Jeff Haber

From fake fruit to real feelings: Belfry delivers Simon classic

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By John Lyle Belden

You can’t go wrong with a comedy play by Neil Simon, and The Belfry Theatre presents the one that started his incredible run of Broadway and film hits.

“Come Blow Your Horn” is not a musical, but more about blasting one’s own achievements. In this case 1960s swinging single Alan Baker (Josh Gibson), in a nice Manhattan apartment with constant female companionship. He’s been having fun with aspiring actress Peggy (Adriana Menefee), who stretches being “bad with names” to comic lengths. However, his more regular companion, Connie (Alyssa Lay), has come home from her singing tour early.

Meanwhile, Alan’s younger brother, Buddy (Jeff Haber), has arrived to stay with him, finally escaping living with their parents – neurotic and overbearing Mother (Vickie Phipps), and hot-tempered Father (Chris Otterman), who varies from passive-aggressive to aggressive-aggressive. The family owns a wax-fruit factory where the father employs both sons, though he rails at “the bum” Alan’s slacking.

Alan seeks to make Buddy more irresponsible like him, while, ironically, he finds himself having authentic feelings for Connie. But when the playboy antics get too complex, Father’s reaction could rename this show “Come Blow Your Top.”

This comedy shows hints of Simon’s linguistic mastery and knack for wacky situations that reach perfection in his later shows. On its own merits, it’s wildly enjoyable, and you can tell the cast are having fun with it as well. Gibson is great at projecting cheeky confidence, so is in his element here. Haber delivers a perfect contrast, as a man perpetually unsure of himself. After intermission, the two switch demeanors, adding dimension to their characters, as well as more laughs.

Lay is adorable as usual and shows both her and her performer character’s range in her efforts to get Alan to mature. In roles inspired by Simon’s own parents, Phipps and Otterman shine as the Mom and Dad who seem to never be happy, yet still get across that they love their kids – infuriating as they are. Menefee plays Peggy as more nice than smart, elevating a rather limited role. Katherine Gibson has a memorable cameo as Aunt Gussie.

Veteran director Lori Raffel, who has handled plenty of wackiness in various central Indiana companies, delivers an endearing take on this classic. Performances are Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28, at The Switch Theatre, 10029 126th St., Fishers. Info and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

BCP comedy one for the books

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By John Lyle Belden

In “The Book Club Play,” a small group who meet regularly to discuss the literature they have all read adds an element of “Big Brother,” a new member or two, and before long the gathering becomes what one describes as “‘Lord of the Flies’ with wine.”

In this comedy by Karen Zacarias, presented by Buck Creek Players, Ana (Amanda McCabe) hosts the club at her home with close friend Will (Jericho Frank), a fellow literary snob, and husband Rob (Jeff Haber), who is there for the snacks. There is also Will’s friend Jen (Alyssa Lay); joining the club helped her recover from a downward spiral. Ana has brought in her new coworker at the newspaper where they work, Lily (Nia Hughes), who can’t help but notice she’s the only non-white person in the room.

Another source of tension: Ana – and the others, in signed releases – agreed to having a camera installed in the living room, recording everything during Book Club evenings. The footage goes to a famous Danish documentarian working on a film about the American phenomenon of these get-togethers. “Act natural,” Ana insists.

After lively discussions on “Moby Dick” and “The Age of Innocence” – the latter book affecting Rob deeply after he actually reads it – Lily shakes things up by selecting “Twilight.” This leads to the unexpected addition of Alex (Grant Bowen), a professor of literature seeking to understand the appeal – and unexpected merit – of popular fiction.

Between club meetings, we get brief scenes of various people apparently interviewed for the documentary, entertainingly portrayed by Connie Salvini-Thompson. (Note: One involves the smoking of an herbal cigarette near the front of the stage.)

It could be said that reading can change your life – but these readers aren’t prepared for what’s coming. This is especially true of Ana, the kind of person who feels things need to be perfect, as she sees it, and thrives on being in control. McCabe wonderfully portrays these borderline narcissistic tendencies, letting the comedy flow naturally from the contrast between her expectations and how things turn out. She seethes, but swallows her rage as she tries in vain not to look neurotic for the camera.

