I’m fortunate that a friend had an extra ticket for Roundabout’s Don’t Dress for Dinner last night and that he asked me to join him. Free theater is always more fun. J And we did have fun.Don’t Dress for Dinner is a sequel, of sorts, to Boeing-Boeing, which was on Broadway a few years ago. Boeing-Boeing seemed to be produced because it had a Tony Award-winning performance by Mark Rylance at its center; I can’t figure out why a theater would want to do Don’t Dress for Dinner. I mean, I guess it’s relatively funny enough at times (though this translation isn’t as crisp as the one used for Boeing-Boeing), but nothing really special. The actors are funny enough, but nothing really special (with one exception). I had a fine time with my friend and did giggle and laugh fairly regularly, but it certainly wasn’t as fun as Boeing-Boeing, and the second act is a pretty dull slog. Plus, there’s no enchanting curtain call to send you out on a high. This production does make use of fun French pop music, though. I still think they should sell a CD in the lobby.
Instead of wacky romantic hi-jinks in a swanky Paris apartment (with Mark Rylance and Bradley Whitford), we have wacky romantic hi-jinks in a stuffy suburban French home (with Ben Daniels and Adam Jones). Now, god bless Ben and Adam, but they are not the physical comedians that Mark and Bradley were. And now, inexplicably, they’re not American expatriates in Paris, they’re British expatriates in Paris. I don’t get it. Oh well. But anyway, the action starts when Bernard invites his mistress down for the weekend when he assumes his wife is going out of town. Of course, his wife doesn’t go out of town and all hell breaks loose.
Adam Jones is Bernard, and while he does have some charming moments, he’s just trying way too hard. Ben Daniels fares better – he has a little of the loose-limbed quality of Bill Irwin, though the physical humor is a bit mechanical and feels overly-rehearsed. Patricia Kalember looks lovely in her costumes, and has some funny reactions, but her role is probably the thinnest in the writing, so it was hard for her to make a real impression. The true treasure in this show is Spencer Kayden, who hasn’t been on Broadway since she cracked me up as Little Sally in Urinetown. She is completely and totally hysterical in this production, as the hired cook who becomes so much more as the evening wears on. She is the only one who has farce in her bones, and is not pushing or forcing the comedy on us. She is very nearly worth the price of admission.
Jennifer Tilly, on the other hand, is not. She plays Bernard’s mistress, and as I was telling my boss earlier, her performance is so wrong, it’s right. And she is truly from the Planet Tilly. What she’s doing has no relation to farce, this play or the other characters, and yet, she’s so wrong, you laugh. It’s weird. I don’t blame her, though, I blame the director. Clearly she was cast for her Jennifer Tilly-ness, but was it necessary? I’m not sure.
The first act was pretty fast and funny, so, I guess if comps or severely discounted tickets come your way, you might have a good time at Don’t Dress for Dinner. It’s certainly more fun than Spider-Man. J Would I have enjoyed this play more if I hadn’t seen Boeing-Boeing? Hmmmmmm. I just don’t know. Probably not. I probably would’ve still laughed, then promptly forgotten about it. It’s just not that great a play. But when compared with a superior production, it suffers in comparison even more.
That’s it. I have no shows scheduled for the foreseeable future. There is just something wrong with that. Maybe I’ll see if I have energy for TKTS tomorrow (since I just couldn’t do another show last Tuesday night). I’m thinking of doing a blog post about MY choices for the Tony nominees before Tuesday’s nominations. I should probably see at least one more musical before I try that, since I only have two on my preliminary list so far… ;)
I'm just going to include a couple of random photos here at the end: I went to a restaurant called et cetera et cetera the other night, to have drinks with office chums. They have very tasty bar snacks (shown in the photo are the rosemary grissini) and a pretty large cocktail list. I had the Rossini, which was proseco and raspberry puree. DELICIOUS. I had two. :) Then, yesterday, for some unknown reason, they decided to announce the cover boy for a new football video game in a big ceremony outside my office. There was quite a crowd...
**Six years ago, I reviewed the much-reviled (by me) Roundabout production of The Threepenny Opera; five years ago, Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes were lovely in Deuce; four years ago, I saw the Albee double-feature of The American Dream/Sandbox; two years ago, I became obsessed by Barbara Cook's version of "Beautiful" in Sondheim on Sondheim; and last year, I was devastated by the power and beauty of The Normal Heart.
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