It's been more than 40 years since Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park made its Broadway debut, and theater companies across the country are still infatuated with it, revising it and hoping it will appeal to a brand new generation of theatergoers. The Arkansas Repertory Theatre is no different, offering its own version of the play through Nov. 11.
Set in 1963, the comedy follows Corie and Peter Britter during the first few days of their new marriage. That sounds fairly simple and boring, right? Not so fast. Life in 1963 was a whole lot different than it is now. People didn't live together before they got married. So this play is about two kids who fall in love, decide to get married, move in together, and begin the process of getting to know one another - as they deal with life's little challenges. That's what gives Simon's play its interest. This traditional approach to life also is what threatens to keep young people from enjoying this gem at The Rep.
The Plot
Barefoot in the Park focuses on the first week of Corie and Peter's marriage. Corie is a free spirit and an idealist still caught up in the bliss of a six-day honeymoon. Peter is a straight-laced lawyer looking to make a name for himself at work. The two move into a five-flight, walk-up apartment in an eccentric New York neighborhood, and everything from a broken skylight to a visiting mother puts their marriage to the test.
The Cast
Robert Hupp, director and producing artistic director at The Rep, has assembled a true cast of characters. Whitney Kirk, a native of Cabot and a former Miss Arkansas, portrays Corie, a wife who is sure her marriage is over before the marriage certificate even arrives in the mail. Christian Pedersen of New York is the "stuffed-shirt" husband who is a little too eager to settle into a go-to-work-come-home-eat-dinner-with-my-doting-wife routine.
Kirk and Pedersen are entertaining enough to watch. They have no real chemistry, which is okay since the characters they portray don't know each other that well. My only real problem with Kirk and Pedersen is that they tend to overplay their parts. Throughout the two-hour show, I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching a rerun of The Dick Van Dyke Show, full of petty problems resolved in a haze of campiness.
Barefoot in the Park has a supporting cast of crazies. Robert Lydiard (the voice of the porcupine in the Snuggle fabric softener commercials) portrays the strange, gourmet chef who lives in the attic; and Alanna Hamill Newton portrays Corie's uptight mother. As they try to get to know each other better, these two opposites elicit more laughs than do Corie and Peter.
Steve Marshall makes a brief appearance as a department store deliveryman, and Jason Thompson plays a telephone repair man who finds himself trapped in the middle of Corie and Peter's bickering. In fact, Thompson delivers the funniest line of the whole play. After a heated argument during which the couple decide their marriage is over, Peter asks Corie if there is any beer in the fridge. She refuses to speak, so the repair man finally asks, "You want me to check?" It might not seem like much on paper, but Thompson delivered that ice breaker with perfect comedic tone and timing.
The Good
At a time when Hollywood is cranking out films that make a political statement about world affairs, it's nice to retreat into a more innocent time. Indeed, Barefoot in the Park takes place before the age of cynicism. John F. Kennedy was president, and Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. A veil of naivete was still hanging over the country.
Though Corie and Peter come across as caricatures, their struggle to make a new relationship work is an entirely real struggle. Even those who have never seen a coffee percolator (a wedding gift for the couple) should be able to relate to that.
The Bad
There is much about this play that simply will not keep the attention of a young audience raised on Starbucks and technological diversions. Some of the humor is dated or just plain silly. I'm still trying to figure out the big deal about living on the fifth floor. Nearly everyone who walks through Corie and Peter's door pants like a dog for about the first five minutes of their appearance on stage. As someone who runs up and down three flights of stairs at work several times a day, I think the stairs gag is overdone.
Many of the older patrons who attended Friday's performance commented about how "cute" the play was. Cute is okay until it veers too close to campy, which this production does too many times. Seriously, when you find yourself starting to hate Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke you know there's a problem.