Overstaying One's Welcome

Strong Lead Performance Can't Save Castaways' 'Dinner'

The demanding Sheridan Whiteside (Jay Tilley, right) and Banjo (Harry Kantrovich) in "The Man Who Came to Dinner." (By Melissa Jo York-tilley)

Let's all hope that Castaways Repertory Theatre's production of "The Man Who Came to Dinner" is the last time this old comedy will be staged here for a long, long time.

Theater companies have mounted this show about a dozen times the past few seasons, and not because 1939 was such a great year for comedy. It's probably been so popular because it calls for a very large cast (34 parts), many members of which have small roles that are a lot of fun but not very demanding.

That helps a theater company build up its membership. It also helps fill seats, because friends and relatives of the actors tend to show up. This is the last weekend for Castaways' production, and if you are wondering whether you should see it, you should know that this is not among the best of the various productions. But it does have one of the best area actors in the primary role, which fits him like a glove.

Jay Tilley plays Sheridan Whiteside, a world-renowned radio broadcaster, writer and raconteur said to have been modeled on New Yorker writer and Algonquin Round Table member Alexander Woollcott by playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Whiteside finds himself stuck in small town Ohio at Christmas when, on a lecture tour, he slips on the icy front door step of a prosperous family's home, injures his leg and has to recuperate there. The overbearing, demanding Whiteside soon turns the household into the command post of his far-flung media empire, and he delights in meddling in everyone's lives from the confines of his wheelchair. Whiteside's world is soon coming to him, as globe-hopping friends from show business stop by and world leaders call, wire and write him. Exotic Christmas gifts, including a container of cockroaches, penguins and an Egyptian mummy's sarcophagus, soon pile up.

The center of the story is the squabbling relationship between Whiteside and his secretary, Maggie Cutler, played with appropriate matter-of-fact calm by Penny McKee. Maggie is a familiar character from period films and plays: the wisecracking, no-nonsense career gal. Whenever Whiteside puffs up with self-importance, Maggie is there to quickly deflate and humanize him. While marooned in Ohio, Maggie falls in love with Bert Jefferson, a young newspaper reporter played with too much suavity by Herb Tax. (Think young Jimmy Stewart, not Tyrone Power!) Whiteside doesn't want to lose his sidekick and aide-de-camp, of course, so he sets in motion a series of events that all involved in the production hope will result in comedic chaos.

It may have been screamingly funny in its day, and the show did have a long and healthy Broadway run, but the plot has since become stale and predictable. Dozens of names and cultural references that were hot topics in 1939 clutter the dialogue, and most go right over people's heads now. A great part of the fun when the play was new was in recognizing whom the playwrights were lampooning with the fictional but at-once-recognizable show-biz luminaries they have dropping in on Whiteside. That makes this a show primarily entertaining now for people addicted to Turner Classic Movies.

Aside from the estimable star, who fortunately is onstage most of the time, director Zina Bleck has a largely undistinguished cast to work with. Some members do not seem fully committed to the effort, relying on surface shtick rather than inspired comedic work. Bleck allows a male actor with shoulder length hair to appear, which certainly undermines the sense that this is 1939.

However, she compensates for the lack of spark in the individual performances by flogging everyone to keep it moving. The rapid pacing and high energy keep the show from bogging down, even if individual performances lack the zany quality of madcap comedy that this requires. There are lots of comings and goings with the many cast members, and Bleck deftly choreographs it so that it does not seem artificial and forced.

Through it all, Tilley remains a strong anchor, showing us a man who wallows in the sound of his own mellifluous voice but has a core of humanity beneath the bluster and a warm twinkle in his eye. His Whiteside may be quite imperious, but he is able to see the worth in others, and that makes him likable, something many actors cannot quite achieve with this tricky role.

"The Man Who Came to Dinner" concludes this weekend at the Ferlazzo Government Building, 15941 Donald Curtis Dr., Woodbridge. Showtimes are 8 tomorrow and Saturday. For information or tickets, call 703-508-5418 or visithttp://www.castawaystheatre.org