For the others, surprises start to alter their perspectives. A meeting on “The DaVinci Code” brings out secrets not on the pages. Then, an attempted discussion of a “Tarzan” book goes completely wild.

In the last chapters they read together, all is revealed.

In their performances, the cast show how the usual motivations for these clubs, equal parts fellowship and meaningful conversations with the book as a catalyst, get warped by the fact that there is an unblinking “audience.” Hughes’ Lily doesn’t mean to be provocative, yet stating the obvious seems to brush against unwritten rules. Contrast this with Bowen’s Alex, who, as an academic, welcomes and encourages debate.  Frank’s Will constantly flips between confident and unsure – and if he trips your gaydar, we all see it, too (well, not everyone). Lay as Jen gently finds necessary growth of character throughout. As for Rob, Haber’s portrayal of this go-along/get-along personality shows him finding he has lost track of what he really wants and needs.

Meanwhile, Salvini-Thompson’s character work adds wonderful comic touches – starting in full Capote mode, then a stiff Secret Service agent, down-home Wal-Mart associate, prison “dealer,” and a feisty retired librarian (with the final punchline at the end of the curtain call).

It’s all well-crafted by Josh Rooks in his directing debut, adding to past onstage experience in bringing the funny. He is assisted by producer and fellow BCP mainstay Ben Jones.

“The Book Club Play” is uproariously funny, and it might even give you a fresh perspective on books and reading – note its pitfalls if you wish to start a club of your own! Performances are Friday through Sunday, June 13-15 at the Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road exit off I-74), Indianapolis. Get tickets at buckcreekplayers.com.

What a ‘Web’ they weave in Westfield

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By John Lyle Belden

Quick warning for arachnophobes: Main Street Productions has placed numerous toy spiders (some quite life-like) around the Basile Westfield Playhouse. Guess how many there are (fill in a form during the first intermission) to win a prize. However, (ironically) there are none on the stage.

Count on Agatha Christie to weave an entertaining tangle of intrigue, mystery, and humor – we get all this and more in “Spider’s Web,” presented by Westfield’s Main Street Productions, directed by Jan Jamison.

The setting is a big house in the English countryside (of course), Copplestone Court in Kent, in 1954. While Henry Hailsham-Brown (Kevin Caraher) is away on business for the British Foreign Office, his young and highly imaginative wife Clarissa (Phoebe Aldridge) spins tales and plays tricks on whoever is around. In this case, it’s her former guardian Sir Roland Delahaye (Syd Loomis), his old friend Hugo Birch (Jim Simmonds), and young friend Jeremy Warrender (Jeff Haber). Clarissa also cares for Pippa (Ava McKee), Henry’s school-age daughter from his first marriage who is still fragile after the bitter divorce.

The servants on hand are humble Elgin (Thom Johnson) and his wife (unseen), as well as Mildred Peake (Molly Kraus), the gardener who is quite the busybody and suspicious of everyone. An unwelcome visitor, Oliver Costello (Matt McKee), the new husband of Pippa’s mother, stops by. Also, this being a murder mystery, we will soon meet Inspector Lord (Larry Adams) and Constable Jones (Erin Chandler), with an audio cameo by Greg Vander Wyden as the Doctor called to inspect the body.

Along with the corpus delicti, we also have a rather interesting antique writing desk and the presence of a “priest hole,” a short passage to the library disguised by a bookshelf. And a deck of cards. And a volume of Who’s Who. So many details, in fact, that Clarissa spins a number of stories about the events of the evening, confounding and frustrating the Inspector as we work through the various clues to find who did the deadly deed, and why. (Observant viewers can work it out before the climax, this clueless reviewer nearly did!)

Aldridge is wonderful as the fanciful and well-intentioned lady of the house (Wendy notes that this play could have been subtitled, “Clarissa Explains It All”). Loomis has paternal charm in his supporting role. Kraus eagerly takes on quite an interesting character herself as one who is and knows more than she lets on. Adams makes an interesting sleuth, though the frustrating nature of this caper could make Inspector Lord glad that Christie called on other detectives for most of her stories. Seventh-grader Ava McKee makes a nice stage debut as imperiled Pippa.

