'Barefoot in the Park' a disappointment at Bucks playhouse
When Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park hit Broadway in 1963, the then-sophisticated New York comedy ran 1,532 performances and became a popular movie. But time has ravaged the formerly au courant Barefoot. A 2006 Broadway revival lasted a scant 135 curtains.
When Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park hit Broadway in 1963, the then-sophisticated New York comedy ran 1,532 performances and became a popular movie. But time has ravaged the formerly au courant Barefoot. A 2006 Broadway revival lasted a scant 135 curtains.
Still, there's a special reason for the newly reopened Bucks County Playhouse, once again professional, to produce Barefoot: The play has deep roots in New Hope. The playhouse was the tryout stage for Nobody Loves Me before it went to Broadway under its new Barefoot title. Portraying the young newlyweds around whom the plot revolves, in both the Playhouse world premiere and on Broadway, were Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley.
That was then. Now, it's back, with all its wrinkles showing, plus more. One thing that can hold up well in the play is Simon's chatty arc - one-two punches of dialogue that made him a success. But not here. In this flat and charmless production directed by Sheryl Kaller (Broadway's Next Fall), the tarnished Barefoot is brought up from the museum basement and put on display unpolished.
What went wrong? In the performance I saw Saturday night, a day after its opening, just about everything except for two energizing performances by supporting cast members.
The trouble begins with Jim Noone's impressive but deep set of a broken-down fifth-floor walk-up. It is misused, as the newlyweds play much of the first act so far to its rear that you feel like a voyeur.
Move on to our young husband, a new lawyer in a new marriage, played by Lee Aaron Rosen with a delivery that turns virtually all of the laugh lines Simon gave him into foul balls; you imagine, in his portrayal, the potential, and think: Hey! I heard that line before and it was actually funny! He comes off as nasty, dull, and more of a fuddy-duddy than Simon intended, not someone carrying a sheath of witty barbs.
His bride, played by Virginia Veale, also begins as an unwelcome extreme - so giddily in love despite fears about the crummy flat she's found that she appears to have no brain in the first act. By the second act, she's inexplicably acquired one overnight, and taunts her husband with the notion of divorce, a development that in the play comes partly as a result of a night of drinking far too much ouzo. But in this production, the two are suddenly stone-cold sober, and we are summoning the ghost of Eugene O'Neill or maybe Tennessee Williams.
A heavy-handed Barefoot in the Park? Not altogether. It livens up when Candy Buckley (HBO's Treme), despite looking too young as the bride's mother, is onstage, and even more whenever the wonderful stage and screen actor Jonathan Hadary (Spamalot and much more) appears as an oddball neighbor. Both actors work in the cadence and tone Simon intended.
Most nights, a different Bucks County community leader is set to come on in a nonspeaking bit role. On Saturday night, he was listed as Marvin L. Woodall, chairman of Bucks County's Heritage Conservancy. His minute on stage generated more excitement than any other in the production.
Barefoot in the Park
Through Sept. 2 at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope. Tickets: $29-$54. Information: 215-862-2121 or bcptheater.org. EndText