Somerset Valley Players revive the wacky comedy.
By: Stuart Duncan
For most people, Room Service is a 1938 Marx Brothers movie, with starlets such as Lucille Ball and Ann Miller handling the "pretty girl" roles. Few remember that the film was based on a Broadway comedy a year earlier, written by John Murray and Allen Boretz and directed by a man who would become a theater legend George Abbott. The comedy ran for more than 500 performances, a huge success in those pre-World War II days.
The play is seldom staged these days, in part because it is dated and has a convoluted plot so popular 65 years ago but shunned by audiences nowadays. Mostly, however, it is because directors just cannot find enough zany actors, especially in community groups, who can handle the ridiculous situations and bizarre characters. The current revival of Room Service at Somerset Valley Players suffers from both afflictions.
That plot we talked about involves a Broadway producer, Gordon Miller (played with straightforward tenacity by Scott Avery, but without the wackiness needed to move the evening). He piles up an enormous hotel bill feeding and housing the entire company of his next play while they rehearse and he desperately searches for a wealthy backer. In the process he is trying to juggle the hotel manager (his brother-in-law, played by James Houston), the very angry supervising manager (Michael Muller), the naive author (Matt Viola), plus assorted cohorts and drop-in visitors, until either the money is found or the play opens.
SVP director Nick Thomas has a fine set to work with (apparently executed by himself, the show’s producer Anthony Neri and the stage manager Debra Schulze) and a few in the cast of 14 (all shows in the 1930s had large casts) who understand the needs of the genre. Mike Sundburg as a sort of general go-fer is very helpful. He has a naturally fun-filled voice that can make even the dullest bit of dialogue sound as if it might just be funny. Unfortunately a favorite line from the film seems to have been unused in the play: "Hello, room service bring up enough ice to cool a warm body." Sounds like a Groucho ad-lib.
Erica Flory has a few nice moments as Hilda Manney and Brad Pendergraph is very impressive as an aspiring Russian actor (possibly because he actually speaks fluent Russian). Later he plays a much abused hotel doctor with great comic instincts, but, for the most part, the cast simply doesn’t meet the requirements of some of this old-fashioned, silly script.
Room Service continues at Somerset Valley Playhouse, 689 Amwell Road, Hillsborough, through April 17. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets cost $13, $11 seniors/students Fri. and Sun. For information, call (908) 369-7469. On the Web: www.svptheatre.org

