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`Rumors'
By Dennis King
Published: 9/7/1991
Last Modified: 2/27/2007 8:25 AM
Farce is a particularly tricky form of humor to pull off.
It relies on rapid-fire repartee, lightning-quick entrances
and exits, witty one-liners, a dominoing series of misunderstandings
and mini-disasters, and an escalating sense of hysteria.
Theater Tulsa opened its 70th season Friday night in the
Williams Theater of the Performing Arts Center with a show
that virtually defines "farce."
The company's staging of Neil Simon's "Rumors" was delivered
with high wit and winning energy, not to mention mile-a-minute
dialogue that kept the audience laughing throughout.
Simon, America's preeminent purveyor of stage humor, has
concocted a flighty and frothy comedy of manners in this
story about dinner guests at a classy New York townhouse
who arrive at the party to find the host suffering from
a gunshot wound to his earlobe and his wife mysteriously missing.
As the lawyerly first arrivals struggle to cover up the
potential scandal of the situation - the host is, after
all, New York's deputy mayor, and his wounds might be self-inflicted
- the situation gets more and more confused as new guests
arrive. The imagined scandal seems small compared to the
confusion that follows.
Veteran director David Valla has a sure sense for this type
of comedy, and he keeps the action moving, the doors slamming
and the comic confusion multiplying in fine style.
The cast captures the frantic
spirit of the evening in several
delightful performances. About the worst that can be said
is that on occasion lines are delivered a bit too stridently
and voices are raised to shouts too often.
Standouts in the fine cast include Mike Pryor as the whiplash-suffering
Lenny, and Barbara Murn as his sharp-tongued wife Claire.
Pryor and Murn seem to be the perfect Simon couple, masking
their affection behind a kind of bickering rush of dialogue.
Fine and funny performances are also turned in by James
Vance, Toby Murray, Michael Christopher and April Panzer.
This was the first Theater Tulsa show for the company's
new technical director John Wilson, and his work was polished.
The set was elegant and finely detailed. The work of Wilson's
technical crew was smooth and clean.
All in all, "Rumors" represents an auspicious start for
Theater Tulsa's 70th consecutive season.
"Rumors" continues through Sept. 15. Curtain times are
8:15 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with 2:15 p.m. matinees on Sundays.
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