Sex, Lies, and 'The Underpants'

"The Underpants" by Carl Sternheim, Adapted by Steve Martin

Directed by Daniel Gidron, Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco, Costume Design by Gail Astrid Buckley, Lighting Design by Eleanor Moore

CAST in order of appearance:
Steven Barkhimer as Theo Maske
Caroline Lawton as Louise Maske
Stephanie Clayman as Gertrude Dueter
Lewis D. Wheeler as Frank Versati
Neil A. Casey as Benjamin Cohen
Robert Bonotto as Klinglehoff
M.J.J. Cashman as King

Performances through February 4
Box Office: 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com

I love Steve Martin. I love his wit, his intelligence, his buffoonery, and his physical comedy. We get all of this and more in "The Underpants," his adaptation of Carl Sternheim's 1910 comedy, presented at Boston's Lyric Stage Company. This farce is the kind of play the Lyric does best, where all of the actors appear to be having as much fun as the audience. Director Daniel Gidron has molded his cast into a solid ensemble that gives import to every character and enriches the production. The whole is as great as the sum of its parts.

The play opens as Theo and Louise Maske enter their Dusseldorf flat arguing about the public scene created by the accidental dropping of her pantaloons as they watched a parade for the King. We know the dynamics of this duo at once as Theo, the officious and priggish bureaucrat, berates Louise, the mild-mannered and "too attractive" subservient housewife, for being at fault for his downfall. He worries that her instant celebrity will draw attention to him, resulting in the loss of his anonymity and his job. On the distaff side of the coin, Louise has a newfound cachet that thrills her meddlesome upstairs neighbor and brings forth a string of suitors wishing to rent a room in the Maske's apartment. She has not had such attention before and revels in learning how to use and appreciate it. Friend and neighbor Gertrude is only too happy to school the younger woman so that she may live vicariously through Louise's conquests.

The elegant gentleman poet Frank Versati and Benjamin Cohen, a sickly asthmatic barber, vie for the room-to-let, while their desire driven by viewing the underpants underlies their intent. Louise sees Versati as the shiny new vehicle she can ride to the fulfillment of her dreams, but she must also redirect Cohen and mislead her husband. This quadrangle is rife with foibles and funnies and all of the players have fantastic comic timing. The scene in which Cohen asserts himself to prevent Versati from plying his quail is a rapid-fire series of one-liners between the two suitors that climaxes with the end of Act One.

Having spent the first act setting the scene and drawing the characters, Martin adroitly puts everything in motion in Act Two. Versati and Louise hatch a plan to make their tryst a reality, but there are several twists and turns along the way. As Louise's fame flickers, so does the ardor of the tenants, leaving her to settle for the minimal attentions of her boorish husband. In the original Sternheim play, Theo gets what he wants in the end, but to our delight, an additional scene by Martin changes the outcome and brings the story more in line with today's cultural sensibilities. He pokes at the underbelly of our celebrity-crazed society, showing how a silly incident of fallen underpants creates such notoriety that even the King himself arrives to pay homage to this "little housewife" (as Theo refers to her). Of course, it is not simply her fame that draws all of these men to her, but the sexual undertone of that fame.

Our fascination with celebrity and sex are only two of the themes running through the play. Gender roles, nationalism, and anti-Semitism are also exploited for laughs and to make points. Feeling the need to deny his Jewish heritage in order to rent the room, Cohen insists that his name is spelled "with a K" when Theo questions him. However, when he decides to leave the house, he brazenly admits that he is "Cohen with a C…" The women must also behave in devious ways to get what they want. Of course they are smarter than the men are, but they have to act as if they are subservient. Gertrude and Louise combine to give Theo a one-two punch that he never sees coming.

Steven Barkhimer does a masterful job of portraying Herr Maske so that he can be ridiculous without us ridiculing him. Frequently seen in Boston area productions, he does not do comedy very often, but shows his chops in this role. A Lyric Stage stalwart, Neil A. Casey turns in his outstanding-as-usual performance, although it requires a little extra suspension of disbelief to regard him as a Jew. Caroline Lawton makes her Lyric debut with "The Underpants" and she fits the role like a glove. She has great chemistry with the men in Louise's life, as well as in the relationship with Gertrude, her mentor and co-conspirator. The whole piece is enhanced by the work of the designers.

There were so many times during the play that I could hear Steve Martin, master of the double entendre, delivering the lines, and picture him with his nose in the air, nostrils flared, all haughty look. Martin showing up on stage is about the only thing I can think of that could have made it any better. "The Underpants" is infused with his style, his wit, and his intelligence. Run, don't walk, to see this show, but don't trip on your pantaloons!

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