Review by Tony Annicone
The current show at the Newport Playhouse is “Self Help” by Norm Foster. Hal and Cindy Savage are a couple of second rate performers who long for a first class life. They are weary of scraping out a meager living by plying their trade in second rate theatres. The best thing they have is their love for each other. Cindy has an epiphany involving a pithy self-help book and a bad night at yet another uninspiring dinner theatre in Canada and voila! They reinvent themselves as all knowing gurus of personal and professional development and are a runaway success.
Sadly, love is the victim as their bank account grows their love for each other dwindles. Enter an amorous gardener, a sudden death, surprise visits from their agent, a policeman and a nosy reporter all on their idealistic new maid’s first day on the job. Director Michael Johnson directs the show with a comic touch, does double duty as the cop, and brings these wacky characters to life with some insightful zingers, witty asides and bawdy humor with him and his five fellow performers. The comic situations abound in this show with a corpse with a hard on in the study, a romantically challenged detective in the hall and a tabloid reporter digging for dirt on the second floor, a stressed out maid in the kitchen, a couple of actors-turned-self-help gurus running around trying to manage it all and add a wise-cracking agent to the mix. It is a black-hearted farce, what a great way to start the autumn season.
Michael gives his cast some clever shtick to perform. This includes carrying a rug around with a dead body in it. The witty asides attack the police force, the newspaper trade and motivational speakers. The beautiful estate set is by Tonya Killavey. The motto of the motivational speakers is “Out with Doubt” which they continually chant. Rick Bagley and Marilyn Busch play the leading characters, Hal and Cindy Savage, the self help gurus and performers. They are like old time snake oil salesmen dispensing their lingo of success and at times sounding like an evangelical tag team duo when they become revered relationship experts. Each one has a way of making their characters vulnerable in spite of their swindling excesses and they try to hang on to their fame as they try to hide a dead body. Some of his funniest lines include “You try playing Felix Unger to a gay Oscar Madison” and what is this “hump the help week” when he walks into the study. Her funniest lines are “If theatre is our mistress, let’s dump the bitch”, “No shit” and many other double entendres. Rick and Marilyn do a superb job in these madcap roles.
Sandi Nicastro is a hoot as the New Jersey style wise-cracking agent and plays her splendidly. She delivers her many one liners to a constantly laughing audience. Her accent is hilarious and one of her biggest laughs occurs when they run through the house with dead man wrapped in a rug while bumping into walls. Lisa Reimer appears as the comic maid whose nervousness and twitch around this wacky characters. She has a terrific Southern accent, doesn’t know how to use the intercom which is hilarious and continually quotes their sayings from their books including “The Savage Within” saying how much they inspire her. Lisa is comical as this timid maid who blossoms into a madwoman who tells them what to do as the play rolls to its frantic conclusion. She steals many a scene. Tonya plays this role at matinee performances.
Michael and Travis Krening add to the merriment as Detective Snow and tabloid reporter, Jeremy Cash. The funniest section is where Michael tells the about the small tiff he had with his wife to the audience that leaves them in stitches. Travis plays the crafty newspaper man wonderfully while pretending to romance Ruby. He speaks into a tiny tape recorder which lets the audience in on his secret. Charles Kehres plays Jeremy at evening performances. There are many twists and turns to the humorous situations in the show so I can’t give out too many details which will spoil it for the readers. So for an evening of hilarity with a scrumptious all you can eat buffet before the show and a rousing cabaret after it, be sure to catch “Self Help” at the Newport Playhouse. It will warm you up with laughter during the cool nights of autumn.
SELF HELP (8 September to 8 October)
Newport Playhouse, 102 Connell Highway, Newport, RI
1(401)848-7529 or www.newportplayhouse.com
