FORT GORDON DINNER THEATRE...
REVIEWS

Private Lives...Nov. 1998
The Fantasticks...Feb./Mar. 1999
Funny Money...May 1999
Dearly Departed...Aug. 1999
Deathtrap...Nov. 1999
The Dining Room...Feb./Mar. 2000
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown...May 2000
Arsenic and Old Lace...Aug. 2000
It Runs in the Family...Nov. 2000

(The Augusta Chronicle stopped reviewing local community theatre productions
after November of 2000.)

Fort Gordon's 'Private Lives' is a treat...
Augusta Chronicle Review by John Elliott, associate professor of art history at USC-Aiken

    Viewers in search of rich comic writing performed by a quartet of superb character actors should enjoy Noel Coward's Private Lives at The Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre.
   This is the grand old play once revived by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Steve Walpert and Elizabeth Nelson-Walpert are no Liz and Dick, but they have a heck of a good time chasing each other around stage in a similarly over-the-top manner.
   Passion is the fashion with this couple. He is Elyot Chase, and she is Amanda Prynne, once married but now divorced for five years and each newly wed to others. Naturally they meet again at a French resort where each is honeymooning with the new spouse. Their suites are adjoining, and their shared balcony becomes a stage for intrigue.
   Elyot has married Sibyl, played by Kay Gross, a bubbly blond ingenue, whose curiosity about his life with Amanda drives him mad. Amanda has fooled new hubby Victor, played by Gene Howard, into believing she's rather sedate. In fact, she is driven by quixotic mood shifts and secretly misses that old tempestuous relationship with Elyot. Will they remain faithful to their new mates or succumb to familiar longings? Puleez.
   Cut to Paris, where Amanda and Elyot have run away to snuggle in her elegant flat with satin dressing gowns and snifters of brandy. Only Mr. Coward could write such witty foreplay, and only two very accomplished actors could so comfortably capture the lust - and tension - in this situation. Watching these two talents tease, make up and ultimately torture each other is a delight. This is a tango performed by a couple of pros who know exactly how to make the other look good.
   It doesn't take a psychic friend to predict that the two abandoned spouses will soon catch up with the wayward pair in Act II. We will not reveal just what Victor and Sibyl walk in on, but it's worth the price of admission alone.
   Mr. Coward gives both the bruised Sibyl and petulant Victor defining moments in Act III. This is acting with substance and sensitivity, even in the sillier comic bits. In fact, the hard thing for the viewer is to decide where to look and which character to follow. You don't want to miss a thing - they're all that good!
   Mr. Walpert earns extra kudos for his handsome set designs (Amanda's ivory apartment is especially delicious) and witty direction. Is there anything this fellow can't do?
   In short, you don't want to miss the Privates at Fort Gordon. Dinner audiences will find this a frothy French confection served to perfection.

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Fantasticks' cast simply fascinating...
Augusta Chronicle Review by John Elliott, associate professor of art history at USC-Aiken

   The Fantasticks, the longest running musical in the world, has arrived at the Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre.
   After 30 years in New York, one might fear that this classic by Tome Jones and Harvey Schmidt had become quite the old chestnut. But as the narrator encourages the audience to Try to Remember, its themes of young love, redemption and understanding ring true, especially in this turbulent era.
   Director Steve Walpert has gathered a first-rate cast with voices ideal to their roles.
   Baritone Russ Harlan serves as narrator and later as El Gallo, a Zorrolike enticer of impressionable maidens. He enters the life of young Louisa (Amy Griffith), whose soprano voice perfectly expresses the difficulties - and ecstasies - of life at 16.
   Louisa has fallen for boy next door, Matt, played by the remarkable Michael Strelecki. With his Clark Kent glasses and polished tenor, he shines across a stage. Both these young performers are as accomplished at acting as they are at singing. Surely they will love happily ever after?
   What the young pair fail to realize is that their courtship is a setup, secretly coordinated by their plotting fathers, fast friends who believe the only way to unite the two is to keep them apart and tempted in the moonlight. These dads are like a great old vaudevillian team, (Fanta-schtick?) mixing harmony with their humor.
   Matt's father is Steve Conrad, a rubber faced sprite who had more fun than anybody on stage, and Louisa's father is Gene Howard, whose lanky hoofing was a treat. Watching them groom their gardens (the Plant a Radish song) and manipulate their offspring was the great delight of this show.
   Much of Act One is the setup for the inevitable exposure of their secret. Enter El Gallo, the hired seducer whose task it is to woo Louisa so that Brad may come to her defense.
   Included is a sequence titled the "Rape Ballet." Audiences would do themselves a favor to read the well-designed commentary in the program. I fear there were a few startled patrons on opening night - the song is intended as a literary reference and must be viewed in that context in order to be appreciated. This is skilled songcraft from far more innocent times, and I would hate to see it offend unnecessarily.
   Let us not forget Richard Justice as a Shakespearean has-been and John Gary Pullen as Mortimer, "the man who dies." I didn't know ham came this silly or salty, but these two have a ball.
   And hovering over all, like Puck in Harlequin white face, was Jonathon Shores. His wordless performance is subtle and almost celestial in spirit - truly lovely work.
   Kay Gross' fine choreography blends Russian folk, Fosse, the tango - and I believe I caught a Gene Kellyish spin around a light pole! Audiences will love watching the evil El Gallo maneuver the young couple like weightless marionettes, especially with some of the most successful lighting I've so far seen in that space. What a handsome theatrical show!
  The Fantasticks makes for a plum ripe musical evening.

