THE ANGEL NEXT DOOR


The stakes are sky-high when an about-to-be-published young novelist discovers that the inspiration for his debut opus may not be The Angel Next Door he’s imagined her to be in the Los Angeles Premiere of Paul Slade Smith’s latest comedic bonbon, a surefire late-spring hit for International City Theatre.

 Married playwrights Arthur and Charlotte Sanders (Geoffrey Lower and Meeghan Holaway) may already have a string of Broadway hits to their name, but even theatrical luminaries such as these two are only as successful as their next hit.

 Enter 20something Oliver Adams (Armand Akbari), whose debut novel The Angel Next Door Arthur and Charlotte are bound and determined to adapt for the Broadway stage, that is if they can convince the fledgling novelist to sign on the dotted line as promised.

And it’s only fitting that they should have first dibs on adapting Oliver’s novel for the Broadway stage given that the inspiration for Oliver’s The Angel Next Door is a Broadway ingenue he met at a party thrown by none other than Arthur and Charlotte and with whom he has been exchanging love letters ever since.

There’s only one hitch.

 Oliver hasn’t yet signed with Simon and Schuster, and that seems highly unlikely now that he’s overheard his dream girl Margot Bell (Jessica Fishenfeld) making passionate love to her Broadway leading man Victor Pratt (Nick Lunetta) in the bedroom adjoining the one Oliver is currently occupying in the seaside mansion-turned-guest house where he and the two playwrights are staying.

Consequently, it’s now up to Arthur and Charlotte to figure out a way to convince Oliver that he didn’t hear what he so clearly did because if they don’t, his novel will never be published, let alone make it to Broadway.

Playwright Slade’s latest may not be as hysterically funny as The Outsider was exactly a year ago at ICT, but it has plenty of its own charms, in particular those of the meta variety.

Arthur and Charlotte may not actually know they’re in a play, but they can’t help imagining that they are, even going so far as to explain to Oliver that by inquiring whether their play Noodles For Nancy is “the one on Broadway, right? The one that just opened,” he is filling the audience in on “a piece of information integral to the plot [but] inexplicably unknown by one of the characters,” thereby “causing the other two to fill him in purely for the sake of the audience.”

And this is only the beginning of the meta!

I can’t help wishing playwright Smith had stuck with the first third of The Angel Next Door’s original title and called his latest comedy simply Theatre People! (with an exclamation point a la “Oklahoma!” or “Hello, Dolly!”) rather than the rather blah (and not terribly apt) one it’s now been given.

But that’s really the only nit I have to pick with this cleverly written screwball gem, ingeniously and incisively directed by Cate Caplin and scintillatingly performed by an all-around splendid cast on the ICT stage.

 Holaway’s sophisticated turn as Charlotte is yet another gem from the L.A. theater favorite, and Lower matches her every step of the way as her crustier partner is playwriting.

 Fishenfeld give blonde bombshell Margot sweetness and heart to match her glorious soprano pipes, Lunetta is a nonstop delight as the dumbest of himbos, and SKY Palkowitz scores plenty of laughs of her own as sense-of-humorless Eastern European housekeeper Olga.

 Most memorable of all is Akbari’s irresistible supporting turn as the hopelessly smitten Oliver, whose eleventh-hour breakdown provides some of the most brilliant physical comedy you’ll see this year.

Destiny Manewal’s expansive bedroom set, Kimberly DeShazo’s late-1940s costumes, Anthony Gagliardi’s mid-20th-century wigs, and Patty Briles’ period properties have been vibrantly lit by Donna Ruzika, with Dave Mickey’s expert sound design competing the production design mix.

The Angel Next Door is produced by caryn desai. Harold Kast is technical director. John H. Freeland, Jr. is production stage manager and Filisha Jones is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

 You don’t have to love the stage nearly as much as playwright Paul Slade Smith obviously does to find much needed laughter and levity in The Angel Next Door, but for Theatre People! like this reviewer, it’s a particular treat.

International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Through June 29. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30. Sundays at 2:00.
www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
June 13, 2025
Photos: Jordan Gohara

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

 

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