The wit is sharp with physical humor and a bit of Pythonesque absurdity. It almost qualifies as a comedy – except for, you know, that body behind the sofa.

This humorous whodunit has four more performances, Thursday through Sunday, April 10-13, at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. (note there is some road and building construction in the area). Get tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.

‘Moon’ shines on Mud Creek

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By John Lyle Belden

As a certain song says, show business is wonderful, even when it’s awful for those engaged in it. In Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo,” now on stage at Mud Creek Players, fading Broadway stars George and Charlotte Hay are upstate and up the creek, struggling to keep a repertory theatre alive during the 1950s dawn of television, after washing out of B movies and failing to get a prestige picture (“The Twilight of the Scarlet Pimpernel,” directed by Frank Capra) in Hollywood.  

Backstage of the Buffalo venue, we meet the Hays’ daughter Rosalind (Chrizann Taylor), who had given up the stage and is back in town only to introduce her fiancé, Howard (Jeff Haber), a TV weatherman. George and Charlotte (Sean Berne and Zoe O’Haillin-Berne) make an entrance as only they can. Rosalind’s ex-boyfriend and past scene partner Paul (Malcolm Marshall) is also on hand. Also, the Hays’ attorney Richard (Craig Kemp) is in town, hoping to woo Charlotte away from the madness, especially considering that the cute ingénue Eileen (Anabella Lazaridez) has been impregnated by George. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s feisty elderly mother Ethel (Jean Adams) turns her hearing aid on only when she feels like it, and if she has to mend the trousers one more time…

True to his comic style, Ludwig gives us a sort of slamming-doors sitcom (a Broadway hit in 1995) with plenty of belly-laugh moments. This comes complete with mistaken identity as tongue-tied Howard is mistaken for Capra, who is believed to be in the audience, looking to recast “Pimpernel.” We also get the mash-up no one asked for as both “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Noel Coward’s “Private Lives” hilariously take the stage.

The flashes of I-love-you-but-I-want-to-kill-you between George and Charlotte feel real, as the Bernes are married offstage as well. Whether enraged, distraught, or otherwise always performing, they chew the scenery with a knife and fork. Taylor gives us Roz as a voice of reason, yet feeling conflicted especially when Paul is in the room. As for Marshall, and for his part, Kemp, they are each in their own way hopeless romantics. For one, at least, the bold optimism may pay off. Haber is our bewildered everyman caught in middle of so many situations this forecaster never saw coming. Lazaridez kinda gives the ditz vibes one would expect from her blonde character, but they are more reflective of stress and hormones’ effect on the mind than hindered intellect. Adams heroically stays the eye of this hurricane, adding her own stoic yet comic flavor to the proceedings.

Directors Kelly Keller and Dani Lopez-Roque wrangle the wildness well, with the help of a trio of supporting characters/set changers who can’t help hamming it up a bit themselves, keeping the farcical mood flowing from scene to scene.

Two more fun weekends remain (through May 4) before this “Moon” sets on the Mud Creek Barn, 9740 E. 86th St., Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at mudcreekplayers.org.  

‘Carol’ gets farcical in Westfield

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By John Lyle Belden

We know that a lot of the folks who read our reviews have some experience with community theatre – whether on stage, backstage, or patience-tested family member. For you, “Inspecting Carol” by Daniel Sullivan, presented by Main Street Productions in Westfield, may feel familiar.

At the Soapbox Playhouse, director Zorah (Tanya Haas) and stage manager M.J. (Jennifer Poynter) are having difficulties with rehearsals for the annual production of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Much of the cast have done it year after year, but that’s not much help, especially since their Scrooge, Larry (Scott Prill), likes to go off script. Also, Luther (Tyler Acquaviva), their Tim, isn’t so “tiny,” putting a strain on Phil (Trever Brown) as Cratchit. Dorothy (Cathie Morgan), who has various roles and a real British accent, is hobbling on a broken foot. Sidney (Brad Burns) is ready to play Marley, providing he gets the chains under control. Newcomer Walter (Malcolm Marshall), who plays the ghosts, is uneasy with being the lone “diversity” casting. At least Bart (Gregory Vander Wyden) is capable of handling both some character lines and moving the set pieces.

