By Anita Raymon:
The Parkside Players are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a well-done presentation of Neil Simon's “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” at the Grace Lutheran Church in Forest Hills. Performances continue through May 28.
A 47-year-old staid, married man, Barney Cashman (Michael Wolf) is wondering whether life has passed him by. He thinks of his days in high school, in the Army and then marrying at the young age of 23. His only sexual encounter before marriage was when his brother took him at age 18 to a brothel in Newark.
He is obsessed by what he has missed in life. He's been a faithful husband, a good provider as the owner of a seafood restaurant; yet, he feels something is missing.
The comedy starts when Cashman enters his mother's empty apartment with an attache case. Inside are two new glasses and a bottle of J & B.
He freshens his breath, numerous times, and smells his hands continuously. We later learn he shucks 18 dozen clams a day and is very self-conscious of the fishy smell.
He fluffs up his mother's cushions, combs his receding hairline and prepares to welcome his guest for the afternoon.
We empathize with this poor man and Wolf gives just the right tone and manner to the character. His attempts at love-making, though, are doomed to failure.
The first visitor who rings the doorbell that afternoon in December is a smart, well-dressed married woman, Elaine Navazio (Deborah Bekefi) who had patronized the restaurant several times i Bekefi, who was recently such a riot in “Out of Order” for Theater A La Carte, has great comedic timing and her conversations with Cashman are models o utter miscommunication.
He really does not get her drift. She has come for some hanky-panky; he wants to “get to know her better.” They drink a lot of Scotch and argue at great length about smoking, sex, spouses and most any other subject under the sun, except about the one at hand – Elaine's needs for a cigarette and sex! The bumbling Cashman has no idea of how to behave in this situation.
He vows never to have another assignation, but we see him again on a late afternoon in August, ready to try again! This time, he has chosen a young, California valley girl, who has returned to New York to further her show-business career. She is tall, blonde and is much younger than her admirer. This lady is Bobbi Michele; portrayed by youthful Alison Schwab. Here are two opposite generations – completely mismatched. Bobbi rattles on about all kinds of “situations” that she has been involved in. Some are obviously very dangerous – she thinks her dog was kidnapped and that she is already being stalked by a stranger in New York. “Who is that man, standing on the sidewalk?” she asks Cashman. “He must be following me.”
“No,” Cashman replies, “he's a doorman.”
She refuses the hard liquor Cashman offers; instead she turns him onto marijuana smoking. Their scene together lying on the floor, each smoking joints, is absolutely insane.
The third woman, his wife's best friend, Jeanette Fisher (Karen Schlachter) completes the trilogy of Cashman, the Red Hot Lover. He has invited the nervous Fisher, thinking she has given him “signals” when their families had dinner together.
But actually, Fisher is terribly depressed about her husband, her life, and the fearful prospect of having an affair with Cashman, whom she doesn't find physically attractive – and tells him so. She also makes him crazed, because she grasps her pocket book like a shield in front of her, until, in desperation, he snatches it away.
Director Jegana Martin captures the deliciously comedic, poignancy of this foray into the middle aged, male psyche. Go see it, you'll have a great time.
The play continues at the Grace Lutheran Church, 103-15 Union Turnpike (at 71st Road) on May 25, 26,27 and June 1, 2 at 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. Call for tickets and reservations 718-497-4922.
Reach Qguide writer Anita Raymon, by e-mail at timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext 139.
