The premise behind EMPTY NEST, the latest summer comedy to open at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, is a simple one.
A suburban couple in Los Angeles, circa 1983, has finally sent their last child off to college – and are just about to take the time for some empty nest nooky – when their oldest son returns home to live, literally interrupting their private time.
They’ve barely gotten fully dressed by the time their second son also returns to the nest , also intending to live at home for a while. Before George and Helene Butler (played by Brad Hauskins and Vrenda Lee) can even fully process the trauma of this sudden change in plans, a young woman – invited by their younger son – shows up to live in the last remaining upstairs bedroom. All the domestic uproar you expect to happen does, and the real surprises are few and far between.
While the script is simple and more predictable than many sitcoms, this is a show that is still enjoyable. Sure, you see the jokes coming a mile away, but you really don’t mind them when they arrive. It is definitely a comedy that will appeal most to the actual demographic in the title – or at least to those who fit the description in the early 80s – but the performances are nice, and some fine technical elements make the show look very good.
Hauskins makes a great Stanley, an IRS clerk, and his many earned laughs often come from the character’s mid-life-crisis-worthy libido. After waiting all these years for some serious privacy, Stanley is ready to go – just as Helene, exhausted from the years of childrearing and carpooling and chaperoning and cooking, is ready for some rest. Hauskins gives the role a frustrated obliviousness that is never overdone, and he creates a character that is generally likable.
With Helene, Lee plays the weary, sometimes plaintive character as simply too tired to bother with constant civility. Helene is through being the hand-holder for the family, though Lee gives her the depth she needs to make sense of the character whenever she starts falling back into her enabling habits.
Tristan Layne Tapscott is adorable as the college-bound Keith, and he lends the depth-free role a sunny preppiness that is fun to watch. As Michael, the none-too-serious brainiac on the verge of a breakdown (or at least on the verge of leaving MIT) Adam Michael Lewis, doesn’t get a lot more complexity to work with, but he seems to be having fun clomping his way through the role. If possible, Ashley Catherine Schmitt is having more fun than anyone, playing the talkative, not-so-bright Janie (the erstwhile college student who lands in the Butler’s extra bedroom). Blissfully unaware of all kinds of things, and prancing around in some uber-80s outfits, Schnitt is having a ball, and it is almost impossible to not laugh or grin at almost everything the accidentally astute Janie says.
Eddie Staver III, his handsomeness almost obscured by a giant centipede of a mustache (that is completely right for the character), plays the middle son, Elliott. A jerk who thinks he is a major playboy, Staver’s Elliott is much too realistic. A first-rate actor, Staver takes the character so seriously that Elliott is impossible to like, and his wonderfully consistent, totally in-character performance is not a great fit with the wink-wink easiness of this formulaic comedy.
Scenic designer Susan Holgerrson has done fantastic work with the realistic – and very 80s, very L.A. – open-space downstairs of the Butler household. Even the second-floor platform with all the bedroom doors, which others might give short shrift, has been given enough attention that it doesn’t wobble or shake when doors are (inevitably) slammed. Gregory Haitt’s costuming is perfect for the time and place, and its attention to detail – like Ray Malone’s sound design featuring music that is exactly right – is just what the material calls for.
Circa’s fine buffet, which includes a half-dozen entrees sure to please a variety of palates, is another enjoyable part of the experience at EMPTY NEST. The Spinach Lasagna and Tilapia Parmesan are particularly excellent, as are the mashed red potatoes, and the dinner theater also offers a full menu of fancy desserts and mixed drinks.
Not for everyone, for sure, this EMPTY NEST will doubtless delight its target audience. If that is you, theater fan, then make sure you don’t miss this comedic venture.
