THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609250109
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THEATER REVIEW
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: 110 lines
It is a piece of conventional wisdom in the theatrical world that Neil Simon sells seats, so it's no surprise that two local theaters have begun their seasons with scripts by this successful commercial playwright.
``Chapter Two,'' which the Little Theatre of Portsmouth chose to open its season, is one of several scripts in which Simon mined his own life for material he thought would be worthy of the stage.
Premiering 16 years after he began churning out Broadway hits, Simon's attempt at writing a warm but serious romantic drama wades through a quagmire of 1970s pyschobabble. The author did abandon his usual technique of writing jokes instead of conversation, only to reveal that a joke neutered of its wit becomes a cliche.
``Chapter Two'' absolutely revels in banalities about ``reaching deeply inside myself.'' Quarreling lovers spout such unlikely barbs as ``You give me so much room to be cruel,'' bandy about demands for a ``full commitment,'' ask a partner to ``let me handle my happiness before I deal with the tragedies,'' and at the climax of a spat, shout, ``If you want me, fight for me, because I'm fighting like hell for you.''
This all sounds like it is culled from a thesaurus of cliches compiled by a devotee of self-help manuals. Including just one intermission, it goes on for two hours and 50 minutes, with comic relief added almost as an afterthought.
The central character is a mature novelist, recently widowed after 12 years of blissful marriage. At first convinced that there never will be another woman like his late wife Barbara, he soon falls head over heels for a newly divorced actress.
Under Alice Everhart's direction, Tom Falls plays writer George Schneider, and Kathlyn Baker plays his new love Jennie Malone. Jim DiMunno has the role of younger brother Leo Schneider, and Marti Craver takes the part of Jennie's good friend Faye.
There's a lot of meaningful glancing that goes on in Act One, as the couple falls in love and revels in their unexpected happiness. It's hard to convey, from the stage, the sense of inner joy that Simon wants to depict. One gets the feeling that this was meant from the outset to be a movie script, where actor and actress can play to a close-up camera.
The problem for George and Jennie seems to be his inability to let himself be happy. He's an emotional pack rat, clinging to his memories of Barbara and fearful of losing those good memories if he releases himself to enjoy his love for Jennie.
Falls and Baker get special points for projecting sincerity and fervor, and for being able to relax with the dialogue with which Simon loaded them.
DiMunno carries off the part of a rather frantic Leo credibly, though he leans toward the hand-waving school of acting. His best scenes come when he and Craver share the stage. Craver has long been one of Portsmouth Little Theatre's most reliable comediennes; she gets a couple of funny moments with DiMunno in Act Two but for the most part is asked to frame and support Baker's acting.
``Broadway Bound,'' now at Little Theatre of Virginia Beach, was first staged nine years after ``Chapter Two,'' yet parts of the script still sound like the work of an apprentice author more absorbed with his own past than concerned with the present interests of his audience.
``Broadway'' is spotted with lines such as ``Why is it so hard for us to talk to one another,'' or ``We're women and we don't know better,'' or about how a mink coat ``keeps the cold out but keeps my father from reaching out.''
The play is usually billed as serious Simon, or rather, as a play in which he does not substitute jokes for dialogue. But since the heavily autobiographical plot is about two young brothers who want to be a comedy writing team, the author manages to insert plenty of gags.
Those gags turn out to be the best part of the script. Like any number of other artists dredging up their formative years, Simon assumes his audience will be interested in every shred of familial trauma that he can remember. At the Little Theatre, this becomes 2 1/2 hours of langorously paced emotional and verbal detail. During the second act of opening night, people were wandering in and out of the auditorium, and alarm watches were sounding out the time.
Enjoyable performances by talented stalwarts Candy Aston Dennis and G.F. Rowe do go a long way toward redeeming the production.
Jim Mitchell, who has been cast perennially in supporting roles, gets the leading role of Eugene Jerome, alter ego of the young man born Marvin Neil Simon. Mitchell reveals a charming knack for the author's offhand wry comedy.
Dennis presents the role of Gene's mother Kate in a well-defined, clearly delivered manner that is typical of her work. Rowe plays Kate's father, an elderly socialist, with a neatly balanced combination of intellectual verve and physical frailty.
Arthur E. Fichter IV displays lots of energy as Gene's consistently manic older brother, but neither the author nor director Lucia Forte gave this character enough dimension to use Fichter's skills fully.
Other parts of the Virginia Beach show can't overcome the problems presented by a tedious script. One actor spends most of his stage time looking down at the floor. That posture may indicate the character's defeat or his fatigue, but it doesn't help the audience see his expression or hear his lines.
Several performers find themselves at times facing away from the audience while bending over some piece of furniture. This is not known as putting one's best foot forward. Uneven lighting puts some actors quite literally in the shade as they move across the stage.
There must be an audience for plays like ``Chapter Two'' and ``Broadway Bound,'' just as there is a huge demand for televised situation comedies and soap operas. This isn't to say that everything for the stage must be heavy, or serious, but there is plenty of available entertainment that is both lighthearted and well-crafted. Local actors and audiences deserve something more than exercises is an author's self-indulgent therapeutic reminiscence. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
AT A GLANCE
What: Two Neil Simon plays - ``Chapter Two'' at the Little
Theatre of Portsmouth and ``Broadway Bound'' at the Little Theatre
of Virginia Beach.
When: Portsmouth - 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday;
Virginia Beach - 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4-5 and 11-12, 3
p.m. Sunday and Oct. 6.
Tickets: Portsmouth, 488-7866; Virginia Beach, 428-9233. by CNB