Review: Avalon Theatre Company Presents THE GOOD DOCTOR

Neil Simon's The Good Doctor finds the playwright mining the short stories of Anton Chekhov for material, and this comedy with music, is a decidedly mixed bag, occasionally producing laughs, but not nearly in the abundance we've come to expect. It's an odd marriage of styles, and more often than not, the humor seems strained or overly familiar. Avalon Theatre Company opens their 2010-2011 season with a fairly solid production of this minor work from the Simon canon, although it could benefit greatly from a bit of tightening.

A narrator introduces the various scenes and takes part in several of them. He's a thinly disguised representation of Anton Chekhov himself, albeit, speaking dialogue that seems more attributable to Simon than to Chekhov, and he acts to set the mood of each piece. There are a variety of stories, both comic and sentimental in nature, but only the W. C. Fields inspired mayhem of "Surgery", and an emotion-packed  reading of The Three Sisters during "The Audition", rise above mediocrity.

Larry Mabrey is the writer who ties these elements together, and he gives a game performance, plunging himself into the action at times with considerable glee. Dean Christopher provides some broadly drawn character work that adds much needed color to the proceedings, and he and Judi Mann do a good job performing the melancholic number "Too Late for Happiness". Austin Pierce goes overboard as the resident nebbish in most of these skits (although he does acquit himself well with his work in "The Drowned Man"), but Theresa Hermann delivers splendid work throughout, and is particularly impressive as the object of desire in "The Seduction", as well as the actress in "The Audition".

Jim Anthony's direction is uneven, and a lot of the jokes miss their mark by plenty. In his defense, the fact that the overall tone of the play meanders from the vaudeville shenanigans of "Surgery" to the more sophisticated and dramatic text of "The Audition", doesn't help matters much. The scenic design by Igor Karash is serviceable, at best, and Michael Bergfeld's unfocused lighting scheme too often leaves the Writer/Narrator in shadows. Soon V. Martin provides the proper costuming and wigs.

Avalon Theatre Company's production of The Good Doctor continues through November 21, 2010 in the ArtSpace at Crestwood Court.