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Room Service

Media Reviews

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Frothy "Room Service" Delivers Fast-Paced Laughs
02/13/2008
Anyone looking for an evening of light entertainment that doesn’t tax the brain and promises plenty of chuckles should consider Theatre in the Square’s “Room Service, ” a very old play expertly staged by a solid cast.

The 1937 stage play has the distinction of being the only one translated to film by the Marx Brothers that wasn’t expressly written with Groucho, Harpo and Chico in mind. Fortunately, there’s not a fake mustache or cigar in sight, as the production stays true to the original material instead of trying to channel the brothers Marx.

In fact, Hugh Adams’ boyish enthusiasm as theater producer Gordan Miller couldn’t be more different from Groucho’s knowing winks and lascivious asides. Ensconced in a hotel room complete with Murphy bed, Gordan is on the verge of being evicted as he scrambles to get a new play staged in time to pay for his keep and that of his 22 cast members, who are also staying in the hotel on borrowed time.

In his cahoots are the play’s eccentric director Harry Binion (William S. Murphey) and the unflappable Fakur (Goggie Uterhardt), whose connection to the production is unclear but whose lanky frame and physical humor add a spark to every scene he’s in. When the nebbishy first-time playwright (Andrew Benator) unexpectedly arrives, he too is sucked into the threesome’s convoluted ruses to keep the hotel management (Robert Wayne and Don Finney) at bay.

Throw in a Russian waiter (Bruce Evers) trying to finagle a part in the play and a couple of kewpie dolls —- the Betty Boop-voiced Hilda (LeeAnna Lambert) and Christine (Cara Mantella), whose bodacious breasts threaten to leap out of her bodice —- and there you have a formula for one outlandish sight gag after another.

A fast pace is essential for a successful farce, and director James Donadio keeps it zippy. Each new stunt that Gordan and company pull to elude eviction is more complicated than the last, building tension until it crescendos in one final feat of deception that catches everyone —- including the audience —- off guard.

Ticket buyers won’t walk out of “Room Service” any more enlightened than when they went in, but they may detect an extra bounce in their steps after this lighthearted night at the theater.

Atlanta Theatre Buzz:
May the Farce be with You
02/13/2008
Grade: A

It's finally happened! A farce is being produced in the Atlanta area that looks as if the design and conceptual team know what they're doing! That creaky old Community Theatre stand-by, Murray and Boretz's "Room Service," is being given a top-notch professional mounting that is face-paced, funny, ludicrous, funny, rife with desperation, funny, filled with inspired directorial flourishes, funny, and way-way over the top. It's also very funny.

For years, now, I've bemoaned the tendency of Atlanta directors to treat farce as if it were realistic comedy (or, in one recent case, treating a realistic comedy as if it were a farce), citing over-realistic performances devoid of the heightened sense of desperation farce requires as the chief culprit. Treating farce realistically is a little like flavoring ice cream with salt and pepper.

But, in T²'s "Room Servce," director James Donadio and his design time have put together a production that meets my picky and detailed expectations, Theatrical Maven Gordon Miller (Hugh Adams) is holed up in the hotel run by his brother-in-law (Robert Wayne) with the cast and production team of his latest project, "Godspeed." [Insert goofy wave here]. The problem is, he's currently penniless, he's being evicted, the hotel's books are being audited by an ambitious manager (a way over-the-top Don Finney - Jumping Butterbeans, but he makes me laugh!), the naļve writer is in from Oswego prepared to be rich and famous, and the cast is hungry. That's when things begin to go wrong. Add in an over-efficient assistant (Cara Mantella adding humor to the "straight" role), a dim-bulb secretary (LeeAnna Lambert, squeaky voiced and squeezable), an eccentric director (Bill Murphey in top form), a Russian waiter formerly of the Moscow Art Theatre (Bruce Evers with a nicely penetrable accent), a Hotel Doctor and an agent of the "We Never Sleep" collection agency (both played by Bryan Mercer, sometimes in the same scene), and a -well I don't know what role Fakir plays, but he's played by Googie Uterhardt, so you do the math.

We also have lingerie on display (disappointingly, only male), several doors that open and close with perfect timing (and just what does Fakir do in that closet all the time?), and split second timing, and you're laughing so constantly, you fail to notice how dated the script is and how shallow the characters are. But this is farce! It's SUPPOSED to be dated and shallow. Many years ago, my lovely and talented spouse was in a production of this that almost killed our relationship at the start. (Yes, I made the rookie mistake of telling her what I really thought of it.) It's telling that that production ran a good forty minutes longer than this one, and I didn't notice any cuts in the script this time around. That, my friends, is the difference a lively pace can make.

The set was the sort of ludicrous, over-large hotel suite found only on stage. It had a lovely pull-down bed that was used to beautiful effect, and a ledge, complete with multi-bulb hotel sign outside (though, I sorta kinda wished the "t" in Hotel would have remained burned out throughout). It makes no architectural sense, but it makes perfect farce-sense. If I have one complaint about the design, a pivotal moosehead strikes me as more baby-moose than great-gonzo-mother-moose that the script really calls for.

The cast is uniformly excellent and the ensemble work is near-perfect. And, Mr. Donadio has chosen to end the piece with an unscripted switcheroo that is absolutely inspired in its conception, execution, and effect.

"Room Service" is definitely worth a drive up to Marietta and will be running until February 24 (unless, as sometimes happens, it extends its run - last night's mid-run performance was almost sold out).

I had a great time, I hope you will too, enjoy the journey, May the Farce Be with You, and Godspeed! [Insert goofy wave here].

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