Photo: Maria Vartanova

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon. Directed by Richard Elichuk. A production of the Ottawa Little Theatre.

When Barefoot in the Park premiered on Broadway, it was an instant hit, running for more than 1,500 performances — a record run for a non-musical play. In 1967, the movie version starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, was also a success.

That was half a century ago. And in the 50 years since the mid-1960s, attitudes towards marital roles have changed massively. This means that the play frequently creaks along, particularly when it is presented as a three-act show.

Unless the comedy — which Simon wrote as a tribute to his first wife — is given a stellar production, we are more likely to notice that it is a dated piece than to appreciate the core of the story: that opposites attract and that there is a steep learning curve in the early days of any marriage. In addition, the play relies heavily on the oft-repeated, and now stale, joke about the location of the overpriced, walk-up apartment where newly weds Corie and Paul Bratter are enjoying their first taste of marriage and near-divorce.

As directed by Richard Elichuk, with assistance from Dianna Renée Yorke and Susanna Doherty, the Ottawa Little Theatre production is at its best when focusing on character definition.

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  Photo courtesy of Perth Classic Theatre Festival

I Ought to be in Pictures By Neil Simon ; Directed by Laurel Smith

Commitment is not Herb Tucker’s strong point. A screen writer with writer’s block, he proved this definitively over the years by walking out on his family, going through two more failed marriages and maintaining a casual, holding pattern with his current long-suffering girlfriend, Steffie.

So, when 19-year-old Libby, the daughter he left behind 16 years earlier, shows up on his doorstep, reconciliation and an ongoing relationship between father and daughter seem unlikely.

But I Ought to be in Pictures is by Neil Simon. And he regularly mixes laughter and his signature one-liners with a sprinkling of poignancy. When it premiered on Broadway in 1979 and in the 1982 movie version (with Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret), critical response was mixed, often commenting on the sentimentality of the theme or the stridency of the performer playing Libby.

No such reaction would be justified to the carefully balanced Classic Theatre Festival production directed by Laurel Smith. William Vickers inhabits the role of Herb to make his every emotion and reaction totally credible, even periodically eliciting sympathy when he confesses to insecurity or he admits that he is “not good at marriage.”

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The title, underlined by the first number, Gratuitous Nudity, tells almost all about Robert Shrock’s concept for the multi-author musical revue.

Not only will the seven performers give new meaning to the term “bare stage” as one of them promises early on, but they will also make fun of themselves for spending most of the show unclothed.

But Naked Boys Singing is more than a male burlesque show. While there are many funny segments, there are an equal number of moving moments, all presented with power and clarity by the well-chosen cast, as directed by Shaun Toohey and musical director Gordon Johnston.

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In Times of Trouble
Written and performed by Martha Chaves
TotoToo Theatre

Part autobiography, part stand-up comedy routine, this one-woman show is often very funny and, occasionally, even moving.

Telling the story of her life through her alter-ego, Maria, comedienne Martha Chaves describes her childhood in Nicaragua, the earthquake and civil war that forced her and her mother, Gloria, to seek refuge in Guatemala and why her mother sent her to Montreal when Martha/Maria was just 17.

Primarily, In Times of Trouble is a way for Chaves to work through her conflicted relationship with her mother. The “dragon lady” ruled with a rod of iron as she was growing up, says Maria, even reading her diaries — the one she kept for public consumption and the private missive, describing all the details of her sexual encounters. …

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Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
By Christopher Durang
Plosive Productions
Directed by David Whiteley

Playwright Christopher Durang has referred to his award-winning 2012 absurdist comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as putting the works of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov through a blender.

It is an apt description. The three siblings of the title are named after characters in Chekhov’s plays (because their scholarly parents loved the 19 th -century playwright’s works.) The three — a brother, a sister and an adopted sister, rather than Chekhov’s three sisters — attempt to cope with Chekhovian misery and insecurity until peace finally descends over their lake and their not-quite Chekhovian cherry orchard. (Whether 10 or11 trees constitute an orchard is a point of discussion throughout.)

Vanya and Sonia (being adopted increases her self-pity and insignificance, as she constantly points out) rely on the sameness of their days in the home they never left, after their parents’ death. They watch for a blue heron (rather than Chekhov’s seagull). Vanya (inspired by the character of Konstantin in The Seagull) writes an odd play in which a molecule is the lead character, read by a young visiting neighbour, named Nina (of course). …

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The Marvelous Wonderettes

By Roger Bean

A Fundraiser for the Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa at the Gladstone

Directed and choreographed by Aileen Szwarek

More of a musical revue than a fully-fledged musical, The Marvelous Wonderettes by Roger Bean is a light-hearted concoction that quickly evokes the 1950s and 60s through songs of the era.

The girl group entertaining at the Springfield High School on senior prom night 1958 runs through key pop songs of the era, interspersed with rivalry between the two “frenemies,” Cindy Lou and Betty Jean. Meanwhile, the other members of the singing foursome, organizer Missy and bubblehead Suzy, try their best to restore equilibrium, keep the entertainment on track and everyone on and off stage smiling. …

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