Farce succeeds, romance fizzles in 'Kiss'

“Stage Kiss,” Sarah Ruhl's Goodman Theatre commission celebrating and skewering life in the theater, has an identity crisis.

On the one hand, Ruhl's comedy has farcical aspirations and an insider sensibility that recalls Michael Frayn's madcap love letter to the theater, “Noises Off.”

At the same time, Ruhl's play-within-a-play — about ex-lovers who reunite years later when they're cast in a production about ex-lovers reuniting — wants to address a more serious topic. Specifically, it looks at the effect on the actors (and their loved ones) when the overwhelming fantasy they create onstage bleeds over into reality, which falls short in comparison as reality generally does.

Unfortunately, the components never come together in a coherent, credible whole.

The thing is, “Stage Kiss” engages most when it is at its most outrageous: when it lampoons bungling actors and clueless directors and indulges in pratfalls, clothing malfunctions and silly stunts like cast members trying to steady a tottering set, or a nervous actress repeatedly spilling the contents of her purse.

The romance, however, is far less compelling.

Director Jessica Thebus has a pair of top-flight stars in Jenny Bacon and Mark L. Montgomery. Montgomery is on target as the irresistibly elusive He, and Bacon is simply superb as the vulnerable yet dignified and imminently appealing She.

He and She are actors who, during their early twenties, had a passionate, tempestuous affair. It ended badly but proved impossible for either to forget.

Decades later, She has a teenage daughter (Sarah Tolan-Mee who makes insolence endearing) with her unassuming, adoring husband (Scott Jaeck, all quiet strength and unfailing decency).

He (the ex) lives in a cramped New York apartment with a relentlessly upbeat kindergarten teacher played with breathless good humor by Erica Elam.

He and She's romance reignites when they're both cast as former lovers in a revival of a (fictionalized) 1932 flop called “The Last Kiss,” ineptly staged by the Director (the peerless Ross Lehman, whose offhand delivery never fails to earn laughs).

Rounding out the cast is the very funny Jeffrey Carlson, who plays the affably dim Kevin, an earnest young slacker-actor with limited acting (and kissing) abilities.

Ruhl, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Wilmette native, approaches her characters honestly, exposing their narcissism. Her sendups of theater conventions are wonderfully silly, and longtime collaborator Thebus delivers the laughs, of which this show has plenty.

If only Ruhl had been satisfied just with penning a jolly farce.

<b>"Stage Kiss"</b>

★ ★ ½

<b>Location:</b> Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800 or <a href="http://www.goodmantheatre.org" target="_blank">goodmantheatre.org</a>

<b>Showtimes:</b> 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday through June 5. No 2 p.m. show May 14, no performances May 21; no 7:30 p.m. show May 29; no 2 p.m. show June 2

<b>Running time:</b> Two hours, 20 minutes with intermission

<b>Tickets:</b> $25 to $78

<b>Parking:</b> $19 with validation in the Government Center Self Park, off Lake Street

<b>Rating:</b> For adults; strong language, mature subject matter