Don't Dress for Dinner

[The following review appeared in the Denver Post on Thursday, January 20th.]

Freud would have a field day with the conflicting motivations that abound in this wacky and entertaining French bedroom farce now running at Miners Alley Playhouse.

Haley Johnson as Jacqueline, Missy Moore as Suzanne, and Christian Mast as Bernard Photo: Sarah Roshan

Bernard (Christian Mast) is ecstatic that his wife Jacqueline (Haley Johnson) is going to visit her mother for the weekend. He invites his best friend, Robert (Michael Bouchard), to visit him, and hires a caterer for the occasion, as a cover for a visit from his mistress, Suzanne (Missy Moore).

But when Jacqueline intercepts a call and finds out that Robert, her lover, is coming, she calls off visiting her mother and plans her own assignation. Robert confuses the caterer, Suzette (Stacey Nelms), with Bernard's mistress, Suzanne, and all bets are off. George (Nathan Bock) arrives as a deus ex machina late in the game to set things right.

Haley Johnson as Jacqueline and Michael Bouchard as Robert Photo: Sarah Roshan

As Mast humorously preens for his rendezvous, we find ourselves assuming that we are about to witness a stereotypical male fantasy scenario gone awry, but that notion is quickly dispelled as each character, in turn, reveals his or her desires, resulting in an intoxicating testosterone and estrogen cocktail.

Stacey Nelms as Suzette, Missy Moore as Suzanne, and Nathan Bock as George Photo: Sarah Roshan

Director Robert Kramer keeps the pace swift and his casting is spot on, with the ensemble providing delightful parodies of our instinctive and egoistic impulses amplified to the N^th degree: Mast is wily, devious, and persuasive satyr; Johnson is an irrepressible emotional locomotive; Bouchard is sublimely duplicitous and supremely calculating; Nelms packs a wallop in a series of seamless, about-face transformations that are lucrative at every turn; Moore takes us on a mercurial ride through an array of zany adjustments; while Bock is a force of nature equal to the task of taming this maniacal crew.

Ann Piano's costumes play a remarkable role as well, not only in the lingerie department, but with some inventive transformations, particularly Suzette's skirt turned dress, and Bernard's multiple layers of skivvies. Karalyn Pytel (lighting) and Dell Domnik (sound) create an effectively employed, alternative, freeze-frame universe that provides some funny moments of emotional subtext. Richard H. Pegg's flexible set makes for an expansive playing area.

Playwright Camoletti's script could use a more inventive and energetic denouement, with a greater carry over of Bernard's and Jacqueline's jealousies into the final scene, as a stronger motivation in their decision making, thus freeing up Robert and Suzanne to up the stakes, along with our satisfaction level.

The Miners Alley Playhouse's production of Don't Dress for Dinner runs through February 27th. 303-935-3044.

Bob Bows