[NEohioPAL]Berko review: ROOM SERVICE (Cleveland Play House)

[Roy Berko]

Humorous, but not hysterical ‘Room Service’ at CPH

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
LORAIN COUNTY TIMES--WESTLAKER TIMES--LAKEWOOD NEWS
TIMES--OLMSTED-FAIRVIEW TIMES


Farce is a theatre or movie form which aims to
entertain by developing unlikely, yet often possible
situations by use of disguises, mistaken identity and
exaggeration.  It has a fast-paced plot whose speed
usually increases toward the end of the play.  Broad
physical humor, and deliberate absurdity or nonsense
are the lynch pins of farce.

Farce is generally perceived by theatre directors and
actors as the most difficult to perform.  To be
successful, in a farcical performance, actors must
look and be ridiculous while doing what looks normal
and effortless.  To be successful farcical writing,
places characters in situations in which they simply
can’t escape without some great exaggeration.   To
contemplate farce in its highest form think Lucille
Ball, Danny Kaye and the Marx Brothers.  To think well
written farce think Kauffman and Hart’s ‘YOU CAN’T
TAKE IT WITH YOU,’ Oscar Wilde’s ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING EARNEST,’ Noel Coward’s ‘HAY FEVER’ or Neil
Simon’s ‘RUMORS’ and the classic British farce,
“NOISES OFF.’

‘ROOM SERVICE,’ now on stage at the Cleveland
Playhouse, is a farce.  Originally  a 1937 play, it
was transformed into a movie of the same name in 1938.
 Both the Broadway play and the movie starred the Marx
Brothers and Lucille Ball, in one of her first roles.

The story concerns a would-be a Broadway producer
trying to stage a depression era play with no money. 
In order to get this done, he must find a way to pay
his enormous hotel bill, rent a theatre, pay the
playwright and satisfy bill collectors.  In his path
he needs to deal with a waiter-but-really-great
Russian actor, a just-off-the-bus-from-the- hick-town
author, an irate hotel executive, and...., you get the
picture.

Interestingly, the film is notable for being the only
Marx Brothers film not written especially for them. 
It is also considered one of their weakest films.  As
one critic stated, "the Marx Brothers were constrained
by having to play characters with a passing
resemblance to human beings."  In other words, the
characters must be bigger than life an the plot must
race to its “happily ever after” conclusion.

That lack of bigger-than-life is at the heart of the
Play House’s problematic production.  There just isn’t
enough farce.  Yes, there are laughs, but it just
doesn’t let loose.  It is not madcap.  Remember the
side-splitting feeling after seeing Lucille Ball
stomping on grapes or devouring chocolate candies in
her most notable TV shows?  Or, Kramer dashing into
Jerry’s apartment in many ‘SEINFELD’ episodes?  Ever
see the slamming door routines in the British farce,
‘NOISES OFF’?  Remember Danny Kaye double talking in
‘ME AND THE COLONEL’ or being totally outrageous in
‘THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY?’  Those qualities
simply aren’t present in the CPH show.

Part of the problem is director Jeff Steitzer’s casual
pacing of the show.  This has to be madcap, not
languid.  Though there are instances of chaos, enough
to give hope that once the show gels, there may be a
“letting loose,” on opening night hesitant would be
the gait description.  The quick one-liners are often
lost.  The snappy dialogue doesn’t snap.  The double
takes and the ridiculous are often lost.  Completely? 
No, but not enough to make this farce a non-farce!

Several members of the cast get into the right mood. 
Tom Beckett, as the hotel manager, can hardly keep his
feet on the ground.  He charges and storms around like
an exploding Roman candle firecracker.  He is
delightful.  If only all the other cast members had
had their wicks lit like Beckett’s.  Mark Alan Gordon
plays double duty in their production.  Both of his
characterizations were right on.  His voice cracked,
his body quaked, he had a nervous breakdown before our
very eyes as the potential backer of the play.  He was
equally funny as Senator Blake.  Even his makeup and
hairpieces were overdone to perfection.  Greg Thornton
almost stole the show as Sasha, the
Stanislovsky-trained actor turned waiter.  Larry
Paulsen’s Faker Englund had some wonderful moments. 
His mobile face, popping eyes and skinny body
well-keyed many of his lines.

On the other hand, Todd Gearhart in the Groucho role,
never got beyond his matinee idol good looks.  This
was a cardboard cut-out performance.  No texture, no
depth, no bigger than life.  In other words, few
laughs here.  Ronald Thomas Wilson whined his way
through the role of the doctor without making the
character live.  Craig Bockhorn, as Harry, the play’s
director, didn’t ever quite develop a
characterization.  A potentially hysterical moose head
bit-laid a large bomb.  (Part of this may have been
caused by the totally non-real looking moose’s head.) 


A potentially hysterical scene in which characters get
into piece of clothing after piece of clothing was so
slowly done that the humor sapped out of it.  Again, a
pacing problem.  On the other hand, the playwright’s
return-from-the-dead segment near the end of the play
was delightful.

Ursula Belden’s set complete with realistic room and
New York Times Square skyline was both attractive and
worked well.  

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  Cleveland Play House’s ‘ROOM
SERVICE’ is a smile show.  It should have been a
hysterically funny show.  

For tickets to  which runs through  in the  Theatre of
the Cleveland Play House call 216 795-7000 or go
on-line to www.clevelandplayhouse.com. 

 

Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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