Lemonade

Winterizing The Summer House

In Search of Red River Dog

A Child's Guide To Innocence

Songs of Grendelyn

The Laramie Project

Cabin Fever (North Fork)

 

A Tart 'n Tangy 'Lemonade' at New Jersey Rep

Published in the Asbury Park Press

By TOM CHESEK
CORRESPONDENT

As this touch-and-go Jersey Shore spring edges its way from frigidly finicky to tentatively torrid, one might be seized by a yen for some good ole lemonade. Then again, one might also be possessed of a hankering for a good ole sex comedy.

STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK

Ben Masur (left) and Bruce Faulk are among the cast of "Lemonade."

Well, now there's no need to drive all over creation in an attempt to satisfy that craving at curbside -- the lemonade, that is. If the evening of April 23 was any indication, the cool quencher is available in the lobby of New Jersey Repertory Company's Lumia Theatre in Long Branch -- peddled from a little stand that was manned, at least for a portion of opening night, by author (and former Middletowner) Michael T. Folie. The company playwright-in-residence was on hand because the folks at NJ Rep (the same people who've premiered at least five major Folie works) were staging the East Coast debut of his funny four-character sex comedy -- also called "Lemonade" -- for an appreciative audience that seemed thirsty for something a bit more tart and tangy than the usual watered-down dinner-theater fare.

"Lemonade" the show takes its title from the observations of dedicated wife and mom Jane (Dana Benningfield), who muses that sex is like lemonade, in that it's naturally bitter and requires the sweetening of romance -- and that, like lemonade, you don't want it all the time.

STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK

Ben Masur (left) as Jim, Dana Benningfield as Jane and Bruce Faulk as Carl, all from New York, are among the cast of "Lemonade."

This is just one character's opinion, of course. Jane, a naturally radiant creature who's put her glamorous art-world career on hold to raise an infant daughter, happens to be married to public-relations pro Carl (Bruce Faulk), a stockily built and self-absorbed cad to whom sex is more like a tankful of high-test in the Hummer. When not busy grappling with his roles as helpful hubby and doting dad (not to mention a devotee of the hyper-fashionable Asian lifestyle discipline Chu Wa), Carl has been carrying on an extended fling with his client -- and Jane's old college buddy -- Betsy (Stephanie Dorian), a driven type who seems every bit the polar opposite of his sweet, sacrificing spouse.

Carl's chance meeting with old acquaintance Jim (Ben Masur) -- the two men are introduced playing a tableside game in which they assign dollar values to female passersby -- leads to an invitation to a dinner party; an event for which the guest list boils down to just Jim (himself a follower of competing Asian discipline 'Sha Zen') and, much to Carl's dismay, Betsy. Naturally, Jane thinks it would be a cute idea to fix Betsy up with Jim.

While the Jim-and-Betsy thing works on the surface (the two enjoy a sexually robust relationship of their own), it's complicated by Jim's knowledge of the Betsy-Carl affair -- as well as by the fact that Jim's first glimpse of Jane "sets his insides vibrating." This is just the start of the festivities, as it turns out, since Jim and Betsy are openly scheming to split up the Carl-Jane marriage and divvy up the spoils for themselves.

STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK

Dana Benningfield (left) and Stephanie Dorian as Betsy.

Although things really accelerate from that point, it's not giving too much away to suggest that each participant in this four-sided equation winds up with the best possible partner by play's end. And, even if the plot seemingly spins off in a dozen different directions at once, Folie keeps the tightly-constructed comedy's focus zeroed in on the way we messed-up moderns view our relationships through the distorted prisms of our own pathetic egos. In other words, "Lemonade" is as cold and sour, yet refreshing, as its namesake.

In his first-ever NJ Rep outing, director Evan Bergman puts his talented professional cast -- all but one of them newcomers to the Lumia stage -- through some precision maneuvers. Working up a sweat as the character most held up for ridicule by the author, Bruce Faulk invests his numerous scenes with a comic intensity that somehow never paints Carl as a truly bad guy, no matter how much we know not to trust him at his word (his first-act confrontation with Betsy, rife as it is with pusillanimous back-pedaling and fad-therapy doubletalk, is a particular gem).

STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK

Bruce Faulk (left) and Ben Masur.

While Ben Masur's Jim comes across as the Nice Guy simply by default, his character (an insufferable macrobiotic dieter, to boot) wears his ulterior motives on his sleeve and ultimately seems to be acting as impulsively as Carl. Sure, the male characters come off looking pretty silly here -- but that adds up to more laugh-getting opportunities for Faulk and Masur, particularly in their slapsticky "Chu Wa vs. Sha Zen" showdown.

