Playwright: Philip LaZebnik
and Kingsley Day
At: Broutil and Frothingham Productions at the Theatre Building,
1225 W. Belmont
Phone: (773) 327-5252; $24.50-$26.50
Runs through: March 23
A Clintonesque politician in a sexual romp with an inane bimbo? A television news reporter willing to step on anyone to further her own ambitious ends? A bestselling author who's written a book on making marriage last when his own marriage is a bitter, lifeless affair? These are supposed to be fresh situations? These are supposed to be funny? The only farce here is that the usually smart and capable Broutil and Frothingham Productions thought that this clunker would elicit laughs. Director Terry McCabe, who directed the play in its world premiere at Chicago's now-defunct Wisdom Bridge Theater, would have been better off not trying to revive this tired script, with its cliched situations and its thwarted ambition to be a true farce. A revival, in theater as well as in life, only succeeds when there's some life remaining in its object.
Revolving around a single hotel room (which has been overbooked, hence the cast of characters that appear and reappear in Richard and Jacqueline Penrod's tired set), Tour de Farce centers around an academic type who has penned a book purporting to contain the secrets of having a long and happy marriage. But the couple teeters on the brink of marital collapse, with the wife jealous of the time and devotion her spouse has lavished on his writing instead of her, which makes the book tour they are currently on all the more daunting. Add to this situation an unfaithful politician, a silly bellboy, a cameraman hiding in the closet, and an overly ambitious journalist, and you have the basic materials for Tour de Farce. The script may have had its moments back when it premiered ten years ago, but it doesn't play very well now.
But even this unwieldy vehicle might have been able to have some appeal if the direction was snappier and the actors more in tune with what farce is all about. But the production plods along, with a kind of sophomoric style that's silly only in the worst sense of the word. The big conceit of Tour de Farce is supposed to be that all 10 characters in the play are portrayed by two actors (Joan Maurer and George Seegebrecht) and that, when they step off stage, they change costumes and hair completely, emerging minutes later as someone else. The ruse has its curiosity factor and is interesting for about 10 minutes. Again, the speed of these changes has to be almost superhuman to be funny. We have to gasp in wonder and delight when the wife goes to the bathroom and voila! there's the same actor coming in another door as a reporter, or a floozy tottering in too-high heels. But the only gasping in the audience is accompanied by eye-rolling as the actors attempt, with posturing and cartoonish delivery, to bring their various characters to life.
Bottom line: one only has to listen to the audience to know if a farce is working or not. The proof is in the laughter. The only laughter I heard for this Tour de Farce was a few polite chuckles. And chuckles demonstrate one thing: they're dying out there.
