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HI-RISE HIJINKS

HI-RISE HIJINKS

In Washington, DC, Sen. Joseph McCarthy
is compiling blacklists of suspected Communists. In the Soviet
Union, Stalin, after killing millions of his own people, has
finally succumbed to the grim reaper.

But in the offices of "The Max Prince
Show," there is nothing but mirth.

Neil Simon’s "Laughter on the 23rd
Floor," now playing at the Heights Players’ theater, is
based on the playwright’s own experiences as a young comic writer
for Sid Caesar’s "Your Show of Shows," back in the
1950s.

Directed by Ellen Weinstein Pittari ("Rumors"),
with a cast that includes such Heights Players regulars as Ed
Healy ("Rumors"), Steve Platt ("Six Degrees of
Separation"), and Susan Schnetzer ("Sabrina Fair"),
"Laugher on the 23rd Floor" shows off some of the troupe’s
best talent.

The central character is Max Prince (the
inestimable Healy), a booze-guzzling, pill-gobbling, neurotically
lovable comic more than mildly reminiscent of Sid Caesar himself.

Prince has surrounded himself with a group
of brilliant writers who can match him mania for phobia. Milt
Fields (Troy Matthew Lescher) is a compulsive cheat, who manages
to lose his wife without keeping his mistress. Val Skolsky (the
very, very funny Platt) is a Russian emigre who hasn’t quite
mastered the art of cursing in English, but keeps trying. Brian
Doyle (David Berberian) is an aspiring playwright, and the only
non-Jew, which makes him something like corned beef and cabbage
among corned beef on rye.

Kenny Franks (Chris Orf), calm and bespectacled,
is the voice of reason in the loony bin. Ira Stone (David Reinhart)
is the classic hypochondriac, who mistakes flatulence for a heart
attack and a headache for a brain tumor.

Carol Wyman (Schnetzer) is the sole female
of the bunch – unless you count long-suffering secretary Helen
(Elisa Delgado-Tomei, who gives her performance a great Judy
Holliday touch). Carol shows a nascent feminism that gets more
laughs than serious consideration.

The story is narrated by the recently hired
writer, Luca Brickman (the totally sincere Carter Roy), who is
no doubt Simon himself.

"Laughter" opened on Broadway
at the Richard Rogers Theatre on Nov. 22, 1993. The production
was directed by Jerry Zaks and starred Nathan Lane as Max Prince,
with Lewis J. Stadlen as Milt, Mark Linn-Baker as Val, Randy
Graff as Carol and J.K. Simmons (of TV’s "Oz" and "Law
and Order" fame) as Brian.

In "Laughter," audiences can
find most of Simon’s traditional sources of humor – psychiatrists,
hypochondriacs, extravagant pride, alcoholism, sexual innuendo,
and of course, Jewish angst, Jewish food, Jewish words and Jewish-sounding
non-words. There’s also a host of serious issues – lightly treated
– and a discussion of the parallel lines of Communism in Russia
and anti-Communism in the United States that would be chilling
if the audience was forced to take it seriously.

But where Simon is at his best is when
he puts all of these devices at the service of a play with a
real plot that’s intrinsically funny ("Sweet Charity,"
"Brighton Beach Memoirs"). In "Laughter,"
he uses them only for a long-running series of one-liners.

Admittedly, Simon is so good at writing
one-liners and the cast is so good at delivering them, that many
people may not notice that "Laughter on the 23rd Floor"
is a play about nothing, in which nothing happens. And if a skilled
execution counts for anything, no one should even think of shooting
this director.

Still, for those of us who have even the
vaguest memory of the real "Your Show of Shows," "Laughter"
is a mere shadow and a faint echo of its inspiration.

The only glimpse the audience ever gets
of the kind of hilarity that made Sid Caesar a legend is a brief
scene in which Healy does a magnificent job playing Max Prince
playing Marlon Brando playing Julius Caesar – a tour de force
that makes us wish we were watching "The Max Prince Show"
instead of "Laughter on the 23rd Floor."

But it’s worth a trip down to Willow Place
just to see Healy do his stuff. The truth is the show about "Your
Show of Shows" is just not as funny as the show.

In this production, the Heights Players
are definitely at their best. Unfortunately, Neil Simon is not.
Still, Simon at his half-best is not half-bad.

 

"Laughter on the 23rd Floor" plays through March
18, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets are
$12, students and seniors $10. The Heights Players theater is
located at 26 Willow Place. For reservations, call (718) 237-2752.