Review: ALONE TOGETHER at New Theatre Restaurant

Audiences at New Theatre’s new production of “Alone Together” experience an immediate, hilarious sense of “Been There… Done That…” and identify mostly with George and Helene, the lead characters.

“Alone Together,” a 1984 creation of playwright Lawrence Roman, stars “The Brady Bunch’s” Barry Williams and Cathy Barnett as parents, George and Helene Butler, who have just shipped off the last of their brood to college and are more than ready for some “US” time.  The still attractive Butlers have been parents for three decades plus one pregnancy. They are ready to resume their lives.

George and Helene have successfully raised three boys and launched them from their comfortable Los Angeles home.  One son, Elliot (Eric William Geil) has started his own family in the Pacific Northwest.  Michael (Jacob Jackson), the math genius, has earned his doctorate in Mathematics and teaches at M.I.T.  The third son, Keith (Wyman Wheeler) is the son who has just graduated high school and been shipped off to college in the San Francisco Bay area.  

George and Helene are “empty nesters.”  They love their absent sons, but are ready to resume their pre-parenting lives and enjoy the beautiful home they have earned.  Helene wants to resume an abandoned art career.  George wants to take time off from his successful CPA firm.  Both are looking forward to having a sex life.

The boys, however, have a whole other world view.  The Butlers are “Mom” and “Dad.”  The notion that George and Helene might have lives beyond Mom and Dad are beyond their possible understanding.  The Los Angeles home is the place for them that will always be theirs.  Sound familiar? It should!

Lawrence Roman has treated us to a situation comedy on stage with mild, fast- paced humor with one-line jokes piled on one-line jokes.  Direction is offered from the capable hands of Jerry Jay Cranford, add-in an experienced and capable cast, plus the professional scenic design from Joe Burkard, and suddenly you have an extremely happy and pleasant date night for you and your significant other.

Of course, the empty nest fills up in a big hurry. All the nestlings soar back to the mother ship in a huge hurry.

Michael lands first, He is experiencing a crisis of confidence.  He is afraid that he might not measure up to his colleagues.

Keith sends a proxy She is Janic Johnson (Ella Olesen) kind of a homeless waif (as they existed in 1984). Janci is an attractive blond who likes to run around scantily dressed. Janic has no place to go, and Keith has generously offered his room in the family home.  I suspect the model for Janic is Goldie Hawn a la a 1960s “Laugh-in” episode.

Elliot comes home after evidently experiencing zipper problems at home and not understanding why his wife is upset.  Of course, he is immediately on the hunt for Janic as his next conquest

The Butlers become Mom and Dad again and eventually manage to ship their goslings off to their prospective destinations.  It is a pleasant evening if a little dated in some ways. 

In his traditional New Theatre curtain speech, lead actor Barry Williams note that some of the 1984 references had gone out of use over the years and had to be explained to some of the younger actors.  None of them had ever been forced to make a “collect” phone call.

Williams noted that two of the actors who had played his parents on TV (Robert Reed and Florence Henerson) had played these very same parts now played by himself and Cathy Barnett.   I guess “time flies.  

As usual, dinner and service at the 610 seat New Theatre Restaurant is always excellent.   It is a fine evening at the theatre.  “Alone Together runs at New Theatre through November 16th.  Tickets are available online at https://www.newtheatre.com or by telephone at 913-649-7469.