Review: NEIL SIMON'S THE DINNER PARTY Explores Relationships at Cockpit In Court

Cockpit In Court Summer Theatre, in residence at CCBC, balances art and popular entertainment each season they perform. For 2023's second production in the upstairs Cabaret Theatre, they choose Neil Simon: not a well-known, laugh-a-minute Neil Simon Show, but one of his final creations, The Dinner Party. 

I am treated to an escort to my table by the youngest, most gracious usher it has been my pleasure to encounter, and she speaks in French to me. I’ve purchased snacks in the lobby which I’m permitted to enjoy inside; it’s dinner theater, cafeteria style. Wine is also available, but I’ll wait for intermission.

Cockpit In Court’s upstairs stage is four arms leading to a center playing space, providing multiple doors and an auxilliary bit of set, in this case, a bar. This gleams with opulence and gentility. Scenic and Lighting Designer G. Maurice (Moe) Conn, III presents stage trappings which establishes a venue of renown and historic significance, just as the script describes.

Costume Designer Eva Grove delivers outfits that defy decade-specific identification, suggesting the timelessness of the narrative. The women’s ensembles are character specific, as are those of the men, though with more subtlety. Visual cues which ‘match’ individuals into couples are either cute (if you like them) or superfluous (if you don’t). 

We meet the cast of characters slowly- Ted Burke, playing Claude Pichon, is stuffy and annoying, with a penchant for analyzing anyone in the room with him. Burke engages us as Claude without making us hate him, but we certainly understand his current marital status. The first to encounter Claude, Albert Donay, played with earnest humor by Nathan Rosen, is a different ilk, more likable and funnier than Claude. Timoth David Copney, playing the elegant but intolerable Andre Beauville, is smooth and dry, like a nice bourbon, then later turns calculatedly cold.  Next to enter is Mariette Levieux, portrayed by Jennifer Skarzinski, who injects volatile, furious and sometimes shrill energy to a woman who has had it up to HERE with nonsense from certain people. Laura Weeldreyer, who plays Yvonne Fouchet, is convincing as an irresolute person afflicted with a physical l’esprit de l’escalier, leaving and reentering with more humor each time. The final player, Gabrielle Buonocelli, is played with panache by Trenessa Coffey Annibal. Her powerful vocal range and expressive face give life to an extremely conflicted character.

Act I sees characters entering and exiting the various doors for smudges, grudges and cigarettes; Act II is less active, and filled with relationship-eviscerating monologues, largely lacking Simon’s signature snappy repartee. Director Albert J. Boeren, however, keeps the actors moving around the set for the duration of the show at a deliberate, thoughtful pace, appropriate to the weightiness of the subject matter. What silent comedic ‘business’ exists stands out by its singularity. While Neil Simon’s ‘middling’ is better than ‘best’ of some playwrights, the name ‘Neil Simon’ evokes the anticipation of high comedy, which it isn’t always, and in this one, not so much. My opinion echoes that of Michael Phillips reviewing the debut of The Dinner Party in 1999.

A little bit Mousetrap, a little bit Art, a little bit Waiting For Godot, a little bit Company, Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party is an angsty jumble of monologues about marital relationships. Why it’s set in France instead of New York is anyone’s guess, and the unfulfilling conclusion may be a factor in why it’s infrequently produced. Cockpit In Court’s exceptionally fine work on this production is profoundly impacted by the script itself. 

Run time: 2 hours 20 minutes, including 20 minute intermission

The Dinner Party plays through August 6th in the upstairs Cabaret Theatre at CCBC.  Downstairs, in the F. Scott Black Theatre The Prom also plays through August 6th. These are their final productions for 2023.

View The Dinner Party’s Digital Program.

For additional information, email  cockpitincourt@ccbcmd.edu

Community College of Baltimore, Essex Campus

7201 Rossville Blvd, Rosedale, MD

(443) 840-2787

Photo, courtesy of Cockpit In Court, L to R: Trenessa Coffey Annibal, Timoth David Copney, Laura Weeldreyer in The Dinner Party.

Final Factoid: No other playwright has had four shows run concurrently on Broadway, though two composers have: Rogers & Hammerstein in 1953 with ME AND JULIET, SOUTH PACIFIC, OKLAHOMA! and THE KING AND I, and Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2017 with CATS, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, SCHOOL OF ROCK and SUNSET BOULEVARD.

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