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"Dinner with Friends" Review
Civic Theatre whips up tasty 'Dinner'
Friday, March 19, 2004
BY JULIE HALPERT
News Special Writer
If you plan to see the play "Dinner with Friends," here's
a word of advice: Don't go hungry.
As one enters the auditorium, the song "Food
Glorious Food" from "Oliver" provides a serenade. And the opening scene of
the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production delivers, as food writers Gabe and Karen prepare a
feast that should make every audience member salivate. The food writers and their guests
savor grilled fish, fine wines and a lemon tart, made with polenta, not white flour, Gabe
and Karen emphasize.
"Dinner with Friends" uses Gabe and Karen's passion for
good cooking as a backdrop to the theme of the play: the break-up of their two closest
friends. Gabe, played by John Elliott, and Karen, played by Kim Perlman, learn over a
succulent dinner that their friend Beth (Wendy Wright) is divorcing her husband, Tom (Karl
Kasischke), because he's been unfaithful. The news rocks Gabe and Karen's world and causes
them to re-examine their own relationship. The play tackles a common subject: As we get
older, does practicality take the passion out of marriage?
"Dinner" is at its best when it portrays Gabe and Karen
resorting to discussion of food when divorce talk gets dicey. As Gabe, Karen and Beth
linger over their luscious lemon tart dessert, Kim asks her husband, "Did I put in
too much vanilla? Could I have beaten the eggs more?" Tom, later explaining the
break-up to a shaken Gabe, stops to admire the delicious grilled fish. These are clever,
comic moments that work well. Kudos to pastry chef Alexis Elliott, who made the delicacies
that left me hungering for a feast at intermission.
The highlight of the play is Elliott, who is a master at showing
the betrayal he feels as one of the anchors of his world, his best friend, charts a new
course in life. Even when he's sitting silently by himself on the couch, absorbing his
friend's news, he effectively conveys his anguish.
Elliott and Kim Perlman are an extremely believable husband and
wife. They have the casual banter and familiarity of a couple married for a dozen years,
and their witty repartee brings life to the play. When Perlman asks Elliott, "Am I
judgmental? Am I intolerant?" and Elliott responds, "Am I supposed to answer
that?" there is the true feel of a real-life couple. Similarly, their tender moments
together are touching.
For her part, Perlman beautifully conveys a range of emotions with
the other cast members: devotion to her girlfriend; cold anger to Tom once she's learned
he's been unfaithful; and, ultimately, forgiveness.
Wright and Kasischke do a fine job portraying the emotions of a
couple whose marriage is falling apart. Sometimes listening to their battles gets tiring,
though, as it would in real life.
In the second act, where specific food items are no longer
highlighted, the play drags a bit. The subject is well explored by this point and the
extensive dialogue proves to be a challenge at times for some of the actors, who
occasionally tripped on their lines opening night.
"Dinner With Friends" continues at 8 p.m.
tonight-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Washtenaw Community College, 4800 E. Huron River
Drive. Information: (734) 971-2228.