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‘Sam’ a neurotic romp

By Mary Garrigan, Journal Staff Writer

Anybody who has ever watched a Woody Allen movie will recognize the iconic American film director’s signature touch in the hilariously neurotic dialogue of “Play It Again, Sam,” the Black Hills Playhouse’s season-opening play.

The comedy centers on Allen’s alter-ego, Allan Felix, a shy, homely, insecure film critic whose wife, Nancy, leaves him early in the play over his neurotic tendencies, his compulsions and his obsession with Humphrey Bogart movies.

Playhouse newcomer Ryan Henderson takes on the formidable challenge of portraying Allan’s disastrous luck with the ladies when he attempts to re-enter the dating scene, but Henderson’s own youth and good looks make that a bit of a tough sell. With the help of a pair of nerdy glasses, Henderson manages to convey a neurotic New York intellectual in an often slapstick, sometimes subtle, way.

The play is directed by Mikal J. Kraklio, who uses the bright blue walls of scene designer Ed Stauffer’s set to nice special effect in the opening scene.

Some of its dialogue, including a conversation on rape and Bogey’s repeated line about “never meeting a dame who didn’t understand a slap in the mouth” seem a bit dated, but Allan’s one-liners that come at the expense of his own neuroses are timelessly funny.

Henderson is aided in his performance by the fantasy voices in his head, played in delightfully cartoonish fashion by Jason Reuter as Humphrey Bogart’s movie persona, Bogey, and by Ellie A. Satter, as Allan’s over-the-top ex-wife, Nancy.

Satter is a scene stealer whenever she’s on stage, but especially so when Allan fantasizes about her regret over leaving him, and when she goes mano-a-mano with Bogey for control of Allan’s psyche late in the play.

Allan’s best friend, Dick Christie, is played by Tyler Swank. At just 24, Swank has established himself as something of a Playhouse stage veteran and his experience shows in the impeccable comedic timing he brings to his role as a success-obsessed young entrepreneur whose skills as both a businessman and a husband are suspect.

Dick’s wife, Linda, played by Karyn D. Grasse, is Allan’s matchmaker, bringing a long list of failed first dates into his life, all of whom are played, in various guises, by Jill Twiss.

Together with costume designer Travis Halsey, Twiss and her outfits bring a wonderful weirdness to each of her personas. Halsey’s costuming of Linda is less certain. The play is set in 1969, but Linda seems to hail from some unknown fashion era, at one point appearing on stage in a coat that looks to be a cross between Mamie Eisenhower and Jane Jetson.

But it is Linda, a fellow neurotic, who turns out to be the woman Allan falls for, which leads to complications that allow the film fanatic in him to deliver several classic Bogart lines from “Casablanca” he’s been waiting his whole life to use.

“Play It Again, Sam” continues at the Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park through June 18. Evening performances are at 8 and Saturday and Sunday matinee performances are at 2 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 255-4141 or 255-4551. Go to blackhillsplayhouse.com for more information on the season. Ticket prices are $20 or $16.