Arsenic and Old Lace: Classic Killer Comedy

◊◊◊◊◊ out of five. 

I had an epiphany on the way home from last night's opening of Arsenic and Old Lace at CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore.  During a frenzied moment in act two, Mortimer Brewster, theatre critic and lone sanity in a family of nut jobs exclaims on his way to a show, "I'll write the review on my way there!"  Of course, an audience filled with critics got a major laugh from that and several other similar barbs at our profession.  And Ian Kahn's delivery was impeccable, so the laugh was earned.  But on the way home it hit me.  In a way, I do just that on the way to the show.  Well, with a play I know, or think I know, I try to guess.  Will it be the same old standard version?  Will something new about it hit me, or will I resort to calling it old and creaky?  I'll admit I actually went through those questions on my way in, and I am very pleased to say, yes, it was a standard version, but with a modern urgency and rosy look back at a time long past, and while it is a true chestnut, there is nothing old or creaky about it. 

That CENTERSTAGE's revival of this play is a smashing success should also not be surprising, given that everything about it is first rate - a flawless cast, sharp direction and a gorgeous set and costumes.  Were Joseph Kesselring alive today, perhaps this production would spur him on to try another.  Of course, the film Gone with the Wind didn't make Margaret Mitchell get out her pen and pad, either. 

Tony Award-winner Tony Straiges (Sunday in the Park with George) has created a beautiful two-level old home that fairly reeks of vintage quality, sending us instantly back to times gone by.  The set goes through a lot under Irene Lewis' direction that vacillates easily and interestingly between matinee thriller, romantic comedy and high farce. Doors slam, staircases charged up and down, and furnishings bullied (the poor window seat stage left!), and nothing on the walls even shakes!  Wade Laboissonniere's period costumes are lovely, all, and are dead on for the early 1940's, but look new (and they are - built from scratch at CENTERSTAGE) and not from a thrift shop as many such productions are wont to do.  Among the costuming delights are the hilarious and oddly cute costumes for Teddy Brewster, who thinks he is actually Teddy Roosevelt, the riotous funeral garb worn by the two spinster aunts, who regularly hold services in the basement, and the airily sophisticated modern dresses worn by Elaine, Mortimer's progressive girlfriend. 

In the program, there is a side bar article that traces several films and plays that owe a debt to Arsenic, but one that is currently enjoying much success of its own these days - Chicago - isn't on that list, but reminds me of this play a lot.  Sisters Abby and Martha Brewster (Pamela Payton-Wright and Tana Hicken) are two peas in a pod, keeping a clean house, clean reputation, and even cleaner morals - no swearing or going to the theatre for these two!  But like Velma and Roxie, they have a dark side; these two do charity work for the older lonely men of Brooklyn.  That charity today would be called mercy killing or serial murder, but they are just so sweet!  They look after their eccentric nephew, Teddy (John Ahlin) who truly believes he is the president with San Juan Hill (the stairs) ready to be charged, and locks to be built in the Panama Canal (the basement).  They also adore their nephew Mortimer (Ian Kahn), a theatre critic, and all around nice guy.  He is dating Elaine (Brynn O'Malley), minister's daughter and modern sassy girl.  When fate brings him to discover his aunts' "secret", Mortimer is in a race to cover their tracks before the cops find out.  And to make matters worse, his criminally insane brother Jonathan (John Campion), has returned, plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (Carson Elrod), and dead body in tow.  Panic, mayhem, a thrill or two and plenty of laughs make the two hours and fifteen minutes of the show fly by!

One of the things that makes this production so superb is Lewis' direction, pinpoint sharp, and broadly comic all at once.  She has skillfully guided her cast through the potential pitfalls of acting with that 40's style of, well, style - a little more than real, but not quite melodramatic.  And every actor, even in the smallest roles, has mastered this with such authority, it seems completely natural and right.  The romantic styling of Mortimer and Elaine's first entrance - a sexy dance around the room (choreography by Michael J. Bobbitt) - tells us everything we need to know without being lurid or dirty. They are in love, passionately, and they dance to emote without running to the bedroom like we might today.  An act two scene in which Mortimer hilariously reenacts a scene from " a stinkeroo of a play" where the hapless hero gets tied up and gagged, just as he is being tied up and gagged plays like a Marx brothers film and with the comic finesse of a Lucy/Ethel caper.  No matter the tone or tempo, Lewis has calculated precisely where to put everything and like a great conductor, has created a visual and dramatic symphony. 

I can't say it enough.  The company of actors assembled here are uniformly well suited for this production.  Even the smallest of roles (Stephen F. Schmidt as Reverend Brewster and Ralph Cosham as Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Witherspoon) are executed with complete, well-rounded characters and fine detail.  The three cops who appear variously throughout the evening (William Zielinski, Lou Liberatore and Craig Bockhorn) are three carefully created variations on a theme, and each has his moment to really shine. 

