Sluggish pacing drags down the Group Rep’s 2023 revival of John Murray and Allen Boretz’s Room Service despite a delightful first act and a number of snappy performances.

The 1937 Broadway smash revolves around the efforts of fledgling Broadway producer Gordon Miller (Will Maizel) to stage Godspeed, the debut effort of small-town playwright Leo Davis (Timothy Willard).

There’s only one hitch. Gordon hasn’t been able to come up with the cash to finance his show.

What he has done so far is house his entire cast at 42nd Street’s White Way Hotel and rehearse the play in secret, all the while attempting (successfully until now) to avoid any payment of his rapidly accumulating bills.

Having hotel manager Joseph Gribble (Tommy Jacobs) as his brother-in-law has for the moment allowed Miller carte blanche, but all that is about to change with the distressing news that hotel executive Gregory Wagner (Joe Eastburn) has shown up unexpectedly to audit the books.

And speaking of unexpected arrivals, who should pop by as well but the playwright himself, quite possibly the most naïve small-town writer ever to set foot in the Big Apple, followed by Gordon’s girlfriend Christine Marlowe (Jackie Shearn) bearing tidings of good joy.

She’s found a backer for the play!

Over the course of what ought to be a lickety-split three acts, threats get made, plots get hatched, illnesses (and even a suicide) get feigned, a room service meal gets devoured, a doctor gets impersonated, the real doctor gets tied up and gagged, and that’s not all.

Unfortunately, director Mareli Mitchel-Shields appears unfamiliar with the ingredients that made 1930s and ‘40s screwball classics like Bringing Up Baby, The Palm Beach Story, and His Girl Friday snap, crackle, and pop, among them rapid-fire repartee and a sense of madcap glee.

Fortunately, the dashing, fast-talking Maizel and boyish curly-haired charmer Willard manage on their own to achieve that, and baby-faced delight Jacobs, a debonair, aged-up Joe Clabby, and the sparkly, snappy Shearn are all three quite splendid too.

In addition, an Act One scene that has Gordon and his partners in crime donning as many jackets and slacks as humanly possible in an attempt to skip out on the bill is as outrageously funny as it’s supposed to be.

Still, if Room Service fails to live up to its screwball potential the same way it did for Open Fist back in 2011, that blame rests on the shoulders of a director who should have insisted on lickety-split pacing from start to finish, but apparently did not, leading me to check my watch far more frequently during the play’s last half hour than I should ever have been doing while watching a screwball comedy.

Lastly, the director’s decision to have hotel employee choristers Ray Bobillo, Sandra Hellesto Fancher, Andrew Grigorian, Cynthia Payo, Wesley Simpkin, Melissa Strauss, and Tilly Ye perform 1930s tunes outside the theater before the show and onstage before each of Room Service’s three acts mostly just ends up adding to the play’s already two-and-a-half-hours running time. (Kudos though to Paul Cady for music directing their pitch-perfect harmonizing.)

Fox Carney, Jessica Kent, Sam Logan, Matthew McLaughlin, Axel Truitt, Sal Valletta, Mouchette van Helsdingen, and Chris Winfield complete the cast in assorted featured and cameo roles.

One aspect of Room Service that does absolutely hit the mark is Winfield’s snazzy set design (the hotel room’s midnight blue walls and art deco accents are a nifty touch), along with Aylah Robinson’s array of period suits and frocks and Frank McKown’s expert lighting.

Room Service is produced for the Group Rep by Kathleen R. Delaney and Brent Beerman. Sasha Kartman is stage manager and John Ledley is assistant stage manager. Payo is assistant director. Nora Feldman is publicist.

Having seen and raved about an earlier Room Service revival, I know what a nonstop laugh getter this screwball comedy classic can be, and having seen and raved about the Group Rep’s 2019 revival of Kaufman and Hart’s The Man Who Came To Dinner (even before I stepped into the show for a weekend), I know what the Group Rep is capable of in directorial hands like Bruce Kimmel’s.

This time round, however, where Room Service should sizzle, it fizzles.

The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood.
www.thegrouprep.com

–Steven Stanley
September 22, 2023
Photos: Doug Engalla

Tags: Allen Boretz, John Murray, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Group Rep