A Bad Year for Tomatoes
Reviewed by Iris Mann
Theatre 40
Through June 16
Despite its improbable premise, this farce by John Patrick (Tony Award winner for The Teahouse of the August Moon) is imbued with elements of I Love Lucy and The Beverly Hillbillies and could be a rollicking ride — if the one-line zingers were delivered “trippingly on the tongue” and at a speedier, more upbeat tempo. But director Larry Eisenberg has helmed the piece with too heavy a hand, resulting in a stodgy, plodding evening that makes the play seem unnecessarily dated. One of the main problems is that Eisenberg has either led or allowed some of the actors to hammer the humor so emphatically that it falls flat.
The story revolves around TV series regular Myra Marlowe (Diana Angelina), born Myrtle Durdle, as she retires to the small Vermont town of Beaver Haven to write her autobiography and raise tomatoes. She is accompanied by her longtime agent Tom Lamont (David Datz), who would prefer that she continue her acting career and marry him. When she declines, he returns to Los Angeles.
Constantly besieged by well-meaning but nosy neighbors, including a bizarre handyman named Piney (Jeffrey Winner) who sells manure, chops wood for sale, kills hogs and traps skunk, Myra invents a deranged and dangerous sister, Sadie, whose unhinged threats she records in a scary voice and then plays back from upstairs. On occasion she dons a wig and glasses to impersonate this imaginary sibling who has supposedly escaped from a locked upstairs bedroom.
The scheme starts to fall apart when the handyman develops a crush on the fictitious sister and two neighbor ladies want Myra and Sadie to accompany them to church to save Sadie’s soul. When Myra can’t produce Sadie alongside herself, she tells everyone she has sent her sister to an institution in Boston. A series of events, including the discovery of an axe which the handyman has accidentally left on Myra’s table, lead the townspeople to suspect that Myra has killed Sadie and dismembered her body.
Of course, when the action concludes, it’s “all’s well that ends well.”
As for the performances, both Angelina and Winner push the comedy so hard that it loses all its punch. Angelina needs to be less bubbly and a bit more impassive, while Winner would benefit from a more deadpan delivery — and both should pick up the pace.
Leda Siskind as a witch of a neighbor goes too far over the top. Instead of being conscious of how outrageous her beliefs and behavior are, she would do better to treat them as though they were perfectly natural and normal. And Datz comes across more as one of the townspeople than a Hollywood agent. The character begs for a more urbane, even arch delivery.
The most successful work is achieved by Amanda Conlon and Ann Ryerson as the two “welcoming,” but intrusive neighbors who want to save the mad sister’s soul. Conlon in particular has a very funny turn as a professed teetotaler who keeps imbibing Myra’s scotch after a fight with her husband.
Finally, William Joseph Hill hits just the right note as the small town’s sheriff.
It must be said that Jeff G. Rack’s beautifully appointed set design is perhaps the very best aspect of this production.
Theatre 40 – Reuben Cordova Theatre at Beverly Hills High School, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Jun. 16. (310) 364-0535 or www.theatre40.org. Running time: approximately one hour and 50 minutes with one intermission.
