An Old Favorite with New Energy
By Lauren Yarger
If you feel like you have seen enough productions of Neil Simon’s oft-produced comedy Barefoot in the Park , think again….to read more follow this link:
http://ctarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/theater-review-barefoot-in-park.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“BAREFOOT IN THE PARK”
AN ADORABLE ROMP
BONNIE GOLDBERG 6/16/11
Question to ponder: Can a flighty, fancy-free, head-in-the-clouds romantic girl find happiness with a feet-firmly-on-the-ground, conservative, fact-finding attorney? Neil Simon considers the conundrum in his sweetly adorable comedy “Barefoot in the Park” currently delighting audiences at the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, June 26.
Married six days, Corie, an energetic, eager, enthusiastic, excited, exhilarated and effervescent Kathleen Mulready, can’t wait to occupy her first apartment as a bride. The fact that it is a fifth floor walk-up, six if you count the front stoop, doesn’t faze her in the least. She floats on a cloud of love.
Not so much the telephone repair man (Tom Libonate) or the Lord and Taylor delivery man (DanCoyle) who almost have coronaries by the top stair. Needless to say, new hubby Paul, a reliable, realistic, reasonable, responsible, respectable and reputable Sean Patrick Hopkins, has a few adjustments to make in the marriage and attorney departments. His rose colored glasses have yet to arrive. He has to try his first case tomorrow and he is “trapped” in his new home, without furniture (no bed for his weary head), or heat (it’s February), no bathtub (he hates showers), a closet with running water, and a hole in the skylight (he has to shovel snow indoors).
Add to that the fact that all the tenants are wildly strange, not the least of whom is Victor Velasco, a suavely exotic Buzz Roddy. He lives above them and has to enter his space by climbing out their bedroom window and using their window ledge, because he’s four months behind in his rent.
When Corie’s mother, a valiant Katrina Ferguson, arrive unexpectedly, panting and puffing, Corie’s matchmaking skills ignite to hilarious results. R. Bruce Connelly directs this thoroughly entertaining romp with a lighthearted touch.
For tickets ($40, seniors $35, $20 students, $15 children), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
This is Ivoryton Playhouse’s 100th birthday year. Take a ride in the country to celebrate summer at this lovely theater venue.
Let Corie and Paul teach you some of marriage’s basic rules as they learn the art of communication and compromise in that special language called love.
