Review: LOVE, FACTUALLY at Kennedy Center

The 2003 romantic comedy "Love Actually" airs every year, so why not the parody of it as well?

The Second City is reprising its "Love, Factually" at the Kennedy Center after its successful run last year. They've changed and updated the material, adding a couple of topical digs at quid pro quo. Of the possibilities of romance, for example they declare, "If Sean Spicer can make it to the semifinals of 'Dancing with the Stars,' anything can happen."

And of course, semi-improvisational work is new every night, as the actors pause to interact with the audience, soliciting suggestions, implicating them in pretend dates and even hauling them on stage to portray ghosts of past spouses.

Audiences are happy to chime in, but as happens in improv shows, sometimes the humor hinges on the quality of whatever premise is shouted out. Hence a solicited Christmas confession that read only "I have an itchy butt" on a recent night. Perhaps a guaranteed laugh for a second grader, the comment is unworthy of adults (recommended audiences here are 16 and over).

What's more, the inventive cast can be stuck with the sometimes bland responses of patrons (a guy is a banker, somebody enjoys hunting) that don't play particularly funny when they call them back later in the show.

"Love, Factually" is largely scripted affair, credited to Nancy Hayden, Damon Roister and Marc Warzecha, about a woman (Kate Lambert) who wants to write her own holiday romance but gets advice from a fairy godmother in the form of Jane Austen (Inessa Frantowski), who has had her own romances recycled endlessly in the genre.

Scenes from Richard Curtis' beloved film get revisited, from the man who contemplates adultery by buying an expensive jewelry his long-suffering wife thinks is for her; to the faded rock star with a bad holiday record; a best man who might have a thing for someone in a marriage couple; a man who falls for a housekeeper who only speaks Portuguese; the politician who clicks with an aide; a doofus who travels to America looking for easy girls; a worker who quietly pines for a co-worker but is interrupted by her brother in an asylum (They skipped the storylines about the love struck kid and the couple who met nude on a movie set).

One doesn't really need to see the original film to get the jokes in the play; it's all done broadly enough for everyone to appreciate.

And while romance is a target for scorn for most of the play, the audience audibly assents when one actually begins to bloom. So maybe "Love, Factually" serves the same purpose as "Love, Actually" does - fantasy romantic fulfillment during the holidays, despite all the carping.

One theme meant to tie stories together in the movie was the airport, where emotional goodbyes and hellos abound. "Love, Factually" takes that further with some amusing choreography involving wheeled suitcases and the tarmac guiders waving light-up batons.

A co-production of The Second City with the Kennedy Center, "Love, Factually" brings together talented cast members from the fabled Chicago school of comedy with several actors from D.C. who prove they can hold their own with them.

Lambert, a member of the comedy troupe The Katydids who created the underrated comedy "Teachers" for TV Land that wrapped up its third and final season in March, is very good as the aggrieved writer, with excellent comic timing and a voice that connects.

She's a Second City vet along with Frantowski, who is versatile and shines in a variety of roles in addition to Austen. Quick costume change is another of her important skills.

Other key imports include director Frank Caeti and Ian Owens, a talented comic actor from Chicago who subbed the bio of Michael Jordan for his own in the program notes (He's good, but he doesn't quite average 38 points a game).

Local actors include Aaron Bliden, Eric M. Messner and Anne Bowles, who all appeared also in the previous Second City holiday show at the Kennedy Center, "Twist Your Dickens," as well as Scott Ward Abernathy and Renea S. Brown, whose two main characters couldn't be more different.

With a snappy pace, "Love, Factually" only slows during the ensemble songs, which hit a low with an attempted rap. But good cheer, and even hope of romantic success, wins the day during an amusing holiday night.

Running time: About two hours including one intermission.

Photo credit: Kate Lambert in The Second City's "Love, Factually." Photo by Jati Lindsay.

"Love, Factually" continues through Dec. 29 at the Kennedy Center Theater Lab, 2700 F. St NW, Washington. Tickets at 202-467-4600 or online.

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