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'Funny Money' worth ticket price...
Augusta Chronicle Review by Richard Davis, Jr., playwright and professor of English at ASU

    Funny Money, a hilarious comedy that runs through next weekend at Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre, is a wild romp through complication upon complication.
   Let me set the scene: Henry (plated by Terry Newton) is married to Jean (Virginia Mewborne); the two plan an evening with their best friends, Betty Johnson (Sharon Brooks) and her husband, Vic, (John Gary Pullen). But there's a complication (of course).
   Somehow Henry has picked up the wrong briefcase, one stuffed with cash - 735,000 pounds to be exact (about a million bucks). He does what any good citizen would: He books a flight - first class - for two to Barcelona. His almost manic joy is interrupted by Davenport (Rob Freeman) - a police investigator who has come to investigate Henry - not because he thinks Henry is a thief, but because he thinks he's a pervert. Henry doesn't realize that. Not yet.
   To throw Davenport off track (they hope), Henry and Jean invent relatives (Percy and Adelaide from Sidney), who, they say, are going to Barcelona. Got it?
   OK. Enter Bill (Wilbert Adams III), a dreadlocked Jamaican taxi driver, who is to drive whomever to the airport, and Slater (Steve Conrad), a long-suffering police investigator from a district other than Davenport's, who's investigating a murder. His arrival calls for more invented relatives as well as a dizzying procession of lies and close calls.
   Oh, I almost forgot. There's also bribery, mistaken identities, assumed identities, drunkenness, a wife-swapping plan, pistol shots and a corpse. And a passer-by (Sven Walco) with automobile tire treads across his trenchcoat.
   Mr. Newton is hysterical as Henry. His on-the-money timing and his rubber-faced mugging are fun, fun, fun. His manic delivery set against the more subtle, very British - and very funny - performance of Mr. Pullen works wonderfully well.
   Mr. Freeman adroitly captures Davenprot's amused and cynical detachment; Mr. Conrad as Slater remains calm through much confusion and in spite of constantly being asked to wait in the kitchen. Finally, he's had enough, and his explosive anger is hilarious.
   Ms. Brooks, as the quick-thinking neighbor, and Mr. Adams, as the patient taxi driver, are stage veterans, and their polished performances show it.
   Then there's Ms. Mewborne as Jean. she steals the show. She's funny (both drunk and sober), sexy (both drunk and sober), and terrific at pratfalls (drunk).
   Mr. Walco is the only weak link. Happily, he plays a minor role, which he pads shamelessly. He has to be seen to be believed.
   A deliciously complicated plot, funny - sometimes naughty - dialogue, terrific acting, great comic timing and superb direction make Funny Money worth the price.

