MARCH 8, 2018 // 11
Astoria
actor Bob
Goldberg,
center,
plays an
impris-
oned mur-
derer who
is called on
to act as a
marriage
counselor
in Peninsu-
la Players’
latest
production
— but to
succeed
he must
first stop
Kevin Perry
and Rachel
Lake from
arguing.
“There are times when we are just
laughing our way through rehearsals,”
Smith said. “It’s just a fun, fun show.
There’s a couple of songs that are more
tenderhearted and very true. The idea
is, you meet someone, you fall in love
with them and then you would like to
change something.”
Songs include “Cantata for a First
Date,” “Men Who Talk and the Women
Who Pretend They’re Listening” and
“Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With
You?”
Power said the play will resonate
with older people re-entering the dating
scene. “It’s funny, but it’s also poi-
gnant,” she said. “A lot of people will
relate to it.”
Scherrer agreed. He said the writers
have nailed exactly what people in
relationships worry about. “I found
myself laughing just thinking about
how many times that these trials and
tribulations appear in everyday life,
whether to myself or people who I
have observed,” he said.
“My scenes include a couple at-
tending a movie, when he has let her
David Immel pours a cup of tea for Diana Thompson, but after so many years together
do couples really still listen to each other? Find out at the River City Playhouse in Ilwa-
co, Washington, this month.
decide which ‘flick’ to see, with instant
regrets. But it turns out he falls apart,
even though insisting he can’t in front
of her. It is quite hilarious.
“I also play a dad, along with his
wife, and they think their son is about
to tell them he is getting married — but
actually he is informing us they are
breaking up.”
Bob Goldberg played the lead role
in Peninsula Players’ “Twelve Angry
Jurors” last year, but this is his first
time singing with the group.
“There are some great characters
in this musical,” he said. “I play a
prisoner helping a dating service by
scaring a couple into getting married,
a goo-goo-eyed new daddy whose life
revolves around his kid and equally
sappy wife, and a self-absorbed single
man who never stops talking on a
date in three of the musical’s 20-or-so
vignettes about relationships.
“I think most of us have been in
several of the situations shown —
whether it’s an awkward first date,
the search for a new partner, an
evolving marriage or relationship,
or the joy of a new child — and will
laugh, sigh, cry or scream in empathy
with the characters on stage,” Gold-
berg said.
“Add really funny, touching, catchy
songs to some hilarious situations
involving relationships, and you get a
musical that’s a lot of fun to play in,
and one I think that our audiences will
love.” CW