Rumors 

Reviewed by Neal Weaver 
The Group Rep 
Through July 29 

RECOMMENDED 

Prolific playwright Neil Simon made his name with a long and successful series of character- driven comedies, including The Odd Couple, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and Plaza Suite — but with this play he felt the need for a change of pace, and set out to produce a zany, plot- driven farce, concerned only with generating laughs. He sets it at an epically disastrous dinner party given by Charley Brock (whom we never see), to celebrate his tenth wedding anniversary.

The first guests to arrive are the permanently befuddled lawyer Ken Gorman (Fox Carney) and his wife Chris (Debi Tinsley), who has just quit smoking and is passionately longing for a cigarette. They soon discover that Brock (apparently in an inept suicide attempt) has shot himself through his left earlobe. There is no sign of Mrs. Brock, the servants have disappeared, and no dinner has been prepared. These early guests decide they must help Brock keep up appearances to avoid scandal, but though they try to pretend to the other guests that nothing is wrong, things inevitably spin out of control.

The plot defies both logic and description. There’s an automobile accident, a stolen red sports car, a 60-year-old Russian dress, and a lover’s quarrel that degenerates into a knock-down drag-out fight between a pair of gay guests, played by Todd Andrew Ball and Hisato Masuyama-Ball. It all culminates in a first act curtain in which, in typical farce fashion, all hell breaks loose.

In Act 2, the party is invaded by the local police, who are attempting to investigate the automobile accident and reports of shots fired. By this time, there have been so many lies and deceptions that no one can give the increasingly exasperated police (Robert McCollum and Judy Rosenfeld) coherent answers.

Though this may have been Simon’s first attempt at writing a farce, he already had the chops to pull it off, and the laughs come fast and furious. Director Doug Engalla has assembled a top-notch cast of comic actors, including Kent Butler as Lenny Ganz, whose car is almost totaled by the red sports car. Cheryl Crosland scores comic points as his disenchanted, acid-tongued wife. LizAnne Keigley (alternating with Michele Bernath) plays Cookie Cusack, host of a TV cooking show, who’s pressed into service to prepare the dinner despite the fact that she has a propensity for putting her back out. Doug Haverty delivers a stylish turn as her doctor husband.

Designer Chris Winfield cheery multilevel set, comes with the multiple doors most farces seem to require, while Angela M. Eads provides the colorful costumes.

The Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 9 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (818) 763-5990 or www.thegrouprep.com. Running time: two hours and five minutes with one 10-minute intermission.