Review: Rainbow Delights Audiences with Revived GOOD NIGHT MRS. PUFFIN

Welcome, Mrs. Puffin! At least, that's what the younger family members of the Fordyce family have to say, because the strange small-town visitor's dreams, which she can't remember clearly, tell about the future. The parental Fordyces would rather have her go home - she's threatening to spoil their daughter's Christmas wedding to a guy whose father is a friend of the Governor.

Arthur Lovegrove's delightfully silly GOOD NIGHT, MRS. PUFFIN is at Rainbow's Comedy Playhouse, directed by "Bing" Ingersoll, and you, like the Fordyce kids, would probably like Ginger Puffin (Cynthia DiSavino at her charmingly silliest) to stay a while and keep on prattling. But while she's dream-recollecting and wheezing away, the Fordyces and Stephen Parker (David DiSavino, looking, as the script dictates,every bit like an especially tall Rocky of "Rocky and Bullwinkle"), father of the groom, are fighting hard to keep her away. Casey Allyn is an especially funny mother, Ethel Fordyce, whose discovery of the Governor's attendance at the wedding turns her into the mama equivalent of Bridezilla.

No, the parental units don't think she can foretell the future, not one bit - but what if she fills the (very adult) children's heads full of bad ideas? Like calling off a ridiculously expensive Ohio society wedding? Like SpongeBob Squarepants, like the Teletubbies, like Donald Trump's hair, she's a danger to the natural order of things. But unlike the Fordyce parents and the greedy Stephen Parker, their business associate and possible business cheat, the children are able to see that underneath her silliness and general weirdness, Mrs. Puffin is genial and astonishingly accurate... when she can actually remember what she dreamed about. When new neighbor Roger's (Doug Cashell) kitchen floods, the younger Fordyces suddenly understand that something's afoot, and Mrs. Puffin may be more right than she realizes.

The show is a wonderful Christmas show, as Rainbow's seasonal offering always is, for those who prefer outright holiday cheer to one more musical holiday spectacular. This particular production also has the hilarity of DiSavino as the redneck Mrs. Puffin, engaging in some spectacular physical comedy along with the humor in the dialogue, and a chance to see the DiSavino family playing against - here, quite literally against - each other, as David DiSavino's Parker tries to help drive her away from his son and the Fordyce daughter... although somehow, both families keep forgetting that there's a second Miss Fordyce, Pam (Anna Bailey) with her own part in Mrs. Puffin's obscure visions, and who's just as single as her sister.

The set, as usual at Rainbow, is one of the best in the region, as Cynthia DiSavino specializes in sets that look completely natural and not "staged". There's no doubt in any audience member's mind that the Fordyce living room is the Fordyce living room, and that they could walk right into it themselves and interrupt the tree trimming. The tree trimming, alas, points out the one flaw in the production - the characterization of Nick Fordyce. Rainbow occasionally overplays the "this character has stereotypically gay characteristics" card, and Nick's flamboyance and artistic temperament feel as if they've been played just a little too over the top - but the portrayal isn't either spiteful or mean, merely too much. Other than the various parents at the intrusion of Mrs. Puffin, there's not a spiteful bone in this show's body, and not even any angst. It's purely funny, and if you can't have a dose of total humor at this time of year, you can't have it any time.

It's a great Christmas show, but it's less farcical than many of Rainbow's shows, too, so if you want a show with a slightly slower, less dizzying, comic pace than their usual and a serious dose of silly instead, this is perfect. Somehow, farce isn't always entirely Christmas fare. This is.

At Rainbow's Comedy Playhouse through December 27. Check rainbowcomedy.com both for tickets and for the various meal options at the Playhouse before the show. Fasten seat belts for the following production in January, as NANA'S NAUGHTY KNICKERS, by Katy DiSavino (yes, the producing/acting team's equally creative daughter) is back at the theatre that originated the oft-produced show.

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