“The Man Who Came To Dinner” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

*** Bill Chamberlain is brilliant as Sheridan Whiteside in the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman screwball comedy/farce “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” With his booming and resonant voice and haughty manner, Chamberlain fills the room with bluster, arrogance, and a sense of self-superiority that cannot be beat! Whiteside is such a complex character, and it is his performance that makes the entire show worth the cost of admission. Yet the script, dating back to the late 1930s, is perhaps more of a historical piece than anything else. Skillfully directed by Sean Michael Barret, the play unfortunately doesn’t hold up well over time. Too many gags are rooted in the American society and culture of ninety years ago, and the audience is not able to catch all the references to the rich and famous which might have once been very funny and perceptive.

The premise is excellent, having to do with Whiteside accepting an invitation at the Stanleys’ home in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio. Daisy (Jill Chukerman Text) and Ernest Stanley (David R. Feiler) are supremely delighted that such a famous radio broadcaster and New York producer is about to arrive shortly for dinner. But as he enters their home, Whiteside accidentally falls and injures himself severely, crippling him and making him a somewhat permanent houseguest. With his characteristic erasableness combined with his domineering swagger, Whiteside imposes himself on the entire Stanley family. Not only does he take over their entire first floor (and banish his hosts to the second), but he makes them feel horribly intimidated. With the exception of the Stanleys’ flakey and floozy daughter Harriet (Renae Stone) (with her almost see-through negligee), he treats all the members of the household like scum. Moreover, Whiteside appropriates the family telephone for his exclusive use and makes no secret that he would like to steal the Stanleys’ domestic servants John (Vito Vittore) and Sarah (Charlotte Harris), because he finds them to be remarkably competent. Initially he works very closely with his secretary Maggie Cutler (Claire Rutkowski). But later, he contacts several other associates by phone such as Professor Metz (Zach Kunde), Banjo (Zach Kunde), and Beverley Carlton (Joseph Adlesick) and asks them to come over to the house, ostensibly to conduct business. He also comes to realizes that Maggie and newspaperman Bert Jefferson (Jered Becker) are interested in pursuing a romantic relationship.

In the second act (which occurs on Christmas Eve) and in the third act (which occurs on Christmas Day), we see how Whiteside concludes that the happenstance of living in Ohio has become a great way to avoid all the responsibilities waiting for him back in New York. In the process of becoming comfortably ensconced in his new digs, Whiteside has now become an integral part of Stanley household—and now feels confident enough to begin interfering in the lives of others. While he provides competent advice to the Stanleys’ children Richard (Trey Sorenson) and June (Harper McCoy) concerning their respective romantic relationships, Whiteside soon becomes uneasy about Maggie’s relationship with Bert. He becomes concerned that she might not work for him any longer if the two were to marry. So he convinces Lorraine Sheldon (Melinda “MJ” Deamon), one of his New York associates, to visit him at the house with the intention of trying to break up Maggie and Bert by creating a love triangle, plus much more intrigue.

What might have played well in the late 1930s and early 1940s might be seen as quite lame today. The script contains a lot of padding, designed to make the show lengthier and give theatregoers their money’s worth (before the advent of television). This includes the introduction of lots of extra characters who add little or virtually nothing to the plot, except that some of them are modelled after famous individuals living at the time and recognizable to a conversant 1930s audience. Related to this, the dialogue is filled with tons of name-dropping, having to do with movie stars, writers, and other famous people of that era (with explanations of these individuals posted on a bulletin board outside in the lobby). Then there are issues when it comes to several minor characters. For example, Harriet is too much of a ding-a-ling; Doctor Bradley (Russ Gager) is too beggingly: Miss Preen (Ellen Shaw) is too stern: and Lorraine is too much of a femme fatale. There is nothing wrong with how the actors have crafted their parts. Rather, the 1930s is known for its use of certain comedic stereotypes plus lots of repetitiveness in the execution of gags; this points up how today’s humor differs from that of the past.

Other references are time-bound as well. The penguins seem ridiculous as Christmas gifts to a modern audience, but this gag would have worked well all those years ago, considering that the first emperor penguin to live in North America was brought to the National Zoo in 1939 after Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s first expedition to Antarctica. Moreover, it appeared that the playwrights didn’t know how to end the story, so they settled for a gag which, to my mind, worked much better back then. I’m not ruining it for you when I say that the ending is a 1930s sort of thing: taking place at a time when the American Museum of Natural History in New York City the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and the Field Museum in Chicago were three of the premier museums in the United States. (And when I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me stories about the scary basement inside the Field Museum downtown….)

The costumes are splendid throughout; kudos to Mary McCarthy! Exceptionally well done, for example, are the smoking jacket worn by Whiteside, Daisy Stanley’s embossed peach dress, Lorraine’s sparkling torchlight gown with semi-circles of glitter, and Maggie’s business suit in the second act. Set design and set decorating by Emil Zbella and prop design by Paula Kenar work well, considering that a living room and parlor from that time period have been nicely recreated on stage. The vintage furniture and large patterned rug and window treatments are perfect, not to mention the prominence of the fireplace, the telephone, and the Christmas tree… and of course, there are shipping cartons of huge (toy) penguins! Lighting is great, which is the province of Elliot DePappe, and sound is good for that venue, thanks to Sean Smith. However, if there is any one fault in the performance that jumps out immediately, it has to do with the anachronous music that is supposed to set the theme/background for the show. When we walk into the theatre, we hear “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company D” by the Andrew Sisters. This piece of music doesn’t work, because this song has to do with soldiers in World War II—and this particular play was originally produced in 1939, predating America’s entry into the war.

My guest didn’t care for the first act but liked the second, because he felt that things warmed up and the show came together. However, I felt just the reverse. I liked seeing everyone fawning over Whiteside and ingratiating themselves to him. But later when Whiteside brings in his femme fatale from New York in order to spur jealousy and prevent Maggie from quitting her job, the whole thing becomes overly preposterous. To my mind, it’s not funny when women are treated as objects to be manipulated by men who think of themselves as being superior. Of course, I know that farce is full of absurdities and improbable circumstances, but highlighting an old-fashioned way of thinking about romance, marriage, and women’s roles didn’t appeal to me. Perhaps more importantly, a 2-hour and-45-minute play (with one intermission) and a 1-1/2-hour second act can become rather tedious when so many references and characterizations are unfamiliar to a modern audience. Having said that, while this show is based on a very dated script, its skilled presentation makes watching it worthwhile.

“The Man Who Came to Dinner”, performed by the Saint Sebastian Players, is running through February 16, 2025, at St. Bonaventure Church, 1625 W. Diversey, in Chicago. Enter on Marshfield just west of Ashland.

Free parking is available.

General admission tickets – $35
Seniors and children younger than 12 – $30
Students with valid IDs may purchase $30 tickets at the door.
Group rates are available.

Performance Schedule:

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit:
https://saintsebastianplayers.org/2024-2025-season/the-man-who-came-to-dinner/ or call 773-281-6588.

All programming is subject to change.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “The Man Who Came To Dinner”.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “The Man Who Came To Dinner”.