Word: humorously
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...result is some of the most unquiet desperation of the past few seasons. Possibly Playwright Nash, who showed plenty of humor in The Rainmaker and has glints of it here, intended something more relaxed. If so, his failure lies partly in an ill-wrought play, partly in an overwrought production. Barring the loudmouthed stranger (well-played by Pat Hingle), who for a time is invigorating, the characters do little more than suffer from upset psyches or indulge in the sexual miseries. Each revealing scene is repeated, with variations, two or three times, and betweenwhiles a neighborhood trumpeter steadily caterwauls offstage...
Though the current crop of novels and plays may not be right on target, Lynn argues that authors approach their task with an inquiring and often sympathetic mind. Even the barbed humor in such plays as The Solid Gold Cadillac is aimed at the funny bone rather than the jugular. As General Bullmoose, a tycoon's tycoon, says wistfully in the new musical comedy Li'l Abner: "Ever since I was a child, I had a dream. And all that simple child wanted was to get his hands on all the money in the world before the Greatest...
Author Fuchs's three stories are lit with flashes of gallows humor, particularly Twilight in Southern California, in which an egocentric Pagliacci of the novelty business grimaces and clowns his way through a party while his firm takes the long slide into bankruptcy. The finance company has his Cadillac; creditors are massing like enemy battalions; the money men don't answer their phones when he calls-and the harried businessman responds like a hermit in the grip of a mystical experience: "He saw it all. He couldn't stop talking. He would get his backing, he would...
...minor roles are brandished competently. The lighting, especially when there is hardly any light on stage, is also fine. The whole production is directed with care and spirit by Bretaigne Windust; he introduces several amusing gestures and poses, creates humor with several clever props--e.g., a dead man's shoes--and his ingenious curtain calls are witty. As a whole, Arsenic and Old Lace is a pleasure...
...acting honors go to Patricia Guest (Aurora), a lovely young lady who displays all the stupidity, vanity, and carnality the role demands. Edward Thommen, who frequently directs shows at Poets', recovers early from a shaky start, where he seems self-conscious as the Victorian dandy, to exude high humor in the finale which he plays behind a stunning make-up job. Others in the cast include Catherine Huntington, Gail Kepner, Robert Leibacher, and John Coe. The last act set, the California patio scene, is designed with a real satirical flavor by Lester Gediman...