PHOTO CREDIT: George Katsekes
SummerStage returns to an earlier era with Neil Simon’s late-’80s farce, Rumors. The idyllic outdoor stage in Lapham Peak serves as backdrop to the story, a 10th anniversary party for the deputy mayor of New York and his wife. As guests arrive, they notice the absence of the couple in question. Inevitably, they’re all caught up in an elaborate scheme to cover up a failed suicide attempt.
Director Dustin J. Martin anchors the spoof-based tension with a clever juggling of a large ensemble. A secret must be kept in an era before the rampant explosion of social media when the only contact with the outside world was a single land line. Fashion in costuming and interior design aren’t perfectly representational of the very wealthy New York elite, but the style is distinctive enough to strongly suggest the era, aided as it is by interstitial ’80s pop music.
Nicholas Callan Haubner and Deanna Strasse navigate the center of the ensemble with wry, heartfelt precision as Claire and Lenny Ganz, who arrive at the party having just been in a nasty car accident. Logan Milway and Katie Lynne Krueger are there to greet them in the roles of Ken and Chris Gorman. Milway carries a stern vulnerability about him as the one guest absolutely intent on making certain that no one finds out about the attempted suicide. Krueger is hilariously brittle as someone hopelessly inept at any level of serious dishonesty. The rest of the ensemble orbits beautifully around the central pair of couples in an enjoyable evening of outdoor comedy at summer’s end.
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Through Sep. 7 at Lapham Peak in Delafield. For tickets, call 262-337-1560 or visit summerstageofdelafield.org.
