[NEohioPAL]Berko Review and Preview: Underpants (CPH), Miss Gulch, Web page

[Roy Berko]

‘THE UNDERPANTS’ (CPH), MISS GULCH RETURNS, REVIEWER’S
WEBPAGE ON LINE

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE DROP IT’S ‘UNDERPANTS’

Steve Martin is one of the crown-princes of
off-the-wall comedy.  He leaves no schtick unturned to
get a laugh.  It is no surprise, therefore, that when
he came upon Carl Steinheim’s 1910 farcical play, ‘THE
UNDERPANTS’ he thought, “Here’s a cabbage right for
slawing.”

The story centers on an incident when a woman's
underpants fall down in public while she is attending
a parade for the king.  The result is newfound fame
for the woman and over-blown frustration for her
husband.   It also is an opening for Martin to pick up
the play’s underlying themes of German excess and go
with it.  He probes German inflexibility and
prudishness, anti-Semitism (one character insists that
his Cohen named is spelled with a “K” and that kosher
is spelled with a “C”), the male attitude of
superiority over women, and a false Germanic sense of
propriety.

When the jokes are bawdy, the play is reminiscent of
the Steve Martin we know from ‘THE MAN WITH TWO
BRAINS.’  When at its most ironic, flashes of his
recent hit movie ‘CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN’ appear.  
Martin uses the original story to make leaps into both
the ridiculous and academic when he mocks the very
fabric of marriage and society, at least Germanic
nuptials and society.

To make this play work takes a keen sense of comedic
timing, consistency of characterizations, and
presenting lines so believably that they become
farcically hysterical.  It is in these elements that
the Cleveland Play House production is lacking.  Under
the often ill-conceived directing of Peter Hackett,
accents (one can only wonder why they were used at
all), come and go.  Actors change pacing and
characterization in mid-sentence.  The constant
screaming becomes ear piercing.  The pacing varies
from hysterical to languid.  Laughs are lost due to
poor line interpretation. The results?  The play which
a New York critic called “The funniest play in town”
becomes less than could be expected.  That’s not to
say this production lacks laughs.  Some are there. 
Just not as many as there could have been, nor in a
format that grabs and holds the whole audience.

Chaz Mena, as the husband, yells his way through the
first part of the play and then has a total character
change for the second segment.  His German accent
vanishes, then returns, then vanishes again.  Tanya
Clarke, as his wife Louise, never seems involved in
the goings on.  Johanna Morrison is absolutely
wonderful as the interfering neighbor.  She, along
with Brad Bellamy as Cohen, one of the men who is
infatuated by Louise, are the production’s highlights.
 Sam Gregory, as one of the other renters, begins well
and then seems to get lost in who his character is,
what he represents.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  The CPH production of ‘THE
UNDERPANTS’ is less than could be desired.  As the man
sitting next to me kept saying to his wife, as he
squirmed in his seat, “When is this thing going to
end?”  ‘THE UNDERPANTS’ runs through March 28 in the
Drury Theatre of the Cleveland Play House, 8500 Euclid
Avenue, Cleveland.  For tickets to call 216-795-7000,
Ext. 4

MISS GULCH BICYCLES INTO AREA

Love ‘THE WIZARD OF OZ?’  Well, there is a dark side
to that lovely children’s story.  Remember Almira
Gulch, the dog-snatching, basket-wielding, spiteful
spinster-next-door?  Well, she is going to appear from
March 2 through the 27th at 8:30 in Kennedy’s at
Playhouse Square Center.  For $20 you can see this
adult subject-matter one-character play starring
Nickolas Vannello.  We’ve been told that Vannello does
the old girl proud and all her dreams finally come
true!  For tickets call 216-241-6000 or 800-766-6048.

BERKO WEB PAGE ON-LINE

Interested in reading past reviews?  Interested in
finding out my philosophy of reviewing?  Interested in
knowing more about this reviewer?  If so, go on-line
to www.royberko.info.  Thanks to the talented Nick
Vennello for developing the web page.


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