Review: BAREFOOT IN THE PARK at Bag&Baggage Productions

Bag & Baggage Productions' performance of Neil Simon's classic comedy, Barefoot in the Park, is an absolute delight. Directed by Jane Unger and hosted at the wonderfully intimate Vault Theater in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, this production breathes fresh, energetic life into a 60-year-old Broadway treasure, with so much heart that you'll leave the theater smiling.

The company has assembled a terrific ensemble of seasoned regional comedic talent. Ariel Puls tackles Corie Bratter in her Bag & Baggage debut, bringing an MFA from Columbia and recent turns in Laughter on the 23rd Floor and The Glass Menagerie to the role. Opposite her, Alex Lathrop's Paul Bratter arrives fresh off a Broadway World Regional Award nomination for Orange Flower Water, making this his own Bag & Baggage debut alongside Puls. As the delightfully meddling Mother, Anna Nicholas draws on more than 50 years on stage and screen, from Dallas to Reno 911. Chris Patton steps into the wonderfully eccentric Victor Velasco, bringing three decades of acting and directing experience from Houston's theater scene, with favorite past roles ranging from Winston Smith in 1984 to Dracula himself. And rounding out the cast, Samm Hill's Telephone Repair Man comes courtesy of a résumé stretching from Second City LA and Upright Citizens Brigade to Scrooge in three separate productions of A Drunk Christmas Carol. Together, they give Neil Simon's script the kind of seasoned, generous comic instincts it deserves.

Taking on Neil Simon for the first time in company history, Bag & Baggage brings a balance of the script's broad, disastrously hilarious physical comedy with the genuine emotional core of young love. The chemistry between free-spirited newlywed Corie and her conservative lawyer husband Paul is completely palpable, capturing both the bliss and the sudden friction of their first six days of marriage.

Things kick into high gear as the newlyweds clash over their eccentric top-floor apartment, complete with a hole in the skylight, zero bathtub, and a grueling five-flight (or is it six?) climb. Once Corie's prim mother and the idiosyncratic upstairs neighbor, Victor Velasco, enter the fray, chaos ensues.

Part of the charm of revisiting Barefoot in the Park today is how plainly it functions as a time capsule. Corie and Paul's anxieties over rent, respectability, and what a "proper" marriage is supposed to look like are stitched through with the gender expectations of mid-century New York, when a wife's domain was the walk-up apartment and a husband's was the office downtown. Watching the newlyweds negotiate spontaneity versus responsibility, or Corie's restless desire for adventure against Paul's buttoned-up caution, offers a glimpse into a very specific moment in American courtship and domestic life, one where being newlyweds meant figuring out, in real time, whose habits would win out. It's a little dated, sure, but that datedness is part of the fun, giving the production a nostalgic, almost anthropological charm alongside its laughs.

A Set That Tells Its Own Story

Kyra Sanford's scenic design deserves mention, not just for capturing the empty-turned-hectic feel of the Bratters' brownstone walk-up, but for the clever visual storytelling woven into it. For nearly the entire show, the palette is deliberately restrained. The set, props, and even the costumes are rendered entirely in shades of gray, black, and white, giving the production a timeless, almost black-and-white-film quality that suits its mid-century setting beautifully.

Then, in the final scene, the payoff is a wonderful surprise when Corie appears in a bright red coat, a sudden splash of color against the muted world around her. It's a lovely, understated design choice that speaks volumes about her journey without a word of dialogue. It is the kind of detail that makes you want to catch the show again just to watch for it.

The venue itself adds to the magic. The Vault Theater's intimate footprint means you are never far from the action, and that closeness enhances the comedy as you catch every subtle facial expression and witty aside as if you were in the room with the Bratters yourselves.

Barefoot in the Park has a run time of two and half hours with two intermissions, but despite that, it is a fast, genuinely joyful, and beautifully executed rom-com, and Bag & Baggage proves they were right to save Neil Simon for just the right moment. Whether you're a longtime fan of the play or have never seen it before, this is a warm, funny, and thoroughly charming night at the theater.

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