Then there’s Wayne (Jeff Haber), a stranger who just showed up, claiming to be a traveling actor seeking stages where he can audition. But he’s not in the union and seems oblivious to things a thespian should know.

Business manager Kevin (Jim Gryga) suspects the visitor could be an undercover inspector sent by the National Endowment for the Arts, which has suspended the company’s grant pending a review.

Directed by Kelly Keller, who has a knack for bringing out the funny, this farce reels from one silly situation to the next, likely cathartically familiar to anyone who has dealt with production mishaps, last-minute changes, dropped lines, and looming budget shortfalls. Debbie Underwood completes the cast. Elianah Atwell is assistant director, with Tanya Keller as stage manager.

Hilariously brilliant performances all around, including Haas keeping Zorah’s Lithuanian blood at a low boil, Prill with Larry’s “updated” script, Haber as well-meaning Wayne, and especially Poynter as the cat-herding jill-of-all-trades pushed to her limit. And if a bad dress rehearsal foretells a great performance, this company could have the best “Carol” ever, once they recover.

See what I mean at “Inspecting Carol,” Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 7-10, at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield. For info and tickets, see westfieldplayhouse.org.

A toast to Belfry’s convent comedy

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By John Lyle Belden

It seems nuns are an easy target for entertaining and eccentric characters who also have the noblest of intentions. We get another fun take on this trope in “Drinking Habits” by Tom Smith, presented by The Belfry Theatre in Noblesville.

The Sisters of Perpetual Sewing are a small but important order in the Catholic Church. If the Pope pops a button, the garment gets sent to the little convent somewhere in the U.S.A. to get fixed right up. But the sacred stitches don’t raise quite enough funds to keep the lights on, so Sisters Augusta and Philamena (Jennifer Poynter and Cathie Morgan) have let the grape juice ferment and are selling the wine in town. This is kept secret from Mother Superior (Barb Weaver), who is so anti-alcohol, she won’t even allow the words for such beverages to be said aloud.

Thus we get some interesting euphemisms: Devil’s Delight, Satan’s Mouthwash, Lucifer’s Libations, etc.

Fortunately, the secretive Sisters have always-helpful second-generation groundskeeper George (Bryan Gallet) to help.

But local newshounds Sally (Sarah Powell) and Paul (Jeff Haber) have gotten a tip about the secret vineyard and are infiltrating the convent to investigate. It happens that the Order is expecting the arrival of a new member, so Sally becomes Sister Mary Mary, while Paul becomes Father Paul, her brother. Then the actual nun, Sister Mary Catherine (Sarah Eberhardt), arrives, and things start to get confusing. Add to the mix the neighboring priest and amateur magician Father Chenille (Chris Taylor) and word that the Vatican has sent spies to ensure all its facilities are worth keeping open, and confusion, mistaken identities, multi-layered lies, and other farcical elements rule the day.

Aside from quick entrances and exits from multiple doors, the cast also mines comedy gold from the Order’s ritual of keeping silent at random points during the day. (Apparently, wild gesturing and miming is not a sin.) The goofy goings-on crescendo to a wild ending of revelations (and matrimony!) that would make Shakespeare’s head spin.

Direction is by Belfry board president Nancy Lafferty.

Poynter and Morgan are wonderful in a study of opposites – quick-thinking, fast-talking Augusta, and nervous Philamena, who literally can’t tell a lie. Gallet is handed a challenge in keeping George easy-going and kind without coming across as too simple-minded – he’s the average-sharpness knife in the drawer. Powell and Haber ably portray two people in a situation way over their heads, while also working through unresolved feelings. Weaver has Mother Superior cool and in control, but isn’t too sharply stern, and manages to be out of the loop of what’s going on without looking foolish. Taylor makes Chenille charming in a way that gives the Father “dad” vibes. Eberhardt is so much fun to watch as situations, and Mary Catherine’s growing guilt, put her continually on-edge.

This show is very funny and well worth the drive up to Noblesville, playing through Sunday, July 3, at Ivy Tech Auditorium, 300 N. 17th, St. Get information and tickets at thebelfrytheatre.com.

And, just a thought for a future season: Smith also wrote a “Drinking Habits 2.”