'Murder' is killer comedy
Three ac
tors, three
acts and three
different
bedspreads
on the Ho )o's
doubles—it's
a fail-safe for
mula for $3 worth of laughs at the
Brass Rail’s cabaret theater this
week and next.
The Cascade Balzac Company,
one of the Brass Rail's regular per
forming groups, has kicked off its
fall season with Ron Clark's and
Sam Bobrick's hit comedy,
"Murder at the Howard
Johnson's." Just like Howard
lohnson's, it's hilariously predic
table; a bit like murder, it has its
capricious twists and turns.
The play is loaded with cheap
furnishings, good lines and ex
travagant absurdities. It takes
shots at the petty afflictions that
plague us today, including den
tists, open marriage, terminal
middle-class life, self-indulgence
and self-realization.
The story winds around three
rather pedestrian folks—just this
side of tacky— all mired in their
own partic ular version of escaping
middle-class and middle-age
boredom.
Arlene Miller (J. L. Steiger) is
married to Paul Miller (Don Scor
by). Paul worships Arlene and
works his tail off in a used-car lot
so that he can buy her things,
especially watches. Arlene has
fallen in love, or lust, with the
Miller dentist, Mitchell Lovell
(John Duncan), a swinging-single
Casanova. "I'm a dentist," Mit
chell tells Paul, trying to convince
him to divorce Arlene in order to
avoid having to murder him. "I
can have any woman I want."
Unable to persuade Paul, Arlene
and Mitchell attempt to knock
him off in Room 514. That's just
fff
John Duncan, who plays a swing
ing single dentist, is in cahoots
with the man holding the gun
(Don Scorby). They're plotting one
of the Howard Johnson's
murders. J. L. Steiger plays Arlene,
the potential victim.
the first act, though, and the
tables turn. Six months later, Paul
and Arlene mastermind the
philandering dentist's murder in
yet another Ho )o suite. Not good
enough, Paul and Mitchell
become conspirators in another
motel room , another six months
hence. This time, Arlene's
disposal is on their minds.
The best part of “Murder,"
other than its fast-paced produc
tion, is the comic interplay bet
ween the male leads, Duncan and
Scorby. They're the co-producers
of Cascade Balzac, which they
formed in 1982, and they've pulled
off consistently good acting in all
of their local productions, in
cluding "Sex on the Second
Floor" and "The Public Fye."
Scorby's endearing splay-foot per
formance is a perfect foil for Dun
can's ersatz-snob characters that
he portrays so well. These guys
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have a delightful comic chemistry
and it's rare that either flattens a
line.
Cascade Balzac does seem to
still be looking for the perfect
woman to complete its produc
tions. Steiger, as hard a worker as
she is on stage, has a difficult job
keeping her shrill, dingy Arlene
from going overboard. Never
theless, she does an admirable job
of adjusting her role to the fake
cubist paintings and princess
phones that turn up in every
Howard (ohnson's. Assistant
director lacs Bruscato adds her
talent for set detail in replicating
the three suites so precisely.
"Murder” runs tonight and
Saturday, and Oct. 5 through 8.
Curtain time is 9 p.m. and reserva
tions are required.
Angela Allen Morgan
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