Theater Review: 'Suite Surrender' Returns to Phoenix Stage Company

Review by Nancy Sasso Janis

Try to make a reservation for “Suite Surrender A Farce” at Phoenix Stage Company. Executive Producer Ed Bassett, a founding member of the Phoenix Stage, directed this farce by Michael McKeever that is full of laughs.

Two of Hollywood's biggest divas have arrived at the luxurious hotel for a wartime performance, dragging along their assistants, lots of luggage, and a legendary feud with each other. Everything falls apart when the two are assigned to the same suite. As in any good farce, there are double entendres, mistaken identities, extreme egos, and a (stuffed) lap dog. The story is very funny and, if the playwright were to make a few adjustments to the script, it could easily take place in the present.

Phoenix Stage performed this show in 2013, when it worked out of a storefront in Naugatuck, and I managed to find my copy of the printed program. In Naugatuck, Bassett played the role of the hotel manager, Bernard S. Dunlap. This revival is dedicated to the late Donna G. Storms, who directed the original, and Jane Coughlin, who portrayed Mrs. Everett P. Osgood.

The play takes place at the Palm Beach Royale Hotel in 1942, so the costumes and hair design set the time period in this “love note to the classic farces of the 30s and 40s.” The cast works hard in this fast-paced story to sustain the smiles.

Tim Phillips is at his comedic best in the role of Mr. Dunlap. He wrestles every laugh out of his character, often with a well-timed reaction. Philips notes that he is “too old to list all the shows he’s been in during the past quarter century,” but trust me when I tell you that he did well in all of them.

Missy Cowan returns to this stage to have fun in her role as the slightly daffy Mrs. Osgood, the wife of the hotel owner. Shanelle Dupre, a member of the Board of Directors at Phoenix Stage, brings gossip columnist Dora Del Rio to glorious life. Her character lives for scandal and writes with a poison pen.

Lucia Dressel reprises the role she played in 2013, that of the singer Claudia McFadden. Dressel, who has directed both comedy and drama at Phoenix Stage, is a proper diva and a comedic delight. In this play with music, she performs “You Made Me Love You.”

Chrissy Flynn is Dressel’s perfect comic foil in her role as Athena Sinclair. Flynn returns to this stage to give a “fabulous” performance.

What a treat to see the talented Heather Graham again on the Phoenix stage to reprise her role of Sinclair’s assistant, Murphy Stevens. John Fabbiani is a delight as he reprises the delicious role of McFadden’s overworked assistant Mr. Pippit. Fabbiani, who recently appeared in “Habeas Corpus” in Sherman, just about steals every scene in which he appears.

Logan Zirlott and Benjamin Joseph Alas play the overworked bellboys that open the show and Mr. Boodles, McFadden’s dog, reprises his role as himself.

Rob Richnavsky helped the actors stay safe as the fight director and Teresa Alexandru served behind the scenes as deck captain. Production manager Lori Poulin works as stage manager, and is probably harried as a result, and she collaborated with Basset on the period costumes and props. There is a fabulous red blouse for Sinclair and a fur stole for Osgood. Al Hathway was in charge of the lighting design and Bassett designed the sound and video. The set crew of Phillips, Bassett and Dan Deman have produced a classy suite in a high end hotel of the period.

“Suite Surrender” is the last show of the theater’s 2023-2024 season. Tickets at www.phoenixstagecompany.org

Coming up next is this year’s “Pocket Shakespeare,” which will fit “Richard III” and “Twelfth Night” into thirty minutes each. Phoenix Stage is also planning “First Fridays,” with alternating improv and melodrama events, as well as the return of the band Stiletto in November.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She is also a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column IN THE WINGS and theater reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the newspaper.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the CCC Facebook page.