BWW Reviews: Lewis Black's ONE SLIGHT HITCH at American Stage

No one can perform a rant like comedian Lewis Black. In his standup routines and on his appearances on "The Daily Show," he snarls, he rolls his eyes, and he screams with dissatisfaction at the stupidity of mankind around him. He constantly has a look of revulsion on his face as if he just ate a handful of Sour Patch Gummies. Black is so smart that, compared to him, everyone of every political party is a dunce without a cap. He is one of my favorite comedians, up there with George Carlin and Louis C.K.

What most people don't realize is that Black is also an accomplished playwright. He has scribed over 40 plays, many of them with a clever ear for dialogue and true heart. I would like to say that his ONE SLIGHT HITCH, currently playing at American Stage, matches the mania and hilarity of his routines. I would like to say that watching it is as fun as watching his standup rants. But I can't. The work seemed like forced farce, straining for laughs without earning the chuckles. In some ways it came across as the lame melding of "Three's Company" and "Family." There are moments of farcical brilliance, as well as tender moments that will surprise Black fans, but the overall doesn't add up. This show has a marvelous cast, as well as an incredible set, but the script (especially Act 1) still lands with a thud. Delicious chocolate chips can't mask the taste of muffins made of mud.

The question must be asked: If Lewis Black's name had not been attached to this play, would American Stage be performing it at all?

The story is fairly basic. It's the summer of 1981, and the conservative Coleman family is up in arms as they are getting the house ready for the nuptials of daughter Courtney and a man named Harper. Courtney's ex, Ryan, just so happens to arrive at the house unannounced on the same day, and lots of running about, hiding, and screaming ensues.

Despite my qualms with some of the script, the production at American Stage is extremely well done. Regan Moore plays 16-year-old P.B. Coleman, and she acts as the show's narrator. I graduated from high school in 1981, and Moore reminds me of so many of the high school girls that I knew. She's simply marvelous and commanding, a master in the fine art of eye-rolling. The fact that the youngest member of the cast also gives one of the best performances in a sea of Equity actors shouts volumes about her talent.

The scenes of ONE SLIGHT HITCH shift with musical interludes playing on Moore's Walkman, and the actress dances up a storm to all of the 1981 hits: "Hungry Heart," "Bette Davis Eyes," and "Jessie's Girl," the latter where Moore wildly lip-syncs to Rick Springfield. In one instance, "Call Me" by Blondie plays, and Moore listens to it, drowning out her mother's voice (it's almost like a pantomime) and it's a gloriously fevered moment, one that any teenager, whether from the 1980's or from today, can relate to.

Unfortunately, Madonna's "Holiday" is also one of the songs that Moore dances to. The use of this song is a flaw because "Holiday" wouldn't be recorded and released until two years later. Did Moore's character jump into a Marty McFly DeLorean Time Machine to steal the song from the future and bring it back to 1981? We accept the 1982 Billy Idol song, "White Wedding," to open and close the play, because it's not being listened to on the Walkman (and it's obviously appropriate for a wedding farce like this). But the anachronistic 1983 Madonna song momentarily takes those of us who remember the 1980's out of the plot.

Equally as good as Moore is Jennifer Christa Palmer as her sister, Courtney, the impending bride. Palmer runs a vast range of emotions and comes across as a real person. We care about her plight, and she looks stunning in a wedding dress. Jonelle Marie Meyer is quite good as her other sister, Melanie, a nurse and an odd duck with a penchant for flirting. The sisters all match up beautifully, and there is a scene with them that is very tender, their sisterhood brilliantly captured by Black. It was like an oasis to the rest of the show (except the appropriate and heartfelt ending).

As the two men in Courtney's life, her current groom-to-be, Harper, and her former boyfriend, Ryan, both Brian Shea and Jordan Foote are incredibly affable and hilarious. Shea just has to say one word, and it's a riotous hoot. Foote plays a proto-slacker and underlines the fact that his talent in other roles (in Jobsite's Inventing Van Gogh and Last Night of Ballyhoo) were not flukes.

As Delia, the over-worrying mother, Karel K. Wright steals much of the show, running about crazily, getting worse and worse (and funnier and funnier) as the plot unfolds. As the eccentric and conservative father, Doc, Brian Webb Russell is the most physical cast member, sort of John Ritter meets Moe Howard. He overplays at times and sure seems to be yelling an awful lot. He starts off at level 9 and goes up the intensity charts from there, where there's not much room to go. It's not a subtle performance, and his over-theatricality sometimes alienated me, but he has his hysterical moments and is the engine that moves the play. Is it my imagination, or does he seem to be doing an imitation of a ranting Lewis Black?

Greg Bierce's set is incredible, down to the Ronald Reagan photograph on the mantle of the upper class family's abode. Mike Wood's lighting design is exceptional, especially in the much-needed dance breaks of P.B. And Gavin Hawk's direction is alive, squeezing as much as possible from the script. His staging of the Twister-like physical humor is outstanding.

Despite the script, it's an entertaining show, thanks primarily to the cast and American Stage's usual professional brilliance.

ONE SLIGHT HITCH plays until August 2nd. For tickets, please call (727) 823-PLAY (7529).

To post a comment, you must register and login.