'Regrets Only' Takes on the Marriage Debate

Regrets Only by Paul Rudnick

Directed by James Brennan

CAST  (in order of appearance)

Myra Kesselman......Kathel Carlson

Hank Hadley.............Harry Groener

Tibby McCullough.............Dee Hoty

Jack McCullough.......... Joel Higgins

Spencer McCullough......Eden Riegel

Marietta Claypoole..... Dawn Didawick

Scenic Design, Dan Meeker; Costume Design, Gail Baldoni; Lighting Design, Christopher S. Chambers; Sound Technician, Matthew Walsh

Performances through July 14, 2007, at Cape Playhouse

Box Office 508-385-3911 or www.capeplayhouse.com

The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Cape Cod opens the 2007 summer season with the New England premiere of Paul Rudnick's comedy Regrets Only. It features an accomplished cast, a richly decorated set, and some very flashy fashions, while it takes on one of the major topics of the day, gay marriage.

Like many drawing room comedies, Regrets Only revolves around the relationships between its characters, both marital and friendship. We learn that the world-renowned fashion designer Hank Hadley (Harry Groener), a gay man who is mourning his late partner of 38 years, and flighty socialite Tibby McCullough (Dee Hoty) are long time friends and soul mates, notwithstanding the fact that she is married to respected attorney Jack McCullough (Joel Higgins). Jack and Tibby's daughter Spencer (Eden Riegel) is also an attorney and freshly engaged to be married. The plot turns on the fact that the President of the United States has called upon Jack to draft a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. He enlists Spencer to assist him, raising Hank's ire and setting off a chain of events that will affect not only the lives of his family members, but just about everyone in New York City and Washington, DC.

Director James Brennan makes the most of his team of talented veterans and paces the action well. There are some excellent lessons in comic timing to be learned from watching this troupe, but Kathel Carlson as the Jewish maid Myra Kesselman steals the show. Within the first fifteen minutes, she makes at least four entrances, each time sporting a different chapeau and the foreign accent to match. Her lip-synching dance with a feather duster to "The Chapel of Love" at the top of the second act is a real crowd pleaser. Dawn Didawick is also worthy of mention in a supporting role as Tibby's mother Marietta Claypoole. The sight of her garbed in a trash bag held together by duct tape and wearing shoeboxes on her feet telegraphs instantaneously the wackiness we can expect from her.

Rudnick serves up a variably interesting mix of wackiness and weightiness, with zingers and bon mots competing for equal time with the history of the gay rights movement in general, and the same sex marriage initiative in the specific. While those of us who live in Massachusetts have heard all the arguments, fought the battle, and counted the casualties and victors, the skirmishes are in a nascent stage across the country.  It is clear on which side of the fence the playwright stands, but his dialogue comes across as somewhat preachy at times, and it does not always ring true when spoken by Hank who seems to have come late to the fight. Although I can understand and appreciate his hurt and anger when his best friends take up the baton for the other side, I'd like to see more humor in the conflict.

The problem with this play is that it keeps revolving and never really spins into much of a story. It puts forward the simplistic notion that "all gay people really want is the freedom to love," then employs the conceit that the world can't get along without them. The stereotypes fly fast and furiously when each of the family members complains about what service or professional is unavailable when Hank and his friends decide to take a day off. Spencer's wedding lies in the balance and oh, yeah, if she can get married, why can't the gay people? Each of the straight characters has to develop some insight and come to terms with what they think and how they've behaved around this issue before they can all be friends again. They do, they evolve, and nobody has any regrets.

As befits a play about a successful fashion designer, Gail Baldoni's costumes are stunning, especially Tibby's mother-of-the-bride floor-length sheath and Spencer's wedding gown. They are lit to good effect and complement the lavish surroundings of the McCullough's East Side penthouse. On occasion the dialogue gets swallowed up in the old barn that is the Cape Playhouse, but more often it is drowned out by laughter. With pros like Groener, Hoty, et al, there's great chemistry and much to like onstage. I only wish there had been a little bit more.

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