7/14/2024 BAREFOOT IN THE PARK Merely Players Presents
SIMON SAYS
Really? Is there anyone reading this who doesn't know Neil Simon's 1963 classic, Barefoot in the Park? Okay, I'll grant you that its "heyday" as a Community Theatre staple is long past, but is there anyone left who has not seen it, or its 1967 movie adaptation? There have been 20 (or so) different productions in various venues over an unspecified number of years right here in Metro Atlanta. I last saw (and reviewed) this favorite way back in 2016, so, I suppose it is never NOT the time for another look at this perennial war horse.
It is February 1962, and Paul and Corie are newlyweds moving into a fifth-floor walk-up apartment following their honeymoon. (Like a certain writer and his beloved spouse, they honeymooned in New York’s Plaza Hotel.) They are still exploring their relationship, discovering the differences that may come back to haunt. Paul is a relatively sober lawyer, a bit buttoned up, a bit on the bland side. Corie is a "free spirit" who is all about tasting whatever banquet or gruel life chooses to offer.
To Paul’s unmitigated horror, Corrie arranges a "blind date" between her straight-as-an-arrow mother, Ethel, and their upstairs eccentric neighbor, Victor Belasco. Will the result be a case of opposites attracting or will it be a matter/anti-matter annihilation event?
To be honest, I've always had a soft spot for this play, given its "opposites can and do attract" motif, more so after (almost) twenty-six happy years of marriage to someone who can only be described as "my complete opposite."* Its characters never fail to offer a
welcome whenever I return to this piece, and Mr. Simon's dialogue still (and always) provides plenty of laughs, even after hearing it countless times.
And there is much to admire in this production, particularly the performances by all involved. Annie Leigh Spencer storms onto the stage like bullet train, sporting a wig and dress that screams 1960’s. She owns the Merely Players stage for the entire play, and she is onstage for practically every minute. As Paul, Jackson Trent may look more like a ‘60’s “cool professor” than a lawyer of the era, but he is anything but bland. The danger is to play Paul so straight and boring that the play bogs down and drags (and I have seen more than one unfortunate production in which that happened). Here though, Mr. Trent displays flashes of wit and anger and joy, making his eventual barefootin’ expedition to the park guaranteed.
As Ethel and Victor, Nancy Powell and Steven Miller are a delight. They bring these characters to life, contrasting quirks intact, and somehow make them, despite their unmeshing cogs and ill-combining extremes, a perfect match. Their chemistry is a true joy and everything I expect from these roles. Also on hand are Ben Stokes and Justin Collins, as hard-working workmen totally defeated by a mere five flights of stairs (six if you count the front stoop – and they surely do).
Apropos of nothing, our uncommon daughter currently occupies a fourth-floor walk-up in Harlem, and, whenever I visit, the climb from the street is every bit as arduous for me as it would seem to be for these characters. But I suspect, like Corie here, she can race up them without losing a single breath.
To be perfectly honest, I was wondering how this very-low-ceilinged venue would handle the required set piece of a skylight 20 feet up that is so critical to the plot and the final moments. The clever solution was to not even try. The skylight (with its gaping snow-ingress hole) is only talked about and looked at, imaginary above the ceiling of the black box space. A large window stands in for the final scene, supposedly lined by a VERY thin ledge which provides the risk and danger so required for that scene. So, kudos for cleverness, and congratulations for the creation of a really small and cramped space that spills onto the feet of the front row audience, perfectly evoking that every-cheap-Manhattan apartment we’ve come to expect.
This was a very well-done production of an old chestnut of a play that I always enjoy revisiting. It was an early highlight of Neil Simon's career, and deservedly so. Okay, maybe the sixties period was contemporary at the time – it is unashamedly a “Boomer” relic – but the director (Marla Krohn) and the uncredited costumer are to be commended for keeping the period intact, and for keeping the pace and the mood perfectly in synch with that period. And the cast is to be commended for keeping the familiar lines fresh and new and laugh-loud funny. And that, my friends, is an experience well worth kicking off my shoes for a virtual run through a theatrical park.
-- Brad Rudy (BKRudy@aol.com #MerelyPlayersPresents #Barefoot)
* I suppose my wife can also be described as "out of my league," but that's a bio bit for a different play review.