'Apartment 3A'

y

ou haven't truly lived until you've shoes. Fashionable. As she treads the
waltzed with the one you love," says boards, she sets up great clunking echoes.
one of the characters in Jeff Daniels' And as she strides and collapses and
new play, Apartment 3A, at the Pur- paces a lot, those shoes remind us of clog
ple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.
dancing or armies marching in news-
That line, and several others written reels, detracting from the work on
by Daniels, may seem to strain for ro- stage.
mantic, poetic hyperbole. And, at times,
The costume designer of the otherwise
achieve it in this quite simple tale about picture-perfect character-driven cos-
a woman named Annie who works for tumes is Christina M. Foster. Ms Foster:
public broadcasting as a fund-raiser and The shoes gotta go.
moves into a new apartment. Suspend
Annie is very ably supported in her hi-
belief all ye who enter here.
jinks by two very sober, charming and
She's decidedly having a break-
appealing men. Randall Godwin
down. That her apartment has
plays Donald the man — liter-
THEATER
what seems to be a corporeal pres-
ally — of the moment. In his
ence may be the least of her wor-
sometimes grave tones, he can
ries. Her greatest worry may be that she give deft and lilting line readings. Pushed
goes on the air during PBS pledge week- up a notch, they'd be better. As Elliot,
end and announces to the "Sesame Joseph Albright is really very fine: he
Street" audience that if they don't cough is extraordinarily good at inhabiting a
up, Big Bird will die.
character, convincing you no other ac-
This is part righteous anger, because tor could play the role.
she doesn't feel that PBS should have to
Each of these three folks worked to-
beg for support, and another part hys- gether in Purple Rose's Spring Fest and
terical disintegration.
were directed by Guy Sanville. Director
Another problem is that she tells El- Sanville turns up again here, as good as
liot, her co-worker, ardent supporter and anyone and better than most in knowing
hoping to be gentleman caller, that she how to help actors use their bodies in fun-
doesn't believe in God. This comes dur- ny ways. He knows how to direct a scene
ing an intimate lunch for two he has of carnal coupling with genuine eroticism
planned as a prelude to a future dinner charged up to laugh level. And working
and maybe sex. And after he tells her he's — almost in repertory — with the same
a Catholic. And before they've even or- actors, he and they form a bond which
dered.
creates a synergistic stage life.
What can you do with Annie? Can't
Daniels' play is a funny, clever, four-
live with her, can't live without her. She's character comedy (the building super
just that nervy and irritating and funny. is Leo McNamara in a droll performance,
As played by Suzi Regan, Annie is a and there is an uncredited cameo of a
bundle of knotty neurosis, falling in love PBS director). The fine performances and
with the wrong guys, blowing her cool on direction make the play seem better than
television. Regan delivers all of Annie's it is.
bumps and groans: Could she be a touch
And then there are those shoes.
less strident?
Then there are the shoes. During all
of Act I, she wears these great big chunky
Michael H. Margolin

—

Arthur J. Beer (Sly) and Rashid Mausi (Able) star in Sly Fox, Larry Gelbart's retelling of Volpone.

'Sly Fox'

I

have this fantasy about Larry Gelbart: are Keegan-Michael Key, Charles Van-
Sitting at home, he takes out his copy Hoose, Ryan Carlson, Michelle Murphy,
of Sly Fox, his loose adaptation of Jennifer Fasulo and Ed Guest.
Volpone, opens to Act II, Scene I, the
I must, though, single out three fine,
courtroom scene, and as he reads, starts quirky performances. One is the droll per-
to laugh. He laughs louder and longer and, formance of Robyn Lipnicki, the Court
finally as the scene ends, wipes his eyes Clerk from Hell who could easily cite Fran
exhaustedly.
Drescher as a role model. Another, Will
Or was that me the other night at the Young as the Texan-styled Judge, has the
University of Detroit Theatre Company's "wild thane down pat — if you can imag-
first show of the season, in which Mary ine Carl Reiner as Lyndon B. Johnson,
Bremer's super-duper direction — espe- you have it.
cially in Act II, Scene I — has brought
Finally, there is John Hawkinson. He
Gelbart's farce-borscht-belt-comedy-of-ill- plays an army captain who brandishes
manners to vibrant life.
his cutlass like an emotional exclamation
Sure, Gelbart, who wrote, arguably, the mark or uses it as a comically threaten-
funniest musical there is — A Funny ing extension of his ire upon discovering
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum that his father has disowned him. As Cap-
— was working with fine material.
tain Crouch he goes beyond sweet
Volpone or The Fox by Ben Jon-
inanity to insanity. Watching an
THEATER
son was, in 1606, and still is, a
actor exuberantly fulfill an au-
bitingly funny satire. Volpone, a
thor's and director's intentions is
lecherous old man, pretends to be on his enough for anyone.
deathbed to attract bribes from those who
This fox is sly, deft and raucous. Oh,
want to be named his heir. Here Volpone and the two slick con men, Sly and Able,
and Mosca, his sidekick, are Sly and Able. get away with it, too.
The characters held up to ridicule in Gel-
bart's retelling are Craven, Crouch and
1/2
Truckle. And a prostitute named Miss
Fancy.
— Michael H. Margolin
Gelbart, with his gift for punchy dia-
logue, silly puns and dopey Mel Brooks
malapropisms, has as much fun skew-
ering his characters as Sly does watching
them grovel, curry favor and generally
make fools of themselves. Bremer makes
Outstanding
the simple plot the base line above which
she keeps the characters and their foibles
Very Good
merrily bobbing along.
She has the talented Arthur J. Beer as
®c
Good
Sly and Rashid Mausi as the aptly named
Able. But the supporting character actors,
Fair
each inhabiting a tiny, exquisite range of
satirical being, are the great stars. They

Bagel Barometer

Suzi Regan, Randall Godwin and Joseph Albright appear in Apartment 3A, a new comedy by Jeff Daniels
at the Purple Rose Theater.