STAGE REVIEW Cast does great job in the hilarious 'Who's on First'

The show is built on slapstick, wordplay, pratfalls ... and a rubber chicken.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LISBON -- Don is sure that his wife is cheating on him. His proof? A rubber chicken he found stashed in her underwear drawer.
That simple cornerstone is the foundation of "Who's On First," being performed by Stage Left Players.
Camille, played by Erin Roberts, is throwing a party for a few of her friends. On a whim, she buys an old genie lamp to display as a conversation piece. The lamp gets her guests' attention all right, and strange things happen when they pick it up and say the magic words.
Ryan Gillis plays Don, who is reduced to a sniveling heap of jealousy after he sees his wife, Alice, played by Marci Saling, dining on tuna salad at the local soda shop with a strange man. His suspicion of her infidelity is confirmed in his mind by the discovery of the rubber chicken.
When Don arrives at the party he has but one thing on his mind: Exacting revenge on the man he believes cuckolded him.
When Alice and her mystery man, Ben, played by Geoff Barnes, arrive at the party, there are accusations and misunderstandings.
Comical vignettes
What follows is a series of comical vignettes -- some of them quite hilarious -- through which the players explore what happens when a man allows his insane jealously to get the best of him.
It's a classic and literal interpretation of the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it."
Each vignette ends with one of the characters holding the lamp and inadvertently making a wish. That sets into motion a chain reaction of "what-if" scenarios filled with wonderfully funny gags.
Each vignette includes the same characters in essentially the same situation, but seen from different angles and points of view. Even the chicken has a recurring role, popping up in the most unlikely places.
The four-person cast moved quickly and effectively from scene to scene, starting out as just average folks and morphing to 1940s gangsters, tea-slurping Brits, beer-swilling hillbillies and eventually winding up right back where they started.
The "Nagasaki" scene was so funny that the actors were cracking themselves up.
Gillis, a veteran of many shows on local stages, is funny as he shows off the many sides of Don. Barnes' facial expressions and comic delivery are a hoot. Roberts is delightfully daffy as Camille, and Saling brings a loony charm to Alice.
Not Abbott and Costello
The show has nothing to do with the famous "Who's On First" routine by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but it does share the same pattern of slapstick comedy, double-meaning wordplay and maddening confusion.
Director Craig Snay, assisted by Anna Sturgeon, has done an effective job of cutting the actors loose to have fun with their roles while restraining them just enough to keep them from going over the top.
The result is a marvelously funny show that deserves much bigger audiences than the one that saw it opening night.
bjackson@vindy.com