It's the truth: 'Rumors' is delicious

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published June 3, 2007

When a show is as much fun and as well executed as the Show Palace Dinner Theatre's version of Neil Simon's farce Rumors, it's hard to know where to start the praise.

Okay, top kudos go to Todd Eskin, who directed his stellar, well-chosen cast to do the show with just enough mugging and stage business to be knee-slapping funny, but not so much as to be ridiculous.

Michael Lundy is terrific as Ken Gorman, the attorney for New York City Deputy Mayor Charley Brock, who lies upstairs in his posh apartment, unseen, with a mysterious gunshot wound to his earlobe and unable to say what has happened to him or to his wife, Myra, who supplies the money for the apartment.

Lundy's Gorman is smoothly protective of his client, orchestrating a cover story on the fly as new guests arrive, but totally convincing when he suddenly loses his hearing and his ability to understand or handle much of any situation.

He's matched in skill by the lovely Erin Romero as Chris, his cigarette-craving wife who helps in the cover-up.

The funny prize has to go to Drew DeCaro, as Brock's money-conscious accountant Lenny Ganz, who battles with gossipy wife Claire, perfectly played by a sneering Susan Haldeman in her glory as a comedian, even as he creates a wildly improbable cover-up story worthy of a Justice Department attorney testifying before Congress.

The tall and handsome W.C. Green plays the quintessential aspiring politician Glenn Cooper, who slickly shifts blame for the Brock fiasco while trying to look noble about it and does a little sidestep when wife Cassie (Debra Arnott) suspects he's fooling around with a campaign worker.

LoriAnn Freda provides slapstick humor as television chef Cookie Cusack, whose back spasms come at the most inopportune times. Tony Messina as her husband, Ernie, Brock's analyst, adds the exasperation that this situation calls for.

Rick Kistner brings just the right touch of reality to his role as the snoopy cop Officer Welch.

And the talented Tyler Fish makes the tiny role of Welch's sidekick Officer Pudney into a high point of the show with his zany antics and physical humor.

Rumors is an ensemble piece, and Eskin has put the parts together as neatly as the engine of a brand new Porsche.

If you go

Neil Simon's Rumors

The show continues matinees and evenings through July 8 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Dinner and show, $42.50; show only, $31.45; ages 12 and younger, $24.95 and $19.95, all plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll-free at 1-888-655-7469.

[Last modified June 2, 2007, 19:26:52]