A Perky 'Star-Spangled Girl' at Company of Strangers

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It was the mid-1960s when Neil Simon wrote The Star-Spangled Girl, a lesser-known work by the Broadway playwright and audience favorite. The familiar formula follows the antics of misplaced attraction by the bewitched Norman and new neighbor, Sophie while patient roommate Andy looks on and gets tangled up in the downward spiral of the goings-on. Sophie is fervently patriotic while the other two run a counterculture magazine.

As staged by The Company of Strangers Theater, The Star-Spangled Girl clearly dates itself on purpose: telephones, typewriters and (gasp!) face-to-face conversation. But the play is ironically a current, timely reminder of the women’s movements sweeping across the country. Norman’s obsessive behaviors and actions clearly cross the lines of stalking and harassment by today’s definitions. And while the comedy is meant to be just that, the meaning takes on a completely different tone, even when the offstage “police” are called in.

What keeps the audience interested in this production are the performances of two of the actors. As the perky, effervescent Sophie, Julia Marsan is pitch perfect and her best scenes are those with Andy, who has little interest in returning her affections.

Jeon Garron’s low-key, unflappable approach to playing Andy is just what’s needed and he becomes the main attraction (literally and figuratively). His naturalness helps to keep the otherwise erratic flow of this production on course. Kerruan Sheppard’s Norman is in desperate need of character realignment and balance; he’s either screaming angry (which is most of the time) or goo-goo eyed oblivious, missing the nuanced comic effect of his character. Jessica L. Sosnoski directs.

Through March 17 at the Underground Collaborative, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave (lower level of Grand Avenue Mall). For more information, visit: www.thecompanyofstrangerstheater.com