The Arlington Players' production of the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart chestnut "The Man Who Came to Dinner" is well known to those who attend theater regularly.
The period comedy is one of the most frequently mounted plays here and around the country and might not normally warrant a review. It's just not the sort of play where you can expect something new. But this production is notable in that the lead role is filled by an actor unusually well suited to the part. Jeff Westlake is a versatile character actor who routinely turns in compelling performances. He attracts and holds attention whenever he is on stage. His voice is a finely tuned instrument, his face an ever-changing landscape of emotions and reactions. A portly, rumpled figure with a fringe of flyaway hair, Westlake at first might not seem to have star quality, but his stage presence usually draws the audience into whatever world his character inhabits.
Here that world belongs to Sheridan Whiteside, a 1930s multimedia sensation who travels the globe in the company of the best and brightest from show business, politics and literature. He is friends with Shirley Temple and H.G. Wells and calls his pal Mahatma Gandhi "Boo-Boo." Critic, lecturer, author and radio broadcaster, Whiteside makes himself the center of attention in every space in which he finds himself, including the private upscale home in a small Ohio town in which he uses a wheelchair after losing a round to a slippery winter walkway. Community-based theater productions of this play tend to be problematic; the large cast requirement often means many parts are filled by people with more enthusiasm than talent, and the three-hour run time often leads to uneven pacing and flagging energy levels. In this production, the potential flaws are, unfortunately, all too vividly realized. Most of the nearly two dozen cast members perform at minimally acceptable levels, and some are quite dreadful. Parts of the play stretch on interminably as energy drains away onstage in the vast theater, with long periods between laughs.
But Westlake never disappoints, filling the air with Whiteside's outsize personality, his vocal tones thick with the rotund vowels and self-absorbed emphasis of a distinguished literary figure who is always "on." He turns the name "Whiteside" into a verbal logo, pronouncing it with distinct emphasis accompanied by a smug smile and a sweeping hand gesture that seems to put the name in caps. It is the kind of touch that speaks chapters about the character and lays a solid foundation for Westlake's delightful slow burns and egomaniacal eruptions.
Director Michael Replogle would have done well to follow the lead of those who have successfully trimmed the play to a manageable length, especially scenes where Westlake is offstage and the energy level in the theater drops noticeably. The second act, for instance, is quite dull as the undistinguished secondary cast members fill time during the star's absence.
This is a sumptuously produced show, with a house interior set that, while not appropriately appointed for the 1939 time frame, is gorgeous and completely fills the massive Thomas Jefferson Theater stage. Pam McFarland's period costumes are beautifully detailed, the styles so lovingly evoked it is like paging through an old Colliers or Saturday Evening Post.
Unfortunately, one cannot thumb past the many scenes where the zany comedy and the bitingly witty dialogue is rendered flat by the cast, except for Westlake, so you might post yourself elsewhere Saturday night.
"The Man Who Came to Dinner," performed by the Arlington Players, concludes this weekend at the Thomas Jefferson Theater, 3501 Second St. S., Arlington. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For tickets, call 703-549-1063 or visit www.thearlingtonplayers.org.
