By Dale King
If you need a lightly comic play with a whimsical plot and likeable characters, you can usually find one among the dozens of shows crafted by Neil Simon.
Delray Beach Playhouse has plucked Last of the Red Hot Lovers to open its 67th season. The play, which premiered in 1969 and was made into a movie three years later, hearkens back to the sexual revolution of the late 1960s. But it’s still fresh enough to cause 21st-century audiences to laugh out loud (or LOL, an abbreviation not available at the time the play was new).
What really makes this play come alive is the excellent acting from all involved. Veteran director Randolph DelLago has chosen a talented foursome to convey Simon’s concept of how a man who has found himself on the sidelines of the great societal sexual awakening for too long tries to make up for lost time.
The play revolves around one Barney Cashman, New York businessman and happily (or maybe not) married husband who, at age 47, realizes that he has dodged the sexual revolution bullet without even noticing.
Now he notices. And he arranges a series of trysts with three separate women. And while the ladies are all very different, the results are the same.
DelLago has done well to call in Mark Hetelson, a Delray Playhouse regular who commands the stage with his overall display of meekness, to portray Barney. In his previous work — which includes award-winning performances in two other Neil Simon plays, The Odd Couple in 2006 and I Ought to Be in Pictures in 2007 — Heteleson has portrayed down-on-his-luck guys looking to improve their lot, much like Barney.
As Simon’s play says, Cashman is the owner of a successful seafood restaurant. His fingers never quite lose their tinge of clams and other finny creatures, no matter how much he washes and applies aromatic distractions
While he admits to being happy with his wife, Thelma, who is never seen, he feels he has to break out and have at least one rip-roaring afternoon delight before passion is totally out of his reach.
So he first invites Elaine Navazio (Forman Lauren) to join him. Because he’s married, he has to use his mother’s pink-walled apartment on one certain day of the week when she is away working as a volunteer. He comes to the hoped-for assignation with a briefcase containing a bottle of J&B Scotch and two glasses. He quickly closes the blinds before the doorbell rings and in saunters Elaine.
The costumers at Delray Playhouse have decked Lauren out in a tight mini-dress that would make Miley Cyrus blush. But before Barney can make a move (which he really never does), Elaine proves she’s an expert at wisecracking and sarcasm.
She wants a cigarette. She wants a lot more Scotch than the “thimbleful” Barney pours. When she gets a bit close, Barney turns to mush, and continues to falter. This amuses Elaine, who eventually walks out of the apartment once, comes back, finds nothing has changed, then walks out for good.
A lot of time passes between Act I (December) and Act II (August). This time, the object of Barney’s affection is Bobbi Michelle (Danielle Tabino), an actress wanna-be who doesn’t once hint at sex. It’s all about me, me, me, she goes on. Her audition. Her life. Her vocal coach roommate who’s a neo-Nazi. Even the Scotch doesn’t help Barney with this one. When she lights up a joint, he reluctantly joins her — and slowly mellows into high hilarity.
A month later, he’s back at Mom’s place with Jeannette (Daryl K. Meyer). This time, he has kept it close to the vest. Not only does he know her, she is a family friend and buddy of his wife. Jeannette, who spends most of Act III crying and questioning whether Barney is “a decent person,” hangs onto her handbag as if it were Linus’s security blanket.
It’s worth repeating how good Hetelson is in this play. Despite the craziness, his encounters with the women are all plausible. The Philadelphia native is one to look for throughout the 2013-2014 season.
Lauren, who just moved to Delray from Long Island, has a wonderfully dry manner of acting — just what is demanded in this play. She is cool and unfazed on stage, even when the play gets frantic. Tabino, like Hetelson, boasts 15 years of stage experience, and her well-honed ability is evident. She plays the role of Bobbi Michelle with lots of hype and energy.
Meyer taps into her 35 years of acting skills to make Jeannette more than just a weepy character. In her stage role, she seems really concerned about Barney and makes him realize that what he is doing is cruel and insensitive.
In his introduction to the play, DelLago tells that audience that it offers “a little humor, a little sadness and, as always, a great deal of wisdom.” He’s absolutely right.
LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS is playing through Oct. 20 at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. (Lake Shore Drive), Delray Beach. For tickets, call 561-272-1281, extension 4.