“Rumors” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

rating=3]Charlie Brock and his wife Myra are having their 10th wedding anniversary, and their good friends have decided to throw them a party for the occasion. The guests assemble at the Brock’s house and are all dressed to the nines—except that Charlie and Myra never make it to their own party! What may have happened to the two of them? What we are told is that Charlie has accidentally shot himself in the head. Oh, no! It’s not as serious as it could have been; he didn’t die. But the bullet went through his right earlobe, and he is bleeding profusely. Such is the setup for “Rumors” by Neil Simon, where we never see Charlie or Myra but learn of their circumstances indirectly from the party guests. Considering that Charlie Brock is the deputy mayor of New York City, the situation could be considered an embarrassment to him and his wife; therefore, the guests conspire to hide the truth from the doctor and law enforcement—and from each other! Their grand deception and combined desire to keep things quiet thus provides the fodder for laughs.

This situation comedy starts out with a series of married couples arriving one-by-one at the deputy mayor’s Westchester County home. First to arrive is Ken Gorman (Nathan Dale Short) and his wife Chris (Erin Renée Baumrucker), followed by Lenny Ganz (Landon Cally) and his wife Claire (Julie Peterson), then Ernie Cusack (Lee Wichman) and his wife Cookie (SarahAnn Sutter), and finally, Glenn Cooper (Peter Goldsmith) and his wife Cassie (Katherine Wettermann). As each set of guests unsuccessfully tries to hide the truth of Charlie’s situation from the next set, widely different stories are made up about what might have happened to Charlie and Myra. Some of these become rumors that embellish on “facts not in evidence.” As the juiciness of the various tales that are spun trumps their veracity, we see the characters become increasingly more uncomfortable. This comes to a head when the two police officers Officer Welch (Maddy Shilts) and Officer Pudney (Luke Coleman) come on the scene and listen to the entire (invented) story.

Deftly directed by Wayne Mell, “Rumors” is entertaining and pleasant. For me, the show is a throwback comedy of manners, and I found the script to be somewhat dated. Obviously, the setup of having couples dress up so well to attend a house party is not common in 2023, especially if the couples are going to dance. Even with the occasional use of profanity and some notion of domestic violence, the script is basically tame by today’s standards. I also got to thinking about how humor has changed in the years since Neil Simon wrote his original script in 1988. Endowing the various characters with all sorts of physical ailments and conniption fits is not as funny as it otherwise might have been at one time. Nowadays, we have a greater sensitivity about people with disabilities, illnesses, speech and hearing impediments, issues concerning overweight, etc., and so a lot of this physical comedy would have worked better thirty-five years ago.

The gray painted room with the modern lines and abstract paintings is nicely done, with all sorts of doorways that allow for movement by the actors throughout the small stage. This is thanks to the efforts of director Mell, who doubles as the set designer, plus the work of Barry Norton and Scott Richardson, who handled set decoration and construction respectively. Lighting design by Pat Henderson and sound design by Kevin J. Mell are accomplished well.. Costume design by producer Wendy Kaplan is fashionable for the era. I especially liked Julie Peterson’s bright green sequined cocktail dress and how all the men are smartly attired in their tuxedos, bow ties, and matching cummerbunds.

In all, the acting in this performance is great, and the constant rotation of the characters throughout keeps the audience on its toes. Needless to say, everybody’s gossip as to Charlie’s condition and their conjectures as to Myra’s whereabouts makes “Rumors” funny and buoyant. We witness the characters often squirming as they spin their unconvincing, if not preposterous, tales. Seeing their machinations and rationalizations is so much fun! But expect that the show drums up a now bygone era among New York politicians, their wives, and their friends in the upper middle class; and in that respect, this is very much a historical piece.

Rumors will continue at The Skokie Theatre thru April 23rd with performances as follows:

Show Type: Comedy

Box Office: 847-677-7761

www.skokietheatre.org

The theater is located at  7924 Lincoln Avenue in Skokie.

box office 847-677-7761

www.skokietheatre.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Rumors”.