Screwball Comedy
Reviewed by Iris Mann
Theatre 40
Through August 19
RECOMMENDED
Norm Foster’s Screwball Comedy takes its title from the 1930s-40s film genre of the same name that was popular during the Great Depression. Iconic examples include Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938) and His Girl Friday (1939) — the latter two directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant. The comedic style was characterized by a mixture of sophistication and foolishness; unstoppable pacing; urbane, rapid-fire dialogue laced with colloquial expressions of the day; characters from the upper levels of society; the battle of the sexes, including smart-talking women who were often ambitious, and lovers who either “met cute” or couldn’t stand one another at first meeting, only to discover that they were meant for each other.
Early in Foster’s scintillating scenario, set in 1938, Bosco Godfrey (Daniel Leslie), editor-in-chief of the big city newspaper The Chronicle, roundly criticizes star reporter Jeff Kinkaid (Lane Compton) for filing stories that are far below his usual standards. The reason: he wastes his time with late night carousing and incessant womanizing. Enter Mary Hayes (Kate Whitney), recently fired from her job as a department store perfumier (perfume salesperson) and now bent on realizing her dream of becoming a journalist.
It seems the owner of the paper, Delores Diddle (Sharron Shayne) wants The Chronicle to cover the upcoming wedding of her dunderhead son, Chauncey (Niko Boles), who naps until late in the day and is unemployable (“unless there’s an opening somewhere for a pajama mannequin,” Delores quips). Bosco proposes a contest; he will send both Mary and Jeff to cover the nuptials and — if Mary writes the better story — she gets Jeff’s job. If Jeff prevails, he gets to keep his job.
When they arrive at the Diddle estate, Delores informs them that she wants the reporters to conduct interviews with the engaged couple and then expose her son’s fiancée, Gloria Fontana (Jean Mackie), as a gold digger who is plotting to get her hands on the family fortune.
The hijinks begin, and subterfuges are uncovered as competitors become lovers.
Foster, a Canadian playwright, has written a script imbued with all the elements that define screwball comedy, and his dialogue fairly sparkles, with several clever double-entendres. The action, particularly in the first act, is skillfully spearheaded by director Howard Storm, who extracts all the crowd-pleasing hilarity from the story that a playwright could wish for, usually pacing the proceedings to maximum effect, and eliciting the proper comedic level from most of his performers.
The sparkle does diminish somewhat in the second act because the pace falls off a bit at certain points. As the fiancée under suspicion, Mackie does as well as she can with the material she’s given, but her character’s encounter with Mary would be more amusing if she weren’t so drunk throughout the scene, a choice that slows the play’s headlong progression. And the section containing Mary’s interview with Chauncey could be enlivened by having Boles pick up his cues a little more swiftly.
Those issues, however, are minor, easily addressed, and don’t detract significantly from the play’s overall impact, especially given the delightful quality of so many of the performances.
Whitney hits just the right note as Mary, maintaining the character’s “moxie” throughout and effortlessly delivering her repartee. Even while displaying Mary’s vulnerability and growing attraction to Jeff, she remains at the heightened level required by the piece.
Conversely, Compton, who is physically perfect for his role and has the appropriate demeanor, needs to ratchet up his delivery so that he matches Whitney’s strong vocal level and speedy pace.
At the same time, Leslie as the editor and Gail Johnston as Jonesy his secretary give performances that are so faithful to the style that they seem to come directly out of a 1930s film. Leslie is highly entertaining as he combines a boisterous quality with a hidden soft spot, and Johnston projects such an endearing sauciness and spunk as she spouts knowing wisecracks that one wishes we could see more of her.
In portraying the grande dame Delores, Shayne strikes a wonderful balance between something of an upper-class floozy and a woman with a canny core. And George Villas, who plays Delores’s younger fiancé, Peter Terwilliger, is a hoot, creating a persona that is something of a restoration comedy dandy as he preens and gushes around the other characters, occasionally making astute observations.
But the production’s most outrageously funny turn is provided by David Hunt Stafford as the effete butler, Reginald. Never varying his deadpan expression, Stafford drops explosive little gems that alternate between literary allusions, self-pitying plaints, self-effacing exaggerations or dry criticisms, all pronounced with an understated sarcasm.
Screwball comedy was a product of its time and is difficult to recreate in the current culture, but this delicious production definitely delivers the goods.
Theatre 40 – Reuben Cordova Theatre at Beverly Hills High School, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills; Thur.- Sat., 8:00 p.m.; Sun., 2:00 p.m.; through Aug. 19. (310) 364-0535 or https://theatre40.org/product/screwball-comedy-2018/. Running time: approximately two hours with one intermission.
