BWW Reviews: BAREFOOT IN THE PARK Stumbles at Ivoryton Playhouse

Barefoot in the Park
by Neil Simon
Directed by R. Bruce Connelly
at Ivoryton Playhouse through June 26
www.ivorytonplayhouse.org

There is something magical about seeing a classic on a summer night at an historic theatre.  Ivoryton Playhouse's charming building (currently observing its 100^th anniversary) is ideally situated in the heart of Ivoryton's quaint town center.  A fixture on the summer stock circuit since the 1930s, the theatre specializes in fare that appeals to a base that has supported the company for decades, even as Artistic Director Jacqueline Hubbard has expanded their offerings year-round. As such, Neil Simon's first major hit Barefoot in the Park appears to be an ideal choice for light summer entertainment.  Unfortunately, this awkward production makes for some rather heavy-handed going at times.

In 1963, when Barefoot in the Park debuted on Broadway with Elizabeth Ashley and Robert Redford in the leads as young newlyweds Corrie and Paul Bratter, the country was in transition.  The straight-laced 1950s morality of America was just starting to give way to the sexual freedoms of the swinging Sixties.  Neil Simon's relationship comedy clearly has one barefoot in each decade.  The play struck a chord with Broadway audiences running for nearly four years, helping launch the careers of Judd Hirsch, RoBert Reed, Tony Roberts and Joan Van Ark over the course of its run.  An ill-conceived 2006 Broadway revival with Amanda Peet and Patrick Wilson quickly tanked after a few months showing how this chestnut is anything but a sure-fire hit if not handled deftly.

In the play, Corrie and Paul Bratter are newly married and just moving into their fifth-story walkup on 48^th Street.  Fresh from an erotically-charged honeymoon in the Plaza Hotel, the couple is settling into the quotidian existence of the married couple and a cramped apartment that is accessorized with a broken window, no heat and an oddball assortment of neighbors.  Over the course of a few days, connubial bliss is tested when Corrie tries to play matchmaker for her literally stiff-as-a-board mother.

The Ivoryton Playhouse production  is handsomely outfitted with a set that features everything the play requires including period furniture, a soaring skylight and a teeny-tiny bedroom.  The costumes, particularly the fabulous sixties fashions sported by Corrie, are spot-on.  There is no doubt that Barefoot in the Park is a period piece.   The Bratter's apartment that rents for a sky-high $125 in 1963 would now rent for about $3,000 in Midtown Manhattan.  Corrie shows no ambition toward a career other than full-time domesticity.  Telephones have a rotary and do not fit in one's pocket.  As such, it cannot really be played with much of a contemporary approach.  Director R. Bruce Connelly wisely makes no attempt to modernize the feel of the production.  Where he falters is in having certain performances launch over the top while one key performance is somewhat underplayed. 

Comedy is a tricky balance and this play is a fairly delicate top to keep spinning.  Corrie and Paul need to carry much of the comedy of the piece, but also need to be believable.  The audience has to root for this couple to survive the initial crisis that threatens their marriage (as featherweight as the crisis is).  Kathleen Mulready's performance shows little nuance and is wearying over the course of the 'two-plus hours running time.  Her relentless energy is meant to be earnest and bubbly (in a Mary Tyler Moore mode).  In Mulready's hands, Corrie  ends up bubbly in extremis relying overly on gesticulation and shrillness, causing one to root for her husband to escape her clutches.  Sean Patrick Hopkins' Paul is nicely rendered early in the proceedings, but his performance loses its mooring as the comedy increases.  The character's mounting frustration explodes into cartoonish rage, eventually matching Mulready in subtlety deprivation.

The wacky neighbor role, played by Buzz Roddy, never completely achieves comic lift-off.  If anyone in the cast has license to really let loose, it is this character who comes fully-loaded with eccentricities.  Unfortunately, this key part is underplayed to an extent that compromises the comedy where it is most intended.  Roddy does, however, achieve some sweet and heartfelt moments near the end in a scene with one of the cast's strongest assets, Katrina Ferguson.  Playing Corrie's uptight mother, Ferguson strikes an even balance of humor and reserve.   She is a delight to watch, as is the all-too-brief performance by Dan Coyle as an out-of-breath deliveryman (who unfortunately arrives and worldlessly departs never to be seen again within the first five minutes of the play).  The larger role of the telephone repairman (Tom Libonate) is overplayed and pushed too hard for laughs.

Ultimately, no one in this cast seems miscast in their parts, only misdirected or under-directed.  In order for Barefoot in the Park to feel like a breezy, romantic walk in the park, the production needs a lightness and sweetness that seems to be absent.  To be fair, the audience attending the performance with this critic did seem to enjoy the production greatly and gave it a de rigeur standing ovation.  Here's hoping that the manic energy invested in the production is put to good use in Ivoryton Playhouse's upcoming The Producers, which rewards audiences all the more the bigger and broader it is played.

Photo courtesy of Ivoryton Playhouse.

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