An initially promising hook-up gone suddenly, disastrously amiss is just the start of the romcom roundelay that is Michael B. Kaplan’s laugh-packed World Premiere Four Top, the latest winner presented Upstairs at the Group Rep.

Things seem to be going in the right direction, i.e. bedwards, for sexy single Liz (Jackie Shearn) and nerdy-cute Brian (Jack Menzies), the man she’s invited over to her apartment for a no-strings-attached frolic in the hay, when the embarrassingly unthinkable happens and their date comes to a crashing halt.

But no biggie. Things happen, particularly when a man’s stomach feels “a little off,” which is why Liz and Brian chalk up their failed first (and likely last) date to a bit of back luck with little or no likelihood of a redo.

Cut to a year later and Brian’s early arrival at the upscale restaurant where he’s planning to propose to girlfriend Megan (Rosie Byrne) only to be told by his server (Cassidy LeClair) that his date has booked a “four top,” i.e. a table for four.

And speaking of said server, it doesn’t take her long to break the fourth wall and caution us not to assume that this is Brian’s story simply because “he’s an upscale patron sitting at a four-top waiting for others to arrive,” and this isn’t the last time the aspiring writer will be reminding us that she too has a story to tell, and that the events about to unfold just might end up being that story.

Dinner guest number three turns out to be Megan’s “work husband” Tony (Luke Rampersad), and since Four Top features a cast of just five, you’d have to be rather dense not to guess who Tony’s girlfriend will end up being.

But far be it from me to spoil any more of the surprises Four Top has to offer on the way to the last one, which I should have seen coming but I’m glad I didn’t.

Like playwright Ken Levine, whose On The Farce Day Of Christmas may just have been last year’s laugh-gettingest comedy, Four Top scribe Kaplan brings to the restaurant table decades of experience writing for some of TV’s best and funniest sitcoms (both he and Levine wrote scripts for Frasier in the 1990s), and like Levine, Kaplan’s expertise in coming up with surefire set-ups and punches has not been dimmed by the years.

In classic recorded-in-front-of-a-live-audience fashion, director Kathleen R. Delaney keeps her entire cast on the slightly (but not too) comedically heightened page, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen five such delectable performances by as telegenically appealing a cast as this one.

Shearn has been the absolute best thing in three TGR productions I didn’t rave about, so it’s a joy to see her once again proving herself a comedienne extraordinaire, albeit with a whole lot of stiff competition this time round.

As he did at Sierra Madre Playhouse a couple years ago in Silent Sky, Menzies proves himself a master at playing awkwardly charming; the Group Rep first-timer Rampersad is pretty darned irresistible as a man who isn’t at all modest about using his GQ cover model looks to his advantage; and Byrne is absolutely terrific too as a woman with the unfortunate tendency to find the romantic grass greener on the other side of the fence no matter which fence that is.

Last but not least, LeClair is a deliciously dry delight as Four Top’s nameless server, who’s got one great big eleventh-hour shocker up her sleeve.

Daisy Staedler’s simple but attractive set morphs from locale to locale with expert assistance from lighting designer Nick Foran, who as sound designer once again proves a master at selecting just the right musical mix to underscore a show, and the production’s uncredited costumes are every bit as eye-pleasing as the actors who sport them.

Four Top is produced for the Group Rep by Denise Downer. Caleb Aaron is assistant to the director. Clara Rodriguez is scenic painter. John Ledley is tech operator. Karla Menjivar is stage manager. Nora Feldman is publicist.

Had Four Top closed last weekend as originally scheduled, I would have missed it, and that would have been a crying shame.

Thankfully, its two-week extension gave me the chance to catch its next-to-next-to-next-to-next-to last performance and I’m so glad I did.

On a scale of 1 to 4, I give Four Top a 4!

The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood. Through December 1. Saturday at 4:00 and 8:00. Sunday at 7:00.
www.thegrouprep.com

–Steven Stanley
November 23, 2024
Photos: Danika Waitley, Jackie Shearn

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Michael B. Kaplan, The Group Rep