Buffalo Theatre Ensemble returns with crowd-pleasing 'Don't Dress for Dinner'
After a two-year hiatus from the College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble makes a welcome return with the cleverly chosen crowd-pleaser “Don't Dress for Dinner.”
Penned in 1989 by the late Swiss playwright Marc Camoletti, “Don't Dress for Dinner” was first a hit in Paris before enjoying a long London run in Robin Hawdon's English translation. And an acclaimed 2008 production at Chicago's Royal George Theatre was the foundation for the show's 2012 Broadway debut.
“Don't Dress for Dinner” brims with mixed-up identities, behind-the-back infidelities and cheerfully silly situations. There might not be as much frantic door-slamming as in other farces, but the comic recipe cooked up by Camoletti and the witty wordplay of Hawdon still reliably slays audiences.
Things go awry right from the start for Bernard (Brad Walker) and his plans for an adulterous weekend tryst in his country home outside of Paris. That's because Bernard's wife, Jacqueline (Connie Canaday Howard), cancels her plans to see her mother once she finds out that a family friend (and her secret lover) will also be paying a visit.
That man is Robert (Robert Jordan Bailey), and he gets pulled in opposite directions as a reluctant accomplice for Bernard and Jacqueline's seductive schemes. Robert further complicates things when he confuses the no-nonsense caterer-chef Suzette (Rebecca Cox) for Bernard's materialistic mistress, Suzanne (Laura Leonardo Ownby). The unannounced arrival of the burly and menacing George (Nick DuFloth) later threatens to unravel all the twisted truths.
Members of director Kurt Naebig's ensemble all look like they're having fun with the near-preposterous material. And crucially, everyone's comic timing is spot-on.
There's also great quirky character work, particularly from Cox as Suzette. Seeing how she makes a mint off so many added work duties is one of the play's great pleasures.
My only wish is that Naebig and set designer Michael W. Moon might have pushed the play's time period back a few more decades. The production's look isn't distinctive enough as an early 1990s period piece (bringing attention to the cash involving francs versus euros), while some of the retrograde male attitudes toward women in the play belong in an era before feminism.
With “Don't Dress for Dinner,” Buffalo Theatre Ensemble looks to be back on solid theatrical footing. This first show in the company's “Year of the Phoenix” season is, fans can only hope, a tasty appetizer for many hearty theater meals to come.
“Don't Dress for Dinner”
★ ★ ★
Location: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at Playhouse Theatre in College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, (630) 942-4000,
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (8:30 p.m. Sept. 17 and 30), 3 p.m. Sunday; through Oct. 9
Tickets: $35
Running time: Two hours with intermission
Parking: Free lots
Rating: Mild profanity and lots of talk about infidelity and sex, for teens and older