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New Theatre's "Run For Your Wife"  is pure farce. Mild mannered taxi driver John Smith, has two wives living in different parts of town. After attempting to stop a mugger, John is questioned by the police and hailed as a hero by the press. The whole fiasco leaves him scrambling to cover his tracks as detectives and his wives chase him across town.

Written by Ray Cooney, Run For Your Wife is running until February of 2010. Headliner Garrett Morris of Saturday Night Live fame insures that the show is an evening of nonstop laughter.

Casting Craig Benton as John Smith was brilliant. Generally, society frowns on polygamy, but I found myself hoping that Smith would get away with his outrageous lies simply because Benton was such a likeable guy. There was no hint of ill will towards anyone. He just wanted to continue living his quiet life - with his two different women.

Smith admits his problem to Stanley, the upstairs neighbor of wife #1, who immediately becomes his accomplice and the only other person who knows the truth. Garrett Morris played Stanley to perfection. This SNL star had amazing energy and played well with the locals, making Run For Your Wife an ensemble cast, not simply a show featuring him.

The wives, Mary and Barbara, were played by Heidi Van and Ashlee LaPine, respectively. The characters were not written to reflect any great difference between the two women. Both were disappointingly dense, leaving the men to discover the truth when they were off stage. Van had great comedic timing, which could have been used more. LaPine had some great bits of physical humor, which she made the most of.

The detectives, Thomas from Minneapolis and Porter from St. Paul, were more unique. Thomas, played by Mark Robbins, was more astute than his counterpart played by David Fritts. While Fritts donned a frilly apron for a social call, Robbins was demanding and unyielding, until he was deflected with another outrageous lie. I particularly appreciated the contrast between Fritts' fast-paced joviality and Robbins' careful questioning.

The cast was rounded out by Ron Megee, upstairs neighbor of wife #2, who added some bizarre humor to the mix, and a brief cameo by John Hayes as a newspaper reporter.

Jason Cole's scenic design was very interesting. On first glance, it looked like a combination of the Jetsons' home and a Dr. Seuss book, with it's bright colors and hanging shapes. Both apartments were represented by the same space, which ultimately reflected the duality and confusion John Smith felt at having two separate lives. The visualization was effective.

Mary Traylor chose some lovely costume pieces, especially for the wives. I loved Mary's day dress. I was a little confused about what time of year it was. I would assume summer, since Minneapolis would definitely require coats for all in the winter, but then why was Detective Thomas wearing a trench coat, while Barbara was wearing a backless halter dress?

Lighting designer Randy B. Winder didn't have much to play with, but he did some very nice window lights at the beginning. I suppose, in a show like this, if you don't notice the lighting, it's a good thing.

This production is absolutely hilarious. There were a few slow moments near the beginning, but once it started rolling, the audience couldn't stop. The second act probably averaged a laugh every three seconds, which is a rare feat indeed. The ending was abrupt, and I would've liked the last line to be more telling - however, this was a very small nuisance compared to the enjoyable evening I spent at the New Theatre Restaurant.

REVIEW:
New Theatre Restaurant
Run For Your Wife
Runs December 2 to February 7 (Reviewed December 18, 2009)
9229 Foster, Overland Park, KS 66212
For tickets call 913-649-SHOW or online at www.newtheatre.com


Top photo: Garrett Morris as Stanley. Photo by Mark Baltzley.