Weygandt gets another taste of comedy in 'Dinner'

The last time we saw Gene Weygandt of Park Ridge he was playing the Wizard of Oz in the long-running musical "Wicked." Now he has stepped into a lighter role, the harried husband at the center of the farce "Don't Dress for Dinner" (now running at the Royal George Theatre Center in Chicago).

For Weygandt, a stalwart of Chicago theater, this is both a welcome change and a return to something familiar. After playing the Wizard off and on for 31/2 years, he was ready for a part in a good comedy.

Weygandt has been associated with comedy for as long as he has been performing in Chicago. He won a Joseph Jefferson Award in 1984 for the role he played in the musical comedy "A Day in Hollywood - A Night in the Ukraine." In the early '90s he headed out to Los Angeles to seek his fortune. It turned out L.A. didn't suit him, so he came back to Chicago.

"Chicago is a great town," Weygandt says. "In L.A. you are a star or you are nothing. In Chicago you have an opportunity to do many things - theater, voice-overs, a little film. And you can live a great life doing it."

After playing the Wizard for so long, Weygandt was going to take some time off. But then the opportunity came along to audition for a role in "Don't Dress for Dinner."

"I went to see the play," Weygandt says. "It's by Mark Carmoletti. In a lot of ways it is a typical bedroom farce - lots of mistaken identities, lots of hilarious confusion. - There is a good laugh every 12 to 15 seconds."

At first Weygandt didn't want to go right back to work. "I was glad to get six weeks off," he says. "That was perfect for getting a few things done around the house. And finding time for yoga classes. And getting the chance to actually go out on Friday nights and actually get to see another person's show for a change."

But then, Weygandt adds, this show was something he didn't want to pass up.

"The story is about a British couple and their best friend is an American businessman who comes for the weekend," Weygandt says. "But it turns out this is the same weekend the husband's girlfriend is also visiting. I don't want to give too much away but if you have seen any of these farces you know how complicated it gets. I play the husband Bernard who is having a little on the side. But there is something he doesn't know about his wife -"

"I do love playing farces," Weygandt adds. "It is almost as much fun for the actors as it is for the audience. All farces exist in an outsized world. A world that is a little brighter and a little more unusual than planet Earth."

• "Don't Dress for Dinner" runs through April 19 at the Royal George Theatre Centre, 1641 N. Halsted, Chicago. For tickets, call (312) 988-9000 or visit dontdressfordinner.com.