BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
            The Group Repertory Company
            Reviewed By Robert Axelrod

The Group Repertory Company has chosen to revive Neil Simon’s old saw BAREFOOT IN THE PARK for it’s first play under the new artistic regime of co-artistic directors Larry Eisenberg and Chris Winfield. To make the choice work, I felt the Rep either better do something completely different with the piece (a same sex marriage?), or do it so standardly well that it knocks my socks off. The Group has done neither, but has at least come up with a production that has its nice moments.

 
The story, about a young New York City couple settling into marriage after a terrific six day honeymoon, is formulaic at best, with classic Simon icons populating the proceedings. There’s the ultra-conservative new lawyer-husband Paul, the pretty, unorthodox wife Corie, the neurotic mother-in-law Mrs. Banks, the funny telephone man installing a new phone in the couple's just rented fifth floor walk-up on 48th street, and the nutty neighbor Victor Velasco.
Melissa Soso - Christian Kehoe
 
The couple is just beginning to discover their basic differences, something I would have thought would come out during their courtship. But I suspend my disbelief here and accept that love is sometimes blind until it gets domestic, which is author Simon’s point here. And when the domicile is a fifth floor walk-up with a busted skyline and no heat, the differences become so magnified, that the two are verging on divorce after four days.

The key to enjoying this and any other BAREFOOT…is falling in love with and rooting for the couple. Melissa Soso and Christian Kehoe are likable enough as Corie and Paul Bratter. Soso hits all the right notes in the play’s opening act and Kehoe is properly dressed out in lawyerly presence. They play well enough together as Act One progresses. What a nice couple! He’s got his first case in court the next morning, and she’s brimming with decorating ideas. The telephone man is given a terrific turn by GRT veteran Mark Atha, and Mother-in-law Kathleen Taylor is a great bundle of neuroses! Henry Holden does a cute silent turn as delivery man; all practically collapse after walking the five flights to the front door. I couldn’t help but wonder why the play was done in modern dress, as the rent was quoted as an unheard-of-today $125.00, and the values inherent in the plot and theme are extremely early sixties.

Act Two starts with a wonderful surprise set change. The bare, furnitureless apartment in Act One gives way to a perfectly decorated newlywed’s abode.

Thank Chris Winfield for the set. The couple transitions into an argument that is very well played by Ms. Soso and Mr. Kehoe. There’s some nice chemistry between Ms. Taylor and the ubiquitous GRTer Robert Gallo as Velasco in Act Three which also contains some touching work by Mr. Atha. The fact that liquor finally loosens up the uptight husband Paul won’t sit well with any AA's in the audience, but it’s the device the author uses to get the fighting newlyweds back on the same plane and on the way to walking barefoot in the park together.

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK plays now through October 31st; 2010 -  Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM. The Group Rep is located at The Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd, NoHo 91601. Call (818) 700-4878 or visit www.thegrouprep.com  for tickets and information.

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