Brynn O'Malley, making her professional debut in a play (she has starred in several Broadway musicals) is simply dazzling as Elaine.  She is a beauty, with huge, expressive eyes, and a lithe, yet purposeful gait.  Her Elaine is all fire, a touch of brimstone, and the perfect balance of modern woman and femme fatale.  The minute she walks onstage you are drawn to her, and instantly want her and Mortimer to be happy together forever.  She is also a gifted physical comedienne, dancing, stomping, and slamming her way around the set until she is carried off, and stiff as a board in a raucous exit.  Later, terrified, she is chased around the room and carted off over the shoulder of a very large man.  Her onstage time is relatively brief (compared to her co-stars) but her impact is large and memorable. 

John Ahlin gives a terrific, standout performance as Teddy, and does a great send up of Roosevelt.  He also adds a charming, sweet layer of childlike awe and wonder to the role, letting us see, perhaps, the fight between reality and insanity going on in his head.  Your sympathies are with him from the start, and worry that he will come out all right in the end.  Carson Elrod, as Dr. Einstein, plastic surgeon to the deranged, plays his role fully committed to the quirky.  His nervous ticks, fearful shuddering and bizarre physicality wrapped up in a thick (and fully understandable) German accent make an almost impossibly interesting character.  His final exit is one I will never forget. 

The object of Einstein's fear and reverie is Jonathan Brewster, a Boris Karloff lookalike, played with a ferocity and genuinely mean streak by John Campion.  Mr. Campion virtually (and appropriately) rules the stage every second he is on it, instilling fear in every person he meets - even the sofa looks scared when he is near it.  He skulks around the set screaming and yelling to get his way like the petulant child he really is.  Like a caged, angry gorilla, he menaces and frets.  The actor must be exhausted at the end of the show.  His scare tactics are matched by his impeccable timing, and his portrayal is one likely to be discussed for the rest of the season. 

As our hero, Mortimer, Ian Kahn is exhilarating to watch.  The man can do it all - romance the ladies with style, play protector, rough guy, and sarcastic lout sometimes simultaneously.  Kahn has mastered the double and triple take, and manages to spend about 25 minutes in one continuous panicked rant and rave.  In lesser hands, this tirade could get old fast, but this actor knows how to build, ebb and flow and choose his comedic and serious moments.  Not one second of it seems rehearsed or staged; it flows naturally.  We are on his side from the start, and cheer him for being the kind of man most of us hope people think we are.  His matinee idol looks, deep voice and rubber like face - he's a man with a million facial expressions - combine to make his performance a tour de force, nearly threatening to steal the show.  Of course, every character/actor in this stellar ensemble could be accused of the same, and all, including the audience reap the benefits.

No production of this American classic would really work without two excellent actresses on the roles of Abby and Martha, and one would be hard pressed to find a better pair than Pamela Payton-Wright and Tana Hicken.  These two work so wondrously together, they are the very embodiment of Yin and Yang.  Ms. Hicken, often relegated to the straight man of the two has a sharp delivery, and Ms. Payton-Wright lands a joke with skill.  The two of them are, well, adorable and irresistibly charming.  We, like Mortimer, likely feel the need to protect them.  What makes them both so fun to listen to is the absolute belief they both share that manners and charity start at home.  So what if these men die?  They are lonely and have no family, and they each get a good Christian burial.  A riot, I am telling you!  And both, like their co-stars are also vigorous physical comics.  Watching them creep down the stairs in full funeral drag is a hoot. 

Opening night jitters, or perhaps the zealous reaction of the first nighters, might be the cause of the only real problem with this show.  Several times, particularly with the aunts, the audience is rolling with laughter, and rather than pause, they keep going, and lines are missed.  I'd be willing to bet that that won't be an issue in later performances. 

That CENTERSTAGE is reviving the only successful play written by Joseph Kesselring shouldn't be surprising, after all no one bats an eye when any major theatre produces a revival of Romeo and Juliet or The Glass Menagerie or Our Town, right?  The difference is I think there are very few comedies that are classics at such a level - Harvey, The Odd Couple and Arsenic and Old Lace perhaps excepted.  Even we critics seem to think of comedy as second tier.  How many comedies have won the Tony?  The Oscar?  That people are reportedly lapping up tickets like thirsty men drinking water, or that actors far and wide have expressed interest in being in this production speaks both to the classic stature of the play and our inherent need to laugh.  And laugh you will.  How wonderful to have this gem of a play in our neighborhood, even for a short while. 

PHOTOS: By Richard Anderson.  TOP to BOTTOM:  Tana Hicken (Martha Brewster), Ian Kahn (Mortimer Brewster), Pamela Payton-Wright (Abby Brewster); Carson Elrod (Dr. Einstein), Ian Kahn and John Campion (Jonathan Brewster); Carson Elrod, John Campion and Brynn O'Malley (Elaine); John Campion and Carson Elrod; Tana Hicken and Pamela Payton-Wright.

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