Review: Greater Boston Stage Company's DINNER FOR ONE Serves Up the Laughs

A distant cousin of America’s New Year’s Eve Times Square ball-dropping tradition, “Dinner for One” is an iconic comedy sketch broadcast every New Year’s Eve in countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, and Estonia, and on other days of the year in Norway, Australia, and South Africa. British author Lauri Wylie wrote the original two-hander for the stage and it was subsequently recorded for television in 1962.

Now through November 17, Stoneham’s Greater Boston Stage Company is serving up as its 25th anniversary season opener a deliciously funny New England premiere production of “Dinner for One,” by Christina Baldwin, Sun Mee Chomet, and Jim Lichtscheidl, and under the deft direction of GBSC’s producing artistic director, Weylin Symes, all in its freshly refurbished theater.

The action centers on nonagenarian Miss Sophie (Debra Wise) and her longtime, loyal manservant James (Paul Melendy), who morphs into several of Miss Sophie’s long-ago and now dearly departed lovers – Mr. Pommeroy, Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, and Mr. Winterbottom – at a farcical New Year’s Eve party where mishaps multiply and hilarity ensues with each pour of the champagne.

The original sketch never became popular in the U.S., but the underlying idea—that the more liquor, the more laughs—was evident in the early television work of Red Skelton, and notably in the 1952 episode of “I Love Lucy,” “Lucy Does a Commercial,” in which Lucille Ball riotously extolled the virtues of Vitameatavegamin, a medicinal tonic heavy on the alcohol content.

From the school of Skelton, Dick Van Dyke, Ed Wynn and other comedy greats expert in mining the laughs in every situation, the splendiferous Melendy – memorable as the man in the chair in the 2024 Lyric Stage Company production of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and as Ichabod Crane in the 2022 Elliot Norton Award-winning one-person show “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at GBSC – reaches into his own considerable bag of tricks to create a character that you won’t want to look away from for fear of missing one of his drolly delivered bits of business.  

Keeping pace with her co-star is the versatile Debra Wise – co-founder of Underground Railroad Theater and Central Square Theater, and current interim artistic director of Revels – who has lit up area stages for years, most recently in “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” at Central Square Theater. A two-time Elliot Norton Award winner, Wise does both comedy and drama with equal ease, and here she does a little of both.

In Wise’s hands, we see Miss Sophie’s mind at work even as the gossamer-thin plot alludes to its being muddled by age. What Wise makes seem more likely is that her character’s thoughts have been transported by James’ efforts to help her relive memorable moments from her past, providing the play with its most touching moments.

While the 70-minute single act can make “Dinner for One” feel more like a light supper, with the inspired pairing of Melendy and Wise it’s a tasty treat. Set in scenic designer Katy Monthei’s richly appointed drawing room, Deirdre Gerrard’s elegant costume designs are shown off well by Jeff Adelberg’s warm-toned lighting design.

Photo caption: Paul Melendy and Debra Wise in the Greater Boston Stage Company production of “Dinner for One.” Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

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