Review: One Man, Two Guvnors (Court Theatre)

A comic marathon of classic proportions

Reviewing Goodman's production of The Matchmaker for another site a few months ago, I wrote that a major benefit of that staging's diverse casting was the chance to see the African-American actor Allen Gilmore as a comic lead. I noted that there were local white actors who could have handled Gilmore's role of Horace Vandergelder equally well, but that it was a treat to see Gilmore in a role we might not normally expect him to play. I didn't say who those other actors were that I was thinking of, but I'll say now I was thinking of Ross Lehman and Francis Guinan, and it's a triple treat to see those two plus Gilmore in One Man, Two Guvnors . The pleasures don't end there - director Charles Newell has assembled a cast of Chicago's funniest actors including some you didn't even know were funny. In the former category is Elizabeth Ledo - we know she's a riot from the Court's Tartuffe and The Misanthrope and more recently, from the aforementioned Goodman Matchmaker. Hollis Resnik? Not so

known for comedy, but she was a hoot in the Goodman's Candide. Derek Hasenstab? A very funny guy. Alex Goodrich? His bio shows lots of comedies - I guess I had just missed them. Erik Hellman always struck me as a more serious type, even in the Court's recent Moliere comedies of three seasons ago. But Timothy Edward Kane? The go-to guy for Shakespearean tragedies and histories, star of the Court's twice-staged one-man anti-war manifesto An Iliad? Sure, he's done classic comedies, but he's not exactly a name we associate with fun times. Nor is Chaon Cross - that rare actress who has outer beauty and a willingness to take a pie in the face, so to speak. Regardless, they all deliver and belie the truism that "dying is easy, comedy is hard."

Their vehicle is Richard Bean's London and Broadway success for which James Corden won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 2012. It's an updating of The Servant of Two Masters, an example of Commedia dell'arte - an Italian theatre tradition from the 16th century that relied heavily on improvisation so as to escape scrutiny of the censors who might prohibit its bawdy humor. No script, no censorship. But the writer Carlo Goldoni, having been commissioned to write The Servant of Two Masters, recorded a complete script for posterity, and the work has survived to this day as a classic. The plot, in both Goldoni's original and Bean's updating, concerns a hapless, unemployed man who takes a job as assistant (or servant) of two different men, trying to keep the two unaware that he is, indeed, serving two masters. Here, that man is Francis Henshall (Kane, in the role originated by Corden). As Henshall juggles his two bosses, there are intrigues surrounding the two masters. One is actually a woman (Ledo) - a lover to the other master (Hellman) - and the twin sister of a gangster her lover has killed. The gangster, named Roscoe Crabbe, was supposed to marry Pauline Clench (Cross), but upon learning of Roscoe Crabbe's death is planning to marry the man she really loves (Goodrich), though that marriage is off once Roscoe (who is really Ledo's character Rachel Crabbe) appears to be alive. There are meddling parents (Lehman and Guinan), an ex-con friend (Gilmore), a love interest for Henshall (Resnik) and various bystanders (Hasenstab, Elisa Carlson) - all complicating matters.

The plot doesn't matter much, though. The whole affair is really just a shell for comedy of all sorts. The laughs come in many ways - from expertly performed slapstick (with credit due to movement consultant Christopher Bayes), door-slamming farce, a skittle band performing original songs by Grant Olding, local and current references (a dig at the darkness of the Court's previous show, Long Day's Journey Into Night) or totally unrelated audience-participation improv. Kane shows he is in fact a very funny man - creating a sad sack character (who is very much in need of food in the first act), quick with verbal wit and able to do physical comedy with élan. The diminutive Ledo scores as a pint-sized woman playing a tough male hood in drag, while Gilmore's ex-

con Lloyd Boateng is frequently the craftiest one on the scene. Hellman as Ledo's love Stanley Stubbers creates possibly the best comic character of the cast - a dandy with a hard-edge. Cross is an attractive clown in the style of film's Elizabeth Stanley - using her looks for satirical ends. Goodrich's Alan Dangle, who stands to lose his fiancée to the not-quite-dead Roscoe, is a deadpan lover turned fighter futilely trying to gain back the woman he loves. Guinan makes a shifty dad - determined to work out whatever deal he must with whoever his daughter Pauline has to marry. Lehman has a great cameo as a dotty waiter as well as his major role as Goodrich's haughty patrician father. Resnik is the wise outsider who as the only one who really understands what's going on and will get her way in the end.

Newell and company are determined to provide a good time. They succeed, although the 2 hour and 45 minute run time of the show (including one intermission) is a bit much for this sort of thing. Without any great investment in the plot, we travel from set piece to set piece. Some will be more to one's liking than others. It's worth the trip to Hyde Park and, even if it doesn't split your sides for the full 150 minutes of stage time, you'll still come away with a better knowledge of stage comedy tradition and a new appreciation for the comic skills of local actors.

One Man, Two Guvnors continues through June 12th at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis (map), with performances Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 3pm & 8pm, Sundays 2:30pm & 7:30pm. Tickets are $45-$65, and are available by phone (773-753-4472) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More information at OneManTwoGuvs.com. (Running time: 2 hours 45 minnutes, includes an intermission)

Photos by Michael Brosilow

behind the scenes

Charles Newell (director), Doug Peck (music director), Christopher Bayes (movement consultant), Collette Pollard (scenic design), Mara Blumenfeld (costume design), Keith Parham (lighting design), Joshua Horvath (sound design), Eva Breneman (dialect coach), Jessica Fisch (assistant director), Amanda Weener-Frederick (production stage manager), Erin Albrecht (assistant stage manager), Michael Brosilow (photos)

Tags: 16-0535, Alex Goodrich, Allen Gilmore, Amanda Weener-Frederick, Carlo Goldoni, Chaon Cross, Charles Newell, Chicago Theater, Christopher Bayes, Collette Pollard, Court Theatre, Derek Hasenstab, Doug Peck, Elisa Carlson, Elizabeth Ledo, Erik Hellman, Erin Albrecht, Eva Breneman, Francis Guinan, Grant Olding, Hollis Resnik, James Corden, Jessica Fisch, John Olson, Joshua Horvath, Keith Parham, Mara Blumenfeld, Michael Brosilow, post, Richard Bean, Ross Lehman, Timothy Edward Kane

Category: 2016 Reviews, Court Theatre, John Olson