(l to r) Chris Dinolfo (Simon Bliss), Valerie Leonard (Judith Bliss), and Audrey Bertaux (Sorel Bliss). Photo by Stan Barouh.
The versatile Noel Coward may have been as English as tea and crumpets, but he found inspiration for one of his most-enduring comedies in the freewheeling American household of actress Laurette Taylor (the original Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie) and her playwright husband.
Written in three days when Coward was 25, Hay Fever transposed that homegrown establishment into a British country home and comedy of manners (or lack of them).
She {Holdridge} chose a terrific group of actors, each of whom shines in his or her right but is also perfectly in sync with the others.
The result smacks of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and A Little Night Music, only a lot funnier than the first and less romantically satisfying than the second.
The Bliss family—their name doesn’t exactly describe what anyone who has the temerity to enter their home will experience—takes dysfunctional melodrama to comic heights.
Orchestrating it all is Judith, a “retired” actress who has transferred the stage to her home. Enabling her are husband David, a well-known writer struggling to finish his latest novel, and their two spoiled, if appealing, children, Simon and Sorel.
The games begin when the pretty conventional—one might even say, stereotypical—members of the opposite sex each of the Blisses has invited without telling the others arrives. But the mildly cruel games provide us, the viewers, with contagious laughter.
The audience of the September 6th performance reacted as expected.
Eleanor Holdridge, in her Olney Theatre Center Mainstage debut, is a terrific director who respects the material. She chose a terrific group of actors, each of whom shines in his or her right, but is also perfectly in sync with the others.
As Judith, Valerie Leonard is attractive, imperious, wicked, —“the game must go on to the finish,” she declares while tormenting a guest–yet sometimes subtle and genuinely caring of her family.
Sorel is what one character calls “the most-normal one in the family”—to which another retorts, “That’s not hard.” Audrey Bertaux plays her like an ingénue who is both halfway to becoming like her mother, yet with a touch of sensitivity that might, if she’s willing, take her in another direction.
Chris Dinolfo’s Simon, on the other hand, is both more high-spirited and free of scruples—his energy is palpable–who might be the worthly heir to Judith.
David has less time than the other Blisses, but in the hands of Matt Sullivan, he has the cerebral brooding quality that could draw women.
Then there are the guests. John Hudson Odom throws in a few push-ups and lots of seductive glances into his performance of the muscular playboy, Sandy.
Susan Lynskey has a delicate manner and speaks like Judy Holliday as Jackie the flapper, making her probably the most-susceptible victim of the Blisses.
As Richard, the diplomat, Michael Russotto combines pomposity with a little lechery and more truthfulness than the other characters.
Beth Hylton is striking, leaving a lingering impression as the gossip columnist, Myra, who might give Judith a run for her money.
Last but not least is Carol Randolph, who has few moments onstage but suits the wise, impatient, but loyal maid Clara–probably the most-genuine character.
Enhancing the production are the mouth-watering costumes by Kendra Rai. Another “star” is the detailed and beautiful scenic design by John Coyne, which has elements (I won’t tell you what) of comic surprise.
You may have an allergic reaction to the Blisses, but you won’t be able to resist them.
Don’t miss a video entitled “Noel Coward: Showman,” stringing together a few of his live performances and films, in the lobby while you wait.
The theatre also is hosting “A Marvelous Party”: A Noel Coward Cabaret, starring Leonard and others, on Friday, October 2.
Running Time: Two Hours with one intermission.
Advisory: Sexual innuendoes and suggestiveness, nothing explicit. For 13 and up.
Hay Fever runs through September 27, 2015 at Olney Theatre Center’s Main Stage, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. For information, call 301-924-3400, or click here.
