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Scandal, Marital Mishaps and Mistaken Identities Abound In "Rumors," Madcap Neil Simon Farce at Theatre Intime

Donald Gilpin

After a brilliant early career in writing for television (The Phil Silvers Show, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows) Neil Simon burst into the world of playwriting in the 1960s with a string of hits, four of which – Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity and The Star-Spangled Girl – ran simultaneously on Broadway during the 1966-67 season. The quality and popular appeal of his plays were less consistently dazzling throughout the 70s, but in the mid 80s he responded to those critics who had seen him as little more than a popular gag writer with his highly acclaimed autobiographical trilogy: Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound, and followed up in 1991 with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lost in Yonkers. A master of the craft of comic writing, Mr. Simon has repeatedly displayed his brilliance in the creation of memorable, poignant characters and worlds that resonate with both humor and a vibrant humanity.

Unfortunately Rumors, his 1988 farce currently playing at the Hamilton Murray Theater on the Princeton University campus, falls far short of his best work. The high-spirited, undergraduate Theatre Intime company must expend all of the energy at its command just to keep this flimsy script afloat. Rumors was a popular money-maker on Broadway fifteen years ago, and it does possess a potentially humorous premise and a number of funny gags. What it lacks is the kind of rich character-based humor of The Odd Couple, for example, or the absorbing family relationship-based comedy and engaging plots of Brighton Beach plays of the '80s and early '90s. Instead, Rumors relies heavily on shtick and an overdose of the broadest, most superficial humor.

Director Ben Fast and several members of his cast of ten come from the Quipfire! campus improvisational troupe, and their stand-up comedy skills serve them well in bringing across many of the funny lines and comical moments in this play, less well in getting beyond caricature to develop the (albeit minimal) character possibilities that Mr. Simon has provided here. Whether by the actors' personal inclinations or direction, most of the onstage action is more cartoon than plausible character interaction.

The plot is simple. The deputy mayor and his wife (who never appear on stage) have invited four couples to their stylish home for a formal dinner to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. The first couple, hearing a gun shot as they arrive, find the host with a bullet wound in his ear and the hostess missing. Other couples appear, and the layers of cover-ups, lame subterfuges, and wild speculation multiply as the guests all struggle mightily to avoid scandal. After the frenetic end of act one, everybody learns of the host's injury and the hostess's disappearance, but Mr. Simon revs up the action and confusion all over again in act two when the police arrive and the discombobulated group concoct a wild array of stories for the authorities.

The eccentricities of the eight characters and their recent histories emerge throughout the evening to complicate matters and (theoretically) to enrich the humor. The quirks, that become running gags, are – at least the first few times – mostly funny.

There's Ken (Tom Harrits), whose temporary deafness causes frequent misunderstandings on all sides, and his wife Chris, with her nervousness bringing on hives and irresistible urges to smoke. There's Claire and Lenny (Sherry Rujikarn and Jon Ryan), who have just wrecked their new BMW. Despite, or maybe because of, the whiplash that sets his head at a 45 degree angle, Lenny delivers some of the most clever, acerbic and amusing lines, and a tour de force monologue in act two as he impersonates the deputy mayor in attempting to explain to the police what's going on. Mr. Ryan displays a fine touch on the comic timing and a deft balance in delivering the requisite broad farcical style without going over the top.

Ernie (Alex Adam) is a psychiatrist. He conducts a group therapy session over the phone, as he exchanges baby talk and pet names with his wife Cookie (Carolyn Pichert), hostess of a TV cooking show whose talents and sudden back spasms confine her either to the kitchen preparing dinner or to the living room floor doing her exercises.

Glenn (Robert Kennelley), running for state senate, and his ferocious wife Cassie (Blythe Haaga), are in the midst of a fierce squabble, first over Glenn's recently discovered infidelities, then her flirtatious behavior towards the other men in the room, then the loss of her prized pet quartz crystal.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as the investigating officer, who arrives with his assistant (Hahna Fridirici) in the second of two acts, plays the straight man to this madhouse of over-wrought eccentrics, and delivers an excellent, down-to-earth, genuinely funny performance.

The lively, appealing ensemble skillfully handles the significant physical and verbal demands of this comedy, and the pace moves swiftly and smoothly under Mr. Fast's direction. In fact, Neil Simon fans will find much to entertain themselves here, and the audience last Friday night, albeit mostly friends and families of the cast, seemed to enjoy themselves, as did the performers, from start to finish.

Costumes by Meghan McCormick and Laura Wieschaus are suitably elegant, with the gentlemen in well tailored tuxedoes and the ladies – except for Cookie, who, for some reason, wears a 60-year-old family heirloom dress – in stylish evening gowns. Scott Grzenczyk's sturdy, two-level living room set contains all the requisite doors (4) and other entrances (2) for staging the frenetic action, but it is a bit bare. Some additional decoration and set dressing could help to create the reality of this upscale residence.

The way I see things," Mr. Simon once reflected," life is both sad and funny. I can't imagine a comical situation that isn't at the same time also painful. I used to ask myself: What is a humorous situation? Now I ask: What is a sad situation and how can I tell it humorously?" Rumors does indeed present a sad situation told humorously, and there are many moments where Mr. Simon's brilliant humor emerges. Despite Theatre Intime's best efforts, however, the potential sadness, plausibility and humanity of the situation are all lost amidst the welter of less than brilliant gags, slapstick, gimmickry, and loose plot strands.

Rumors runs October 14-16, with performances Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. Call (609) 258-1742 or visit www.princeton.edu/utickets for tickets, or visit www.theatreintime.org for
information.