Whodunit

WITH ONE FOOT in Gilbert and Sullivan and the other in Agatha Christie, Say Goodbye is up to its knees, at least, in lovingly rehashed cliches and pleasingly resurrected stock characters. The English country gentleman, the dowdy wife, and the conniving mix-tress are all well cared-for of a dark and stormy eve by the ever-faithful butler when--of all things--the phone lines are cut, candlesticks take on the sinister aspect of murder weapons, and puns about catching one's death of cold begin to chill the air. The bumbling Scotland Yard detective soon appears out of thin air to thicken the plot into a London fog of incest, revenge, hidden pasts, family treasures, eccentric old ladies, and crazies of all ages.

A skillful balance of genre painting and cartooning keeps this whole stew surprisingly fresh Say Goodbye succeeds by not taking itself seriously by self-consciously laying it on thick in words, music, and action. But this is no Hasty Pudding Show of unceasing parody; the satire in Say Goodbye is sympathetic, knowing, and often cedes to real drama, suspense, and romance. The characters may be stock, but they are imaginative, well-rounded versions of old standards.

Playwright-lyricist-composer-actor-director David Reiffel '79 displays a prodigious talent in the first three of these roles, the ability to step in quite competently in an emergency in the fourth, and an inability to step out in the last. A director with more detachment might have added the perspective and staging skills necessary to pull together a strikingly uneven cast into a production more consistent than this. As it is, strong, tight scenes are followed by ones where clever lyrics and even plot are lost to often-weak voices and to a very competent but overly vigorous orchestra.

The show opens with a promisingly fast-paced multiple-telegram scene, but it proceeds to lose its momentum in over-long songs and explanatory dialogue. The second act, however, picks up the pace immensely (though not unflaggingly) as the actors begin to play more with their roles, apparently including some improvising, judging from the glee registered in the orchestra.

Erika Fox Zabusky as the mistress Kitty is unrivaled in the cast in the power of her lovely, expressive voice, and she fills her manipulative, flirtatious character with admirable energy. As the son Jimmy, the character with the sharpest punchlines, it is hard to imagine anyone doing a better job with the alternately simpering and sympathetic role than the talented David McIntosh (even though he assumed the part just a week before opening-night).

THESE TWO PERFORMANCES stand out above the rest, though Julia Poirier plays an impeccably bland mom. Douglas Faigel does a very lovely pretty boy as Jimmy's friend Kurtis. Susan Damplo provides a sharp-tongued fall to Jimmy as his sister Millicent and David Fruloll's expressive eyes make up or his less-than convincing stoop as the servant Clive.

The other performances suffer in general from a lack of definition and weakness of voice. The low quality of singing is particularly distressing when crucial resolutions vanish in timidly presented songs and lyrics disappear under ambitious overlapping of melodies in large company numbers.

Moreover, the production is marred by sloppy choreography and staging and a poorly-designed set. Shakily rising backdrops add an unintended element of suspense to the play, and the great flight of painted stairs becomes no longer artifice but annoying falsehood when characters declare, "Let's go upstairs" and then walk off stage right. Scenes that take place on an unsightly platform upstage of the backdrop only send weak voices farther from the audience.

But Reiffel's abundant talent saves the day. His sense of musical style rivals his ear for dry martini English witticisms as he enlivens the Sullivan-style score with occasional jazzy solos and melodramatic Latin rhythms. One of the best songs. "The Buck Stops Here," plays off the kind of Honour, Valor, and Cheerful Alacrity of plucky young Englishmen that Chariots of Fire took so seriously. Best of all, the score leaves us with a catchy tune to hum as we leave the theater--"Say Goodbye."