Still, neither Jane nor Betsy is entirely clear on exactly who they are or what they want -- and Dorian projects both comic vulnerability, and a confidence that makes her Betsy a completely believable magnet for the two insecure guys. Although Benningfield is seemingly saddled with the play's most "boring" part -- she's forced to spend much of her time fussing with a baby carriage -- the NJ Rep mainstay comes off most like a real person; warm and caring and generous at heart, but also prickly and not averse to using the aforementioned pram as a deadly weapon.

Make no mistake, this sharply written comedy of couples is no static talkfest; the silly "slow martial arts" duel is followed immediately by a frenetic cat fight scene, and the action-packed second act is further punctuated by a well-staged interlude in which the characters have at each other via the magic of cell phones. A succession of short, sharp scenes - coupled with the lighting and sound work of Jeff Greenberg and Merek Royce Press -- keep the actors in constant motion across Jo Winiarski's versatile, vaguely Metropolitan Home-looking set design.


Light Lemonade at NJ Rep

Lemonade
Ben Masur, Stephanie Dorian,
Dana Benningfield, Bruce Faulk

Back in the era when Otto Preminger's movie version of F. Hugh Herbert's piffling “sex comedy” The Moon is Blue was condemned by the Legion of Decency, Lemonade , the new comedy by Mike Folie at New Jersey Repertory, would have been a sensation (if anyone would have had the nerve to produce it).

However, a half century and sexual revolution later, this not unpleasant comedy's mechanistic plot will likely confine its appeal to community theaters and summer stock. It may even provide titillation to the more sheltered audience members of such venues.

While not long on originality, the setup is interesting and workable, and there is a good deal of snappy repartee throughout.

Carl and Jim, who were friends in college, meet in a bar ten years later. The philandering and boastful Carl is married with baby. The single Jim is monomaniacally married to his successful business. Carl convinces Jim to come to his home for dinner and an introduction to a suitable woman.

Unaware that her longtime best friend, the high powered Betsy, is in the midst of a protracted affair with Carl, his wife Jane invites Betsy to meet Jim. However, Jim falls in love at first sight with Jane. Jim and Betsy feign interest in each other in order to facilitate their respective designs of winning Jane and Carl.

As soon as Jim and Betsy embark on their plan, they begin to sleep together. All this occurs early on in the first of two acts.

Improbabilities already abound. Would Carl and Jane not have discussed whom Jane would arrange for Jim to meet? Would Betsy not have told Carl of the invitation, and refused it? Would the shy Jim, who is so smitten with Jane, climb right into bed with Betsy? Would Betsy ....?

Any number of ever more improbable twists and turns, several of which require members of the foursome to act totally contrary to character, remain to be played out before the final curtain.

Although the ending is essentially the one which you would expect from the early exposition, Carl is so obnoxiously full of himself that it is hard to understand what either Jane or Betsy can see in him. The expected, conventional ending is doubling unsatisfying because of the nature of the characters and their relationships.

The young cast projects a breezy likeability despite a tendency to come on too strong. This is especially true in the case of Bruce Faulk as Carl. His breezy aggressiveness makes Faulk likeable while rendering his Carl overly obnoxious. Quite a dichotomy here.

Ben Masur as Jim and Dana Benningfield as Jane are especially appealing and generate a surprising amount of chemistry. Benningfield is an ideal Jane. However, there is an unprincipled side to Jim which Masur's performance fails to explore.

Stephanie Dorian captures the confidence, toughness, aggressive sexuality and neediness of Betsy. It is an especially well nuanced performance.

Director Evan Bergman keeps everything moving along brightly and breezily. Jo Winiarski's handsome all-purpose set provides several comfortable playing areas on two levels. Patricia E. Doherty provides attractive costumes. Jeff Greenberg's lighting is appropriately bright and crisp.

New Jersey Rep's next two productions are quite ambitious and weighty - Old Clown Wanted , the U.S. premiere of a play by Romanian playwright Matei Visniec, and Whores , a politically charged play by Lee Blessing. For now, with its current production of the light Lemonade , weighty matters will just have to wait.

Lemonade continues performances through June 6, 2004 at the New Jersey Repertory's Lumia Theatre, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740, box office:732-229-3166; on-line: www.njrep.org .

Lemonade by Mike Folie, directed by Evan Bergman. Cast (in alphabetical order): Dana Benningfield (Jane); Stephanie Dorian (Betsy); Bruce Faulk (Carl); Ben Masur (Ben)

Be sure to Check the current schedule for theatre in New Jersey

- Bob Rendell

[ © 1997 - 2005 TalkinBroadway.com , a project of www.TalkinBroadway.Org, Inc. ]

 

 

  AEA / SAG / AFTRA   917.447.4913