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Dearly Departed' cast not morbid...
Augusta Chronicle Review by John Elliott, associate professor of art history at USC-Aiken

Play accented with rich Southern humor

   Hallelujah! Brothers and sisters, let us celebrate the coming of Bottrell and Jones' Dearly Departed to the Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre.
   This irreverent and deeply funny story takes us "somewhere below the Mason-Dixon line" where a fractious family gathers to bury the paterfamilias. Yes, Momma Raynelle Turpin (superb character actress Kay Gross) has lost her husband of 33 years, Bud (pronounced Bu-u-u-hd).
   Soon we meet her self-righteous sister, Marguerite (Rhea Caprice Loper), who awakens her "satanic" son, Royce (Alex Townsend), with Blessed Assurance at 7 a.m.
   The family must assemble quickly for the funeral, an event that reveals the tenuous relationship between siblings Ray Bud (Dale Kuehl), a mechanic who frets over the high cost of the proceedings, and Junior (John Gary Pullen), who lost his fortune on a parking lot cleaning machine. Penniless dreamer Junior encourages Momma to go first class, while Ray Bud is pricing Dad's tombstone by the letter. Add to the mix somnambulant daughter Delightful (Eleanor Page Noegel), who speaks in monosyllabic grunts and snarfs corn dogs like Triscuits.
   Most unforgettable is Cheronda Mallett as Junior's wife, Suzanne, whose discovery of Junior's girlfriend's earring lets her squeeze every delicious moment of high humor out of the betrayal. Ms. Mallett's performance is bombastic and yet exquisitely observational, with withering looks and a voice that could fell trees. Junior doesn't stand a chance.
   This ensemble is full of eccentric treasures. As the nervous Rev. Hooker, C. Michael Bethune sweats and struts and punctuates his phrases brilliantly. (The extra syllable on the end of each word is Swaggert perfect.) And you'll love Elizabeth Nelson Walpert's turn as both Veda, banshee caregiver to her overmedicated husband, and Juanita, retired Yam Queen and town flirt. All these characters are wonderfully conceived as the wackos every small community seems to collect like flavors at the Dairy Queen.
   Along the way, the authors spoof faux philosophy (life is like a circle), church spectacle, KFC and Kmart. At the same time, director Richard B. Justice lovingly celebrates wonderful tidbits of Southern life, from Raynelle's perfectly rolled stockings to Juicy Fruit as a funeral pacifier.
   Using atmospheric lighting effects and Spartan staging, the production offers the audience a conclusion that is surprisingly moving considering the madcap situation. And all set to that familiarly slow organ accompaniment.
   So brethren, gather your loved ones and come revel in the divine comedy of Dearly Departed at the Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre, with performances today and Saturday and Thursday through Aug. 28.

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Deathtrap' thrills with twists and turns...
Augusta Chronicle Review by Karin Gillespie, free-lance writer

    The set of Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre's production of Deathtrap looks like the rompus room of a serial killer. There are enough assorted instruments of mayhem dangling from the walls to snuff out the entire cast, along with a sizable portion of the audience.
   But fear not. The daggers and revolvers are merely mementos collected by the protagonist, playwright Sidney Bruhl. They are props Sidney has salvaged from his many suspense plays, and they aren't intended to harm anyone. Or are they?
   With so much weaponry within reach, it seems highly unlikely that all of the characters in Deathtrap will survive until intermission, much less the second act. Sidney claims that "committing murder on paper siphons off hostilities." However, he hasn't had a hit play in years, and when he is sent a promising script by Clifford Anderson, a neophyte playwright, his wife, Myra, wonders if her husband is desperate enough to kill the author and claim the script as his own.
   Sidney invites Clifford to his home, and there the excruciating questions begin. Will Clifford end up a permanent resident of Sidney's vegetable garden? Who will get out of Deathtrap alive?
   The play mixes intelligent comedy with suspense, requiring actors to tap into their talents for buffoonery and serious drama. Gene Howard, as Sidney, handles the task with seasoned finesse. Several scenes require him to be onstage alone with no dialogue, yet he maintains the interest and pace of the play with his superb physical actions.
   Kay Gross is hilarious as Myra when she suspects her husband may have homicidal tendencies. Her desperate attempts to defuse the potentially dangerous situation offer some of the funniest moments in the play.
   The standout actor in Deathtrap is Russ Harlan, as Clifford. The role requires a palette of emotions, from earnestness to ruthlessness, and Mr. Harlan pulls off the transitions of character with the alacrity of a magician.
   Sharon Brooks deserves special mention as Helga Ten Dorp, a wacky psychic with a Dr. Ruth accent. Ms. Brooks commands the stage as she makes her dire predictions of death and pain. Even with the demands of her cumbersome foreign accent, she manages to be articulate and believable.
   One scene in Deathtrap takes place during a dark, stormy night - delicious conditions for would-be murders - and the set design and lighting were so convincing, when I left the theatre, I expected to need my umbrella. This scrupulous attention to detail in set, direction and action makes Deathtrap a delight for playgoers.
   One final warning: do not attempt to become an amateur detective while watching Deathtrap. It has more twists than a Chubby Checker dance contest. The moment you think you know whodunit, the plot will surprise you and take another scintillating turn. Just sit back, and let the actors lead you into their labyrinth of intrigue and suspense.

