'Laughter' Reigns in Freehold
Reprinted from the Asbury Park Press
By Jennifer Taylor
Staff Writer

Center Players opened its 2001-2002 theater season with a brilliant rendition of Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23^rd Floor."

Charles Deitz (left) is Milt, and David Doucette is Lucas, in Center Players production of "Laughter on the 23rd Floor." (photo: Jamie Scanlon-James)

In Simon's recollection of his experience as a young comedy writer for "The Sid Caesar Show" circa 1953, the Center Players cast captures the era and the sadness amidst the laughter, a change in the television regime from witty, satirical comedy sketch to more wholesome programming, tailored to the "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" generation of advertisers.

What engages the audience as the play begins is the intimacy of the theater, the closeness of the seats to the stage. The audience feels a part of the comedy writers' workshop room, full of smoke, ego and madness.

Lucas Brickman is Neil Simon, full of quiet perception and ingenue posture. David Doucette is the perfect embodiment of Simon's newness and quiet strength, subdued wit and charm. He is the kind of character who speaks only when spoken to; he never utters an unnecessary word. A writer just beginning to discover his own comic genius, the actor shows you Simon's subtle wry wit, timed just right.

Lucas narrates to the audience, describing each character without slander, laughing to himself about the eclectic group he has been hired to work with. When he relates his story of setting a desk on fire, his baptism into craziness is well-deserved.

Milt is one of the veteran writers. An adulterer, a bit goofy, Charles Dietz has the audience loving Milt in spite of themselves. Milt's quick one-liners and snappy comebacks are hilarious, but they mask an insecurity about his writing and future that shows on Dietz's face and in his posture.

Val, based on real comedy writer Mel Tolkin, is the grumpy head writer and a Russian immigrant. His every utterance tells the audience why he is in charge of the other writers, yet even he cannot stand up to Max, the star and comic genius writer/actor of "The Max Prince Show," the fictitious Sid Caesar.

Original cast member Chuck Caudill, a retired commander at New Jersey's Earle Naval Base, was called to duty after opening night, after the World Trade Center attack by terrorists.

Jimi DeStefano promptly stepped in his place, having portrayed Val in another production of "Laughter" six years ago. DeStefano is such a great fit as the immigrant who can't pronounce curse words correctly but sure can brandish a retort, he seems as if he's always been Val.

William Rogers as the Irish, Hollywood-bound, procrastinating writer Brian is easy with his brogue. Rogers show us how Brian manages to succeed in spite of his character defects, yet even he is drawn back to the group for a visit by show's end.

Tim Kelsey as Kenny and Sharon Saks as Carol round out the team, effortlessly filling in the gaps with non stereotypical portrayals and perfect timing. Kelsey shows you Kenny's growth from distracted and clueless "boy genius" to subdued and accepting strength. Simon has said Kenny is the embodiment of comedy writers Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner.

Saks portrays the suffering brilliant women in the ego-filled boy's club, just as you'd imagine it 50 years ago. However, Saks holds her own with a great cast, just as Carol holds her own with a great writers. Carol definitely is one of the boys.

Scene-stealer Rebecca Flynn as Helen, the suffering secretary to Max, gives you the stereotypical New York secretary, complete with nasal accent and laugh, and her scenes are some of the most charming and funniest.

But the two who run the show are Geoff Shields as Max and Bill Lee as Ira.

Shields is loud, large, clueless, angry, fanatical, and the audience adores him. Max's integrity where his work and his writers are concerned is displayed time and time again as Shields conveys his confusion, disappointment and denial with NBC as they cut corners and try to cut quality during the run of Max's show.

Like a bull, he refuses to quit. The audience can see his brilliance manifest into drunkenness and sadness behind an exterior of a soldier determined to finish the war (with NBC), as he so often calls it. His interactions with Ira are priceless.

Lee as Ira gives you Woody Allen personified, although Neil Simon has said Ira is loosely based on Mel Brooks. Allen was a young member of the team during the Sid Caeser reign. When Ira is complaining, you can't stop laughing. He looks, walks, talks and frets the part of the Jewish-hypochondriac-brilliant writer. The martyr with an ego in need of daily feeding, Lee is hysterical and engaging on the stage.

When "The Max Prince Show" is canceled, the audience sadly feels the sense of loss the writers quietly show us, the end of an era; for them, the end of the laughter.

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