Suite Dreams

Written by Jeff Yang

Directed by Laurie Gardner

In the Lowell House JCR

BY WRITING such two-dimensional comedies as California Suite and Chapter Two, Neil Simon forever distinguished himself as perhaps the most mediocre playwright to ever have a Broadway theatre named for him.

In Suite Dreams, Jeff Yang '89 acts on the misguided notion that turning California Suite, Simon's four-part laugh riot, into a shorter two-part comedy will add some missing dimension. Yang adds eight characters and connects two unrelated segments, but he can't keep his final product from reeking of Simonesque one-liners and contrived Love Boat-type situations. The hard-working cast simply cannot overcome the triteness of the dialogue.

Simon's idea of high comedy is to construct sitcom-like scenarios of marital tension and infidelity, milking all the lame laughter he can get out of it. In California Suite, four couples come at different times to the same suite of a posh hotel. They proceed to harangue each other, making snide remarks about their mates' sexual prowess, and to show how very un-funny California life can be.

Suite Dreams centers around the lives of two of these characters, one divorced and the other happily married until he checks into the hotel. Hannah Warren (Laurel Pescosolido) is a 30-ish journalist from New York who is in the midst of a fight with her ex-husband Billy (Brian McCabe), a hot-shot screenwriter. They each want custody of their 17-year-old daughter Jenny (Jennifer Harris), but she has other ideas about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Jenny ends up meeting another visitor, Marvin Michaels (Lee Thomson), at a party in honor of Michael's nephew. In a flash, she ends up in bed with him, and the rest of the play tries to untangle this plot twist, one of Yang's own touches.

Some of the few funny moments in Suite Dreams also turn out to be Yang's inventions. For instance, a lamentable bellhop at the hotel (well-played by Blake Spraggins) always seems to have his itchy hand out for a non-existent tip. He later laments that "I should 'a listened to my wife and been a podiatrist" instead of staying with the "bellhop" trade.

Director Laurie Gardner tries to get the most out of her actors, but there is little to be done with quips such as "I don't have a life-style. I have a life." Better yet, when Billy says "You're not the Hannah I left nine years ago," Hannah responds: "And I'm missing the ovaries to prove it..."

As Michaels, Lee Thomson makes Suite Dreams at least somewhat endurable. Michaels believes he's being given a call girl by his brother Harry (Chris Winn) for a present, but instead gets caught in the typical "girl-in-the-bed, wife-knocking-on-the-door" scenario. Thomsen's natural comic delivery and sustained energy save the scene and much of the rest of the production.

Pescosolido is fine as the neurotically over-sensitive Hannah, and does the best she can with weak lines. McCabe, her male counterpart, never completely convinces in the role of a 40-year-old, and delivers his lines with a bit too much sincerity and not enough humor.

Adapting any work to include new characters and plot is no doubt a challenge. Too bad we're left "dreaming" in Suite Dreams for a better conceptual basis.