Reviewed By Sue Nedar
For the uninitiated, “Red Hot” is a Neil Simon comedy, written with all the comedic potential we’ve come to expect from Neil Simon. Here’s the thing though; in this script, much of the comedy is subtle. It’s there… but it requires a sharp director and good comedic actors to make it obvious. Thankfully, Tony Annicone is a sharp director, and the Arctic cast are good comedic actors.
In a nutshell, we have Barney Cashman, a middle-aged schlump who feels that life is passing him by. He runs a fish restaurant started by his dad, he’s married for 26 years to his high school sweetheart, and he has a compulsion to smell his fingers. To his way of thinking, an affair is what he needs to feel alive again. The only trouble is (well… there’s more than one trouble, actually) his picks for tryst partners are, well, they’re trouble! Don’t worry though, by the end of the show, it’s as if Glinda the Good Witch Of The North has whispered in his ear, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
Richard Johnson leads the cast as Barney Cashman. I’d like to say here and now that I’ve seen this show probably seven or eight times, and I am always in awe when I see a Barney Cashman who commands the stage, and Johnson commands this stage. The Cashman character never leaves the stage, and has pages and pages and PAGES of dialogue, replete with monologues, slapstick, quips, and rebuttals. Mr. Johnson, I must say, is to date, my favorite Barney. ( Remember… I’ve seen it seven or eight times!) Johnson brings the interpretation of Barney that I think Neil Simon intended. He’s a clumsy, shy, innocent middle-aged man experiencing a mid-life crisis. He’s no cad. In fact, he’s actually sympathetic. You sort of want to give him a hug and tell him it will pass. Johnson nails it.
Barney’s first rendezvous is with the brash and sassy Elaine Navazio, played by Camille Terilli. Elaine is a hard-drinking, cigarette smoking, rough-around-the-edges woman who’s there for the sex. Period. Barney, on the other hand, would rather “get to know her.” Camille captures the streetwise Elaine with her eye-rolls, and her sarcastic wit. In her sexy leopard print dress, Camille plays the brassy Elaine so well that I felt sorry for Barney.
In the next scene we meet Barney’s rendezvous number two:
Bobbi Michele, played by Sarah Reed is a hippy-dippy out of work pot smoking actor, who’s more than a little “off center.” I’ve seen Sarah in several roles, and she’s always one to watch. In this show though, I literally couldn’t take my eyes off her. There will be no question in your mind, that Sarah’s Bobbi Michele is a certifiable nut case. As you sit there and sweat for poor Barney, watching Sarah seamlessly vacillate between sweet pothead, and Sybil’s evil twin, you wonder whether to run onto the stage to rescue Barney, or to hold Bobbi Michele down until the men with the white coats can get there!
And finally, rendezvous number three is with Jeannette, played by Katherine Kimmel. As soon as Jeannette comes through the door, clutching her handbag and looking like she’s just swallowed cyanide, you know Barney’s not gettin’ some. Kimmel plays the depressed Jeannette so well, with her obsessive clutching of the handbag, the tears, the questioning the meaning of life… Oh Jeannette/Katherine, I feel for you girl! But, this is the scene where Neil Simon ties it all together with a sloppy bow. This is where, through the skillful direction, and the equally skillful acting, we learn who Barney really is, and what Barney really wants. It takes Barney’s wife’s friend Jeanette to show him that there really is no place like home. And if you think being a weeping, depressed, middle-aged housewife can’t be funny, you’re wrong. Katherine proves that quite nicely.
Tony Annicone has done it again. He’s taken a very well known Neil Simon piece, and breathed new life into it. He’s directed his talented cast to not squander away a single brilliantly subtle Simon laugh. Once upon a time, I really had a distaste for this show. Tony has changed my mind. This is a damn funny show, in the right hands.
Go see this one! Laugh a while! Tell them I sent you!
Last of the Red Hot Lovers(18 October to 3 November)
The Arctic Playhouse, 117 Washington St, West Warwick, RI
1(401)573-3443 or www.thearcticplayhouse.com
