Theater Review: 'Private Lives'

When it comes to finding great community theater at affordable prices, there is no better place to live than the San Francisco East Bay.

I had the good fortune to see the hilarious “Private Lives” Saturday at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre in Hayward and would encourage all Noel Coward fans—and anyone else up for a good laugh—to see it.

Nothing like watching a few ridiculously tempestuous, warring couples to make you feel better about your own precarious, volatile relationship...or to make one grateful for the lack thereof.

Written in only four days by Coward while he was recovering from the flu in Shanghai, Private Lives was conceived after actress Gertrude Lawrence appeared to Coward in a vision late one night on a terrace in the south of France, wearing a stunning white evening gown.

The play, beautifully directed by Susan E. Evans and starring Bobbi Fagone, Gene Mocsy, Wylie Herman, Laura Morgan and Alicia von Kugelgen, tells the story of Elyot and Amanda.

Years after divorcing each other, they suddenly discover they are honeymooning with their new spouses at the same hotel.

“This play is wickedly, relevantly funny,” said Fagone, who plays Amanda. “These are two people in love who have no business being in love.”

Adding sparkle to the lead role, Fagone has impeccable comic timing reminiscent of Lucille Ball, but with a better voice — and she can dance, too.

As Elyot, Mocsy plays pranks with an impish wit and subtle inflections. His engaging manner, paired with Fagone as they tumble over furniture and roll on the floor, keeps the audience roaring with delight.

Herman, von Kugelgen and Morgan handle their parts with bravado and excellent timing, enlivening the play with equal parts anguish and comic relief.  

Morgan is a standout as a French maid with an enchanting voice that captures the mood of the period and provides a little respite from the chaos. Watching her,  the audience almost forgets it is watching two crazy people who adore each other one minute and try to rip one another’s heads off the next. 

Here’s a brief synopsis: Elyot Chase, who feels rather grumpy about his second honeymoon, and Amanda Prynne, feeling the same, were divorced from each other five years ago. When they see each other at the same honeymoon hotel in France they suddenly realize they are still madly in love.

Convinced their new marriages are horrible blunders, their impulse is to fly away together at once. They fly. How rapturously they love and quarrel in a Paris flat…and how frightfully embarrassed they are when their deserted bride and bridegroom catch up with them.

Coward played the leading role when the play debuted on Broadway in 1931. Laurence Olivier played the deserted bridegroom.

Director Evans leads her cast across an inspired art deco set by Kim A. Tolman, decked in charming period costumes by Bessie Delucchi. I overheard one woman in the audience whisper, “I want that outfit!”

Were less talented actors playing these roles, the political incorrectness of the play—poking fun at spousal abuse, smoking cigarettes throughout—might be troublesome.

But for those willing to travel back to a different time and enjoy a good ole comedy-for-comedy’s-sake, Private Lives does not disappoint.

Here are all the details:

 DATE: 

Through March 20

 TIME:

Thursday – Saturday 8 p.m.

Sunday 2 p.m.

 LOCATION:

Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St., Hayward

 TICKETS:

$15, $22 and $24

Available online at www.dmtonline.org or by calling the box office Tuesday – Friday from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at 510-881-6777.