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Dining Room' serves vignettes of family life...
Augusta Chronicle Review by John Elliott, associate professor of art history at USC-Aiken

    Offering an amusing mosaic of family traditions, tensions and heartfelt memories, A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room is the handsome new production at the Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre.
   Remarkably, a cast of seven actors portray dozens of characters in vignettes tracing the myriad ways in which Americans feast and fret over the family table.
   Director Steve Walpert skillfully weaves humor and pathos in scenes that startingly overlap. As each scene unfolds, usually before the previous one has ended, one quickly recognizes that in this night we shall visit many such dining rooms, in many different eras. The actors handle these transformations from humor to gravity and from youth to old age with ingenuity and gentle grace.
   Elizabeth Nelson-Walpert shines as a divorcee who has her dining room "antiques" appraised and discovers her own market value in the process. In a blink, she can transform into a petulant teen in fuzzy slippers rebelling against her mother's Junior League dreams.
   Sharon Brooks sparkles as great aunt Harriet, whose nephew arrives to review her knowledge of elegant dining traditions. Her manner speaks volumes about the virtues of Waterford and Williamsburg and the importance of passing down that appreciation to the next generation. Her ire at discovering that she is instead viewed as an anthropological artifact of a vanishing culture is heartfelt and deliciously justified.
   The biggest laughs of the night go to C. Michael Bethune, who morphs from a skipping lad fresh from private school into Standish, an uptight aristocrat (think Thurston Howell III) who goes postal over comments at the country club about his brother's "bachelor attachments."
   There is sympathetic truth in some of the tales told around this central table as well. Family members mourn when their newly senile mother (Elizabeth Loranth) fails to recognize the Thanksgiving meal or any of its participants.
   Gene Howard is heartbreaking as a father outlining the plans for his funeral with his reluctant obedient son, Terry Newton.
   When you remember that these actors have just appeared as 6-year-olds munching cake at little Winky's birthday party, the breadth of their performances becomes clear. And the depth of meaning behind these situations all families face should leave patrons with nods of recognition.
   As the season approaches when our community prepares spring celebrations of Easter, Passover and the festive Masters, this look behind our American heritage of archaic customs and dining dilemmas seems especially illuminating. The next time those who see this first-rate production sit down for a family get-together, I'll bet they look around the room with a greater appreciation of our harmony of traditions and family compassion.

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Charlie Brown' never grows old...
Augusta Chronicle Review by Anna Filippo, theatre teacher at ASU.

