[NEohioPAL] Review of "The Fox on the Fairway" at CVLT

[Bob Abelman]

Silly shtick invades the CVLT stage

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the Times on 1/24/13

 

 

Those unfamiliar with farce will most likely find Ken Ludwig's "The Fox on the Fairway," first produced in 2010 and currently on stage at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, an all-out assault on the ears, eyes and more elevated taste for comedy.  Those who know the genre and, perhaps, Mr. Ludwig's "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo," will find this play woefully formulaic and tiresome, despite the CVLT's earnest and energetic production of it. 

 

The show's excuse for unleashing the hounds of fast-paced slapstick, sophomoric sexual innuendo, and incessant door slamming is an annual golf tournament between two country clubs and a bet between rival club managers-the overbearing Bingham (Michael Rogan) and the obnoxious Dickie (Christopher Nappi). 

 

In orbit around this singular storyline are two impetuous lovers, Justin (Billy Sonnie) and Louise (Natalie Dolezal), who are on the staff of Bingham's Quail Valley Country Club; Dickie's sex-starved ex-wife Pamela (Erika Hansen) who is on the board of directors; and Bingham's overbearing wife Muriel (Laurel Bryant).  Each adds a highly contrived complication and, presumably, merriment to the proceedings.

 

Mr. Ludwig lets audience members know what they are in for from the get-go by having each character enter the stage through a different doorway and offer a groan-worthy one-liner about the game of golf, such as "Golf is easy.  The first thing you do is buy clothes that don't match" and "Golf and sex are the only things you can enjoy without being good at them."   Let the madcap mayhem commence.

 

It is also during these opening moments that one of several miscalculations by the CVLT mind trust becomes immediately apparent:  the doors in Edmond Wolff's otherwise superb design of the Quail Valley Country Club tap-room swing open and closed.  This blatantly violates the first rule of great farces that was formulated by Plautus in the 3rd century B.C. and refined by the British in the 1930s and 1940s: slamming doors are significantly funnier than swinging doors.  They, in turn, are funnier than revolving doors.  Trap doors are not funny at all.

 

It must be another comedy rule that the louder one says a line or the broader one reacts to it, the more uproarious the moment becomes.  The CVLT cast members are so consistently loud, visually and verbally, that there is nowhere to go when a scene builds to climax and actually requires that kind of reaction.  The audience is left waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the performers are shoeless by that point.

  

Despite these shortcomings, this is a very hard-working ensemble that has wonderful comic timing, as does director Daniel Takacs.  "A Fox on the Fairway" barrels along at a rapid clip, which actually keeps the audience from reflecting on the gags that are not funny or have been shamefully self-pilfered from other plays by the playwright.  

 

And, as with his other plays, Mr. Ludwig draws these characters with the broad strokes of a Sunday comic strip and renders them annoying to a fault.  

 

Fortunately Mr. Nappi-with a face built for slapstick-is particularly adept at turning this into a comedic advantage in his depiction of Dickie.  Ms. Dolezal's portrayal of the seemingly simplistic Louise takes the most creative risks of all the performers.   When she misses, which she does each time she drops her Kewpie doll voice, she misses big.  But when Ms. Dolezal successfully accentuates the nonsensical, which she does often, she is delightful and allows this play to be the most it can be: amusing.

  

"The Fox on the Fairway" runs through February 9 at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, 40 River Street, Chagrin Falls.  For tickets, $12 to $16, call 440-247-8955 or visit www.cvlt.org.

 
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