Norm Foster invites audiences to spend a couple of hours with Doris And Ivy In The Home, the prolific Canadian playwright’s latest laugh-packed crowd-pleaser at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.

The “home” in question is Paradise Village, where retirees like thrice-divorced former Austrian ski champion Ivy Hoffbauer (Ann Hearn) have elected to spend their twilight years amongst those in a similar age bracket with similar health concerns.

Enter ex-prison guard Doris Mooney (Diana Angelina), who’s moved into the village at least partially in hopes of finding a new best friend, even one with as unfortunate a reputation as Ivy, whose maiden name has become internationally synonymous with “screwing up royally” since an disastrous skiing accident over half a century ago.

Completing the cast of characters is erudite widowed senior Arthur Beecher (David Hunt Stafford), who wants desperately to fall in love one last time before he dies (in about two years if his doctors are right) and wouldn’t mind it if Doris lent him a hand in wooing Ivy.

Still, having already been thrice burned (once by a cheater, once by a drunk, and once by a con man), Ivy is in no mood to give love a fourth try, much preferring her newfound friendship with Doris to a romantic relationship with Arthur, who’s amusing enough as a limerick maker, but seems likely to prove every bit as disappointing as husbands one, two, and three if experience proves right.

Once again demonstrating a gift for one-liners that has earned him a reputation as Canada’s answer to Neil Simon (and a versatility that makes each new Norm Foster play a distinct departure from those that have preceded it), Foster now sets his sights of the age demographic that has made surprise hits out of such senior-citizen-friendly flicks as 80 For Brady, Poms, and the Book Club franchise.

And it works, thanks to a snappy script that gives a trio of three-dimensional characters (and the octogenarians who make up much of Theatre 40’s loyal subscriber base) reason to believe that life (or at least a second chance at it) begins at seventy-plus.

Director Warren Davis not only aces the challenges of making a single-set three-hander visually varied (making full use of Jeff G. Rack’s meticulously appointed set) but elicits terrific performances from a trio of seasoned actors whose combined credits could fill pages.

It’s a joy to welcome Hearn back to the Theatre 40 stage for the first time since her devastating star turn in Jordan Tannahill’s Late Company a few years back, this time in far jauntier mode, captivating audiences with Ivy’s dry wit and prickly charm.

Stafford makes for the most unexpected and delightful of romantic leads as dapper, diehard romantic Arthur, intent on winning the heart of a woman who just might be the sole Paradise Village resident of the female persuasion not dying to swoon at his feet.

Last but not least, the always excellent Angelina plays refreshingly (and largely effectively) against her elegant, refined persona as blue-collar Doris, a role she stepped into only a few days before opening night, and though it’s initially distracting to see her still mostly “on book” several weeks into the run, Angelina can be excused for keeping script in hand given that Doris scarcely leaves the stage.

Derrick McDaniel’s lighting is as effective as always, Michael Mullen’s costumes are just what Doris and Ivy and Arthur would have in their closets, and Nick Foran’s mix of mood music and effects is yet another sound design winner.

Doris And Ivy At The Home is produced by Stafford. Bill Froggatt is stage manager. Philip Sokoloff is publicist.

I’ve been a Norm Foster fan since Theatre 40 first introduced L.A. audiences to the Canadian comedy master back in 2012 with The Long Weekend. After a bit of a misstep with last year’s A Clean Brush, Doris And Ivy At The Home represents a confident return to form. I’d go so far as to say it’s one of his very best.

Theatre 40, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills.
www.Theatre40.org

–Steven Stanley
August 6, 2023
Photos: Warren Davis

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Norm Foster, Theatre 40