up the time and allowed the audience to put it into history, letting us to laugh once more by embracing the period piece rather than trying to drag it unwillingly to the 21st century. He has also collected a cast that really embraces their characters. The result is an adorable evening of theatre.
Dietlein’s experience with directing in the round is surprising considering the fact that this production seems more static than most. I found myself spending longer periods of time staring at people’s backs than I had in the past, such as a long stretch between Pruseau and April Shepherd as her flighty daughter, and some of the compensating movement calls more attention to itself than it usually does, exemplified by Shepherd’s constant and sometimes unmotivated use of a ladder in the first act. Despite these few moments, the show is briskly paced which complements the comedy strongly.
Joseph Kremer, who seems to have been cast in every other romantic role in town over the past year, gives the ordinarily staid Paul a more animated performance. He accentuates many of his lines and is lively during his and Shepherd’s fight in the second act. He is still able to carry off the “stuffed shirt” persona with some great touches concocted by he and Dietlein, especially the character-defining constant pressing of his two ties in a dictionary, a lovely idiosyncrasy that pegs Paul. Pruseau is a little more regal than one would expect a New Jersey matron might be, but she is still a tiger with her comic timing and precise bits that elicit roars of laughter from the audience. Bob DePalma, the savior of HCT’s otherwise dreadful Heaven Can Wait, here offers an unctuous Victor Velasco that lacks a bit of depth and polish on his nondescript accent, but still brings across the sweetly fulsome qualities of his well-meaning middle-aged lothario. My only hesitation on calling this cast perfect is in the performance of Shepherd; she is able to capture the flighty quality of her character almost to a fault. Corie is the type of free-spirited twenty-something that populated the coffee shops and bookstores of the Beat generation, a suburban-raised wannabe beatnik with (as They Might Be Giants put it) “a silver spoon and a paper plate.” Her character is one that sometimes can’t help but be annoying, but Shepherd adds an odd tonal quality to her voice that makes her lines sound sing-songy and predetermined. I understand that this is a girl cutting the cord from an overbearing mother, but Shepherd offers a line delivery of an almost Elizabethan manner to distraction. Charlie LeSueur’s funny cameos as a telephone repairman are only somewhat undercut by an attempt at what may have been a New York accent that seems to have sailed in on a clipper from Nantucket.
The space requirements of the Hale’s stage make for some interesting choices by set designer John Autore, and save for the perplexing decision to have actors look directly at those on the balcony that has been converted to the roof, his upstairs bathroom is an understandable accommodation. Dietlein and John Favreau’s lighting has some very nice moments and is generally solid. The most impressive design elements are Sandy Dietlein’s costumes, which are each amazing statements of period and character, and Nancy Ware’s props, which seem to have been bought at Gimbels over four decades ago.
Plunging back into a simple time with simpler solutions to complex marital and relationship issues is always a pleasant diversion. Simon’s wit and this production’s earnestness keep an audience laughing and enjoying their time travel.
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