Review: A JUKEBOX FOR THE ALGONQUIN at ICT Rep At The Welsbacher Theatre At The WSU Metroplex On Oliver & 29th

If you love intelligent comedy and realistic drama, make sure your get your tickets for A Jukebox For The Algonquin before they are sold out. The laugh a minute dialogue is fresh, modern, and clever, and the references to the Algonquin Roundtable are many. I belly laughed through the whole thing!

A Jukebox for the Algonquin is written by Paul Stroili. The play takes place at a senior living facility in the Adirondacks, where the long term denizens are anything but predictable, well behaved seniors from Brooklyn and The Bronx. One of the seniors, Johnny, has a desire to secure an old school jukebox for the common room, and hilarity ensues. As the tag line for the play advertises, this is a serious comedy about sex, drugs, and rocking chairs. This is not your average Dinner Theatre farce!

This play has had quite a developmental history. It was first read at the Seaglass Theatre in LA, and at Jeff Daniel’s The Purple Rose Theatre in Michigan. It was after the reading at the Purple Rose that Daniels decided to give the play a workshop and subsequent production in 2019. Finally, in 2023, The Purple Rose gave it a full production, and the production brought home the Wilde Award for the Best New Play in 2023! Jukebox has since been given multiple professional and community productions across the US.

This dark/situation comedy provided some excellent ensemble work under the direction of Dr. Julie Longhofer. The well done commercial corporate nursing home setting was designed by Julie and Stan Longhofer, and gorgeously lit by Stan Longhofer. The room was so warm and inviting, with a large chandelier, a great centerpiece hanging and anchoring the center of the set. There was some fun disco lighting at the end of the play, with string lit archways, and the pink/purple glow of the imaginary jukebox. Sound Designer Kirk Longhofer used strong and familiar music choices, as well as solid sound effects to help tell this moving story about life, love, and loss.

The characters are the heart of this play, and the ensemble does not disappoint. First we meet Johnny, played with great humor by David Williams. Johnny starts a donation jar to raise money for a jukebox to be put in the common area these seniors share. As the story unfolds, we get to hear some of Johnny’s rich language and idiosyncratic ideas, like his 5 Thing Speech to Dust Mop Guy, Chuck, played by Bryan Welsby. One of my favorite bits was Johnny faking a diabetic episode to get Chuck to fetch him some juice. Not all moments are light, however. Chuck was a professor of Literature, and an ex-felon alcoholic that lives with a devastating truth, that Welsby delivers with a great depth and tenderness to Johnny. This revelation instantly wins Johnny over, in a desire to help ease Chuck’s pain.

Annie, a legally blind only child with a morbid sense of humor, is played with a killer deadpan delivery by Betsy Dutton. This is Dutton’s first time on the Wichita stage, as she’s recently retired from teaching theatre at Sterling High. Annie develops a close relationship with Peg, a sweet woman who, at 57 years young, has just moved into one of the homes available on the facility campus. Peg is tenderly played by Michele Janssens. When Annie inquires as to why Peg moved into the facility, Peg confides that she got a divorce from her husband;  “How long did I get shoved out of the way?”  Peg didn’t know what to do, so she bought the house in the retirement community once owned by the community hippie. This is where the trouble begins. I’m not going to give it away, but hippie ought to be your first clue as to how the Jukebox purchase gets funded!

The Algonquin Roundtable gets quoted extensively here, particularly Dorothy Parker, so you know the humor is very pointed. Who is echoing these literary greats in this production? We feel the wisecracking ghosts of Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman,  Harpo Marx, and Alexander Woollcott all come home to roost.

Josephina, the kindhearted and fiery Facility Administrator, is played by Southwestern Grad Maya Arana. Josephina is from the same neighborhood in the Bronx as Johnny, and it is evidenced by their terrific overlapping dialogue - arguments - that rise and fall and give us a close look into their close friendship. Arana delivers a stunning monologue after a dramatic twist in the play, defending her care and love for the residents.

Tyler, the Maintenance Guy, is played by Torey Wilson. Wilson is such a natural here, with his earnest interactions not only with all the residents, but particularly with Wichita Theatre Veteran Shaun-Michael Morse, who plays Dennis, the wheelchair bound resident, with acerbic wit, regret, warmth, and wisdom. Dennis created a Library of his most beloved books in the common room, and Tyler takes an interest in the book about the characters at the Round Table in the Algonquin Hotel. Dennis fancies himself to be worthy enough to sit at the roundtable, lamenting he was born too late. Morse has some great scenes, an intense soul-searching monologue, and a touching sequence with Johnny, with leaves us with a most beautiful philosophical statement of the play; “You live the people who are gone.”

I heard this play sold out last week, so make sure you get your tickets right away. Remaining performances are Friday, August 22 through Sunday, August 24 in the Welsbacher Theatre at 29th and Oliver. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Sundays. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors and veterans, $25 for those under the age of 30, and $15 for students. Ticket prices are inclusive of all taxes and fees. Seating is general admission and the house opens 30 minutes before curtain. Tickets can be purchased on the ICTRep website at https://ICTRep.org.

What’s next for ICT Rep? Amadeus will be performed in a yet to be determined venue from 10/10 to 10/19. The rest of the season includes The Past, A Present Yet to Come, November 13-16;  Silent Sky, 1/23 to 2/1/26; and Sweat 3/27 to 4/5/26.