    The Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre opened May 12 with a former - and current - Broadway musical favorite, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. 
   Based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, the musical is a timely choise for the dinner theatre because of the show's recent revival on Broadway and as a tribute to Mr. Schulz, who died Feb. 12.
   Charlie Brown originally opened in the 1960's and fared well as a family musical. It quickly became a vehicle for community and high school theatres with its already-famous characters.
   With the six main personalities from the comic strip, Linus, Schroeder, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, the play is truly an ensemble piece. In the revival, a few songs have new arrangements, but the basic premise is the same: Charlie Brown struggles with his low self-esteem while the others offer perspectives on life as a kid.
   While playwright Clark Gesner ends each scene with dime-store poignancy and an implied "good grief," he offers his memorable melodies and amusing lyrics to develop situations.
   At the top of the list would be the opener, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the famous Snoopy number Suppertime and the closing number, Happiness.
   Under the direction of Steve Walpert, the Fort Gordon production has a committed cast.
   Early in the show, the actors define their personalities for us, and, quite frankly, it's what we expect: a wishy-washy Charlie Brown; an adamant Lucy; a spunky Snoopy; and so on. What makes this show work is not plot or character development, or even a deep-seated message; instead, it's finding the center of each character and somehow using that to create the ensemble feel that is imperative for this piece. This cast is able to do it.
   Stephen Hansen creates a sympathetic character in Charlie Brown. He's defined a loser by some of his friends, but the audience must be on his side for his character to work. Mr. Hansen also has a strong singing voice and makes use of broad facial expressions that read well in the large auditorium.
   Matt Borgman as Linus started out almost a little overboard with childlike body language but very quickly found a comfortable level that worked well for his My Blanket and Me solo.
   Ronald Odgen's Schroeder complements Nichole Kuehl's Lucy nicely; Mr. Odgen takes Ms. Kuehl's abrasive remarks passively while Lucy continues to live in the dream she has created as Schroeder's future wife. Ms. Kuehl has excellent diction and commits to the overbearing quality that Lucy must have in both her vocal and physical choices. There were times when it might have been nice to have seen a little more variety in her expressions, but then again, we get from Ms. Kuehl what we expect - and what we really want - from Lucy.
   Eva Purcell plays a Peppermint Patty who seems to be in the background during much of the show. Then she has a solo line in the final number, and we realize that Ms. Purcell can sing!
   Then there's a well-cast Will Jones as Charlie Brown's loyal pet, Snoopy. In a role that historically provides the actor (or actress) with the famous Red Baron scene atop the doghouse, and an opportunity to wow the audience with fancy footwork in Suppertime, Mr. Jones delivers. Immediately the audience can sense his agility and vocal strength when he imitates an ape on top of his doghouse. Throughout the show he incorporates gymnastic moves that work well for his character.
   In his big number, Suppertime, I would have liked to have seen him make more use of his nimbleness. While the choreography itself was fine, I'm not convinced that the tap dance showed us what this actor could really do.
   On Friday there were some opening-night problems that I'm sure will be remedied: premature sound effects, slow fade and curtain into intermission, in-and-out miking problems, and props not working.
   There were also, however, some smart staging decisions on Mr. Walpert's part: the kite string operating through the light booth to create an overhead feeling, actors using the auditorium during specific scenes and the use of appropriately cheesy photographic images to open and close the show.
   The cartoon like set with bright colors and playful pieces, including the see-saw and mobile dog house, worked very well for the comic-strip flavor of the show.
   I would be remiss if I did not mention the orchestra, the very soul of a musical such as this. The five-piece group, under the expert direction of Jamie Council Garvey, was truly good: clear sound and a real ensemble balance. In particular, Rob Foster's flute and piccolo playing was sharp.
   If you're looking for a play with a political agenda, or one that challenges social norms, then look somewhere else because Mr. Gesner isn't a David Mamet or a Paula Vogel. But if you want light, wholesome entertainment, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown doesn't disappoint.

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Arsenic' remains lethally amusing...
Augusta Chronicle Review by John Elliott, associate professor of art history at USC-Aiken

    There's something about the Brewster family of 1941 Brooklyn, that venerable old clan of mad murderers who kill with only the best of intentions.
   Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace at Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre features the delicious high jinks of the Brewster sisters, Abby (Avery Villines) and Martha (Sharon Brooks). These adorably twisted sisters share a home paid for by their father's ill-advised experiments with patent medicines.
   Enter their nephew Mortimer (William Brooks), who gradually discovers the family secrets, buried in the basement!
   That is why this classic script is such an exquisite pleasure - the constant peeling away to reveal yet another perversely funny moment.
   When Mortimer discovers his aunts' penchant for poisoning lonely old men, he struggles to hide it from his saucy fiancée (Sally Metzel). Chaos ensues when his hit-man brother Jonathon (John Gary Pullen) arrives to hide out with Dr. Einstein (Ted Newton), his goofy German accomplice who has transformed him through plastic surgery into the image of Boris Karloff, with Frankenstein scar and all.
   Toss in more than a few Keystone cops and punctuate it all with the trumpet blasts of tall Teddy Brewster (T.J. Sonnier), who believes he is President Roosevelt and has the Panama pith helmet to prove it.
   Now, which one of this eccentric crew will end up in the Happy Dale sanitarium?
   Director Richard Justice stages this madhouse mirth with absolute clarity and a rapid pace that keeps the audience breathless. There is wonderful stageplay with cadavers popping up in the windowseat, candlelight encounters and more slamming doors than Tara.
   Above all, this show is about character: the family that slays together. We delight in watching Mr. Brooks deliver frantic double-takes at the antics of his aunts. Especially noteworthy is Ms. Villines' superbly textured performance as Aunt Abby. Observe the delicate bend of an aristocratic wrist, the determined thrust of a voice full of conviction that she is only doing the right thing for these gentlemen who are alone in the world.    
   Kudos to the period costumes by Ellen Parker, which include lovingly detailed Victorian finery for the elderly aunts and spiffy '40s snoods and wide lapels for the younger cast.
   If you like your comedy surreal and situations cyanide slick, don't miss this play. Especially in a summer when TV island folks are munching on rat-atouille and Kathie Lee's long bye-bye is considered must-see, it's a treat to experience writing this superior and a production this well-crafted.
   Oh, but should someone at Fort Gordon offer you elderberry wine with dinner, I'd pass.

