Rumors lacks farcical touch

Old Creamery - The thing about Rumors is that it’s a farce, not just a comedy. Neil Simon conceived and wrote it to be a farce, and the original promotional materials go so far as to pointedly advertise this fact. To me, a hallmark of all successful farces is a group of cartoonish, overacted characters ridiculously perpetuating a given situation. You don’t expect the characters to act in a certain way because—when played correctly—their nonsensical nature is of central definition to their existence. To wit, the comedy found in a good farce isn’t predicated in the disbelief that a certain character would do or say a certain thing, it is resultant from the incredulity that any character would do or say a certain thing. To this end, the wackiness of a good farce is typically driven more by the characters’ actions and reactions than any single situation those characters find themselves in.

While I would consider the play Rumors a successful farce, I’m afraid I can’t say the same for this production. Make no mistake: if you pay to spend an evening with this cast at the Old Creamery Theatre, you will experience numerous laughs and very likely enjoy yourself, but I would argue this is a byproduct a wonderful venue, decades of aggregate acting experience, and some very funny (if not entirely solid) source material.

Collectively, this cast has respectable comedy chops. They can tell a good joke, and—with a few notable exceptions I’m willing to chalk up to opening night trepidation—they’ve got the classical comedic timing needed to sell a punch line. The problem is: they’re far-too often so obviously trying to sell those punch lines. The overwhelming majority of the actors in this production are playing their characters as straight—as normal people with normal problems thrown into an incomprehensible situation. But this was never the intention; these aren’t supposed to be normal people, their problems are supposed to be normal problems, and the situation they find themselves isn’t inherently zany or insurmountable. It is this nearly across-the-board lack of commitment to the truly farcical underpinnings of source material that keeps Old Creamery’s production merely good, instead of fantastic.

The play concerns four couples attending the 10th anniversary party of their friend, the deputy mayor of New York, and his wife. As each couple arrives in succession, they discover (one way or another) that their host is bedridden in his upstairs bedroom and suffering from a gunshot wound to the ear, their hostess has seemingly disappeared, and the party’s cook and wait staff are similarly conspicuously absent.

Because this is an ensemble cast, I think it only fitting to give each actor and actress their due, in turn.

The first couple to arrive is the Gormans, Chris (Deborah Kennedy) and Ken (Sean McCall). Both Kennedy and McCall do a satisfactory job of setting the scene and preparing the audience for the action to come. Early in the show, I found McCall to have a Nathan Lane-like quality to his performance that was comforting and well-fitted to the role, but the obnoxiousness of a physical malady his character is later subjected to wears on the audience something fretful. The less lines he has as the show progresses, the happier the audience seems. Deborah Kennedy, on the other hand, has a significantly more utilitarian presence throughout the play, and handled it with aplomb—though the lusciousness of her lush-ness could be improved upon with a little overacting.

The next couple is Clarie Ganz (Kay Francis) and Lenny Ganz (Tom Milligan). Again, the female of the pair had the more utilitarian role, and Francis did a fine job with it. Milligan, however, is easily the best-received actor in the show. Though still played straighter than I would have preferred, Milligan just plain has a preponderance of the night’s best lines, as well as a preponderance of the night’s best deliveries.

The penultimate couple is the Cusacks, Cookie (Nicole Savitt) and Ernie (Steve Weiss). Weiss has the unenviable job of actually being a voice of calm and reason for the first part of his performance before finally and predictably losing his cool. Not to beat a dead horse, but even this role could benefit from an injection of daft implausibility; Weiss’s portrayal isn’t just monochromatic, it hypoxic—it sucks the breath out of a scene whenever his wet blanket of a character bothers to interact with the others in any meaningful way. Savitt—whose character is easily the most annoying of the eight principals—is the only actor who consistently goes over-the-top with her performance, and for that I not only give her a well-deserved pass, but no small measure of my respectful gratitude.

Finally arriving are the Coopers, Cassie (Jackie McCall) and State Senator Glenn (D. Allan Boettgar). Apart from contributing to the soulless din that closes out the first Act, both of these characters are rather forgettable and unlikable. Both actors perform satisfactorily, but the pair seems entirely superfluous to the needs of the production—whether that be the cause of the book or the directing, each audience should judge for itself.

When the play’s climax finally arrives and officers Welch (Ric Swann) and Pudney (Laura Ambrose) come knocking, nothing seems all that important or pressing—least of all the police—to keep the audience engaged. There are still jokes, and they still hit more than they miss, but the observant theatergoer will notice total the lack of urgency or need to deceive these officers in any way. While they’re at it, those same observant theatergoers might also notice the utter lack of importance several unseen but frequently referenced characters actually contribute to the plot.

Up until this point, one might think I was writing a negative review, and rereading the previous paragraphs, I might be tempted to agree if not for one simple fact: I would actually recommend this show to others. The Old Creamery Theatre is a delightful location to see any theatrical performance, and this production continued their tradition of truly immaculate set design and construction, beautiful individual and ensemble costuming, and wonderful usage of the entire stage. Director S. Joseph Nassif and his crew passably requite themselves for the missteps in overall tone with an enviable understanding for lighting, sound, and blocking.

Old Creamery’s production of Rumors runs through July 3rd and is enjoyable theatre fare for teens and up. Like almost all comedies that have ever passed through the Old Creamery, it is worth the price of admission, and I can only assume that statement will increase in accuracy as the production grows more comfortable with increased zaniness throughout the coming weeks.


Andrew R. Juhl is an area author and director. He has previously worked with the City Circle Acting Company of Coralville and Rage Theatrics.