BWW Reviews: Rainbow Dinner Theatre's WEEKEND COMEDY Shines in Lancaster

Sam Bobrick's 1985 WEEKEND COMEDY is a play whose plot will never date. As long as agents double-book any rental property or hotel room, as long as there are culture clashes between generations, as long as men and women have differences of opinion on romance, this play will make total sense to whoever sees it. At Rainbow Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, this play, one of those little gems that proves that you don't have to be wildly romantic to be in love... and that wild romance just might not be proof of it... is on stage to make its characters wince, groan, and prove that love isn't dead, but it might not always look the way you expect.

Frank (David DiSavino) is the no-nonsense late middle-aged, middle-class businessman who's allergic to vacation (and to romance) and whose picture is in the dictionary beside the words "grouchy" and "grumpy". His wife, Peggy (Cynthia DiSavino), loves both, and, for that matter, Frank, and she's booked a cabin in the mountains for a three-day weekend to rekindle what she's sure was there once. Her best-laid plans, however, are wrecked by the rental agent who's accidentally also rented the same cabin to the younger, unmarried, yuppie couple who's taken it for the past few years. Jill (Lauren Zehr) and Tony (Daniel Stargel) are still newly in love and don't care who knows it - or, Frank fears, who sees it. Still it's Frank, eager to avoid Peggy's clutches, who suggests that he and Peggy stay on the sleeper-sofa in the cabin living room, and that Jill and Tony take the cabin bedroom, in an apparent display of sociability that just may be his last one.

Tony's everything Frank wants to despise - young, well-off, working in his father's business, happy to spend money rather than save it, and to spend it on fine food and drink and on world travel, rather than being frugal (or, in Frank's case, quite possibly downright parsimonious). Peggy finds the fine dining and travel quite romantic, to Frank's overt horror, which only fuels the age-gap, class-gap based "can you top this" competition between the two men.

Comedy ensues at all turns, mostly at Frank's expense, despite his determination that old age and treachery will indeed outwit youth and skill wherever possible. From bathroom complaints to faking injury in a race from a tree to the cabin, Frank's agenda, now that he's safe from his wife, is to prove his moral superiority over Tony, no matter what - and it's "no matter what" that winds up happening at all turns.

Romance is easy to conjure between any two reasonably talented actors, but to pull off a fine domestic spat on stage takes some real chemistry and timing. Leave it to an old married couple to be able to give the stage some sparks in the argumentative direction - it's great fun to see the DiSavinos on stage, arguing both with and against each other at every turn. In fact, as amusing as the play is, the very best thing about this production is the mighty Clash of the Titans as the DiSavinos play it out on stage. Director Diane Fussaro manages to keep the hilarity of the situation from going too far over the top - though over the top it is - and to keep the potential pitfalls of letting a real acting couple let it all out on stage neatly in check.

It's a show with no discernable moral, fortunately, and more than happy, the ending is just as funny as the rest of the show. From the moment that Peggy explains that her husband's office supply convention didn't qualify as time away - "no week in Saint Louis is a vacation!" to Frank and Tony's macho bragging rights competition, to Jill's growing recognition that Peggy might have a handle on something that no one else in the cabin really understands about life, the laughs are steady.

If there's any problem with this production, it's that while Zehr and Stargel are certainly well-equipped performers, it's virtually impossible to shine fully against the full wattage that the DiSavinos can generate as a pair on stage. When these two are on, and playing against each other, it's hard to notice almost anything else. If Zehr and Stargel take a while to warm up, it's almost impossible to tell, though by the third scene they're at full steam - but against the DiSavinos, it's sometimes a challenge to be noticed enough to tell. Neither DiSavino is an ungenerous performer, but their onstage chemistry in comedy, here as it was in last season's FOX ON THE FAIRWAY, just can't help drawing attention away from virtually anything else on stage. It's quite possibly a force of nature, like gravity or the fact that it rains after you wash your car. Fortunately, like the show itself, it's something to love.

On stage at Rainbow through March 22. Call Rainbow at 800-292-4031, or visit www.rainbowdinnertheatre.com for tickets.

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