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It Runs In The Family' has proper touch of farce. Actors are delightful in outlandish roles...
By Richard Davis, Jr., Professor of English, creative writing and communications at Augusta State University.

   The Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre's production of Ray Cooney's farce "It Runs in the Family" is set in the doctors' common room of St. Andrews Hospital.
   It's 10:45 a.m., three days before Christmas. Dr. David Mortimore (played by Terry Newton) sits polishing the most important speech of his life – a speech he will deliver at noon before 200 distinguished colleagues, a speech which will surely earn him prestige and promotion and probably Knighthood.
   What could possibly go wrong? In a word: everything.
   To begin, Mortimer's ex-mistress, Jane Tate (Millie Klosinski), pops back into his life after having disappeared mysteriously eighteen years (and nine months) earlier.
   She's not alone. She's brought Dr. Mortimore a Christmas surprise – a son he didn't know he had sired (Bradley King). Mortimore has been married 20 years, not to Miss Tate.
   The surprise, a hulk named Leslie, sports spiked hair, earrings, a nose ring, a drinking problem, and a very bad attitude. And he's looking for his father, whom he knows to be one of the doctors on staff.
   Meanwhile the clock is ticking, and Mortimore is harassed by his very stuffy supervisor, Sir Willoughby Drake (an under used Rob Freeman); pestered by his suspicious wife (Sara Bryan); interrogated by an unshakable police sergeant (Matt Stovall); stalked by a syringe-toting, amorous matron (Bonnie Baugh); and distracted by a very confused patient (Gene Howard).
   So he does the only thing possible. He lies. He pins paternity on his best friend, dim bulb Dr. Hubert Bonney (John Gary Pullen), and he concocts desperate lies to explain each new complication. But the devil's in the details. And inevitably he's confronted by the cop, the son, the mistress, the wife, the colleague, the supervisor all of whom have been told slightly different stories.
   Properly staged farce starts fast, careens into chaos, and explodes into a confetti climax. Much of its comic effect depends upon precise timing. Director Steve Walpert stages farce properly. 
   And his talented cast keeps the action on fast forward.
   Veteran performer Mr. Newton and newcomer Ms. Klosinski perform beautifully together. He's high energy, tortured by nervous tics and manic animation. She's bemused, self-possessed, chic. Both are very funny.
   Ms. Baugh as Matron is every sick person's nightmare. Armed with a syringe the size of a turkey baster, she stalks the unsedated.
   Augusta stage favorite, Matt Stovall, is hilarious as the Keystone Bobby, especially in the seltzer bottle routine. But he and most of the cast are upstaged by Mr. Howard, as Bill, a senile, wheel chaired lecher who tries to pinch anyone within reach.
   Mr. King brings a dead-on Teddy Boy accent along with hilarious and shameless mugging to the Unwedable Hulk, Leslie.
   However, Mr. Pullen as Dr. Hubert Bonney steals the show. He's achingly funny as he's overwhelmed by wave after wave of complication. He registers surprise, confusion, dismay, and – finally – triumph. A truly fine comedic performance.
   Supporting players also deliver solid performances: Justin Cook as Dr. Mike Connelly, Sara Bryan as Rosemary Mortimer, Nicole Bedelle as Sister, and especially Kay Gross as Mother and Mr. Freeman as Sir Willoughby Drake.
   If you like good food and fast paced farce, don't miss "It Runs in the Family."