MCNEIL THE 'MAN' FOR THE JOBACTOR'S IRRESISTIBLE SHOWING IN KAUFMAN-HART CLASSIC PLAY STEALS THE SHOW

Few characters in stage comedy have aged as well as Sheridan Whiteside, the

tantrum-throwing, insult-hurling tyrant from the 1939 George S. Kaufman-Moss

Hart classic ''The Man Who Came to Dinner.''

The play is expertly written but a relic. The popular culture references

are hopelessly dated. Most of the characters are simple stereotypes or

transparent imitations of figures of the time. But it doesn't matter.

It is Whiteside who powers the play, and the only absolutely essential

ingredient in any production, including Summer Repertory Theatre's current

one, is a strong actor in the role of the irrepressible, impossible, somehow

lovable ''Sherry.''

SRT's William McNeil, actor in residence this season, demonstrated opening

night that he is definitely the man for the job.

Modern audiences may wince at a man who calls his secretary -- this was

written decades before administrative assistants -- a ''sex-ridden hag.'' Yet

McNeil plays Whiteside with such reckless, unrelenting glee that the character

remains irresistible.

McNeil drew sustained laughs from his audience, even between lines,

delighting the crowd for minutes at a time with his impish, deliciously evil

facial expressions alone.

Director Gary Gordon has crafted the large cast into a seamless backdrop

for McNeil's virtuoso performance. All of the supporting players, in roles

large or small, achieved a uniform style and tone: a happily shameless,

arm-waving, grimacing, bellowing avalanche of exaggeration.

And the audience loved it.

The show won't be everyone's glass of Sherry, but those with a taste for

nostalgia and farce should enjoy it immensely. The cast and crew set out to

provide an excited, frothy frolic and succeeded -- not necessarily the only

way to approach this play, but certainly good enough. The pace gallops from

beginning to end, keeping the show at two and a half hours, discounting two

short intermissions.

The story opens with Whiteside, a writer, radio star and celebrity based on

Alexander Wolcott, stranded in the small-town home of the Stanleys (C.J. Dion

and Sara Ragan.) Whiteside came to dinner, slipped on icy steps as he was

leaving and finds himself confined to a wheelchair, and the Stanleys' house,

for weeks to come.

Complications crop up when Whiteside's indispensable assistant Maggie

Cutler (played with charm by Julia Dalton) takes an interest in local

newspaper editor Bert Jefferson (Dan Evers, consistently engaging, especially

in a delightful drunk scene).

Whiteside, his own interests always first in his heart, plots to break up

the romance, just to keep his valued aide. A battle of wits and deceit

follows, with both Whiteside and Maggie enlisting the help of their eccentric

celebrity friends -- John Barrymore-like actor Beverly Carlton (Beau

Hirshfield), actress-adventuress Lorraine Sheldon (Sarah Brandon) and Groucho

Marx surrogate Banjo (James Paul Xavier) -- all played with appropriately

hammy abandon.

Meanwhile, Whiteside finds time to dominate the house, advising the

Stanleys' grown son and daughter (eager performances from Matt Steiner and Tro

Shaw) on career and romance, and commandeering the servants as his own.

Jessica Crouch's cheerfully eerie performance as the Stanleys' oddball

relative, always lurking about, deserves mention.

Patrick Toebe's set design, an old-fashioned house with stairs, a landing,

multiple doors and even a view of the front porch outside, not only looks

authentic but allows plenty of room for the show's complex traffic patterns

and constant hubbub.

John Lawton-Haehl's costumes also look authentic and true to the time. Best

of all, the wealthier characters actually look well-dressed enough to convince

the audience they're really well-to-do.

The attention to period detail throughout the performances and production

is impressive, but the play's age proves a distraction sometimes. The humor

was topical when the play was written, but the then-contemporary references

and nonstop name-dropping now sound like Trivial Pursuit night at the senior

center.

Oh, who cares? The important part of ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' is the

man himself, and McNeil has it covered. Go ahead. Laugh.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or

dtaylor@pressdemocrat.com.