Ably-acted 'The U.N. Inspector' falls short
Like the professed good intentions of former communists embracing democracy, "The U.N. Inspector" begins promisingly. However, good intentions alone can sustain neither a democracy nor a comedy. The widespread corruption reported in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan bears out the former. Next Theatre's well-intended, valiantly acted yet still lacking production confirms the latter.
In 2005, David Farr updated for the 21st century Russian writer Nikolai Gogol's "The Government Inspector." Gogol's audacious 19th century satire on government corruption centers on a lowly clerk who's mistaken for a high-ranking official by crooked, small-town bureaucrats who wine and dine him to keep him from reporting their crimes to his superiors. In "The U.N. Inspector," Farr cast the clerk as a British realtor looking to make a profit by exploiting lax regulations in a former Eastern block nation stumbling toward democracy. For Next's version, director Jason Loewith tapped Victory Gardens ensemble member James Sherman to Americanize the play. Sherman does so by recasting the failed realtor as a South Side speculator named Michael Murphy (Joe Dempsey) and peppering the play with references to Gibson's, the Gold Coast, the Sears Tower and other Chicago venues.
The play begins on a high note with a snappy, amusing scene in which Bill McGough's anxious president - a sad-sack with a perpetually furrowed brow who's more brutal than he appears - learns the United Nations has sent a representative to investigate how he has spent the millions of dollars in international aid. Earmarked for social programs and infrastructure improvements, the money instead found its way into the bank accounts of him and his ministers, an aggressively amoral group that includes Joseph Wycoff's slick, cigarette smoking, fast-food loving Minister of Health and Elizabeth Laidlaw's menacing Minister of Finance, an ex-KGB hard-liner who longs for the bad old days. In addition, there's Mark Mysliwiec's mousy Minister of Justice; Douglas Vickers' bumbling Minister of Education and Will Schutz's dim but dangerous Minister of Intelligence. The very funny Schutz doubles as the doddering servant Michka. Channeling Tim Conway's dotty old man from "The Carol Burnett Show," he delivers two of the shows best sight gags.
When the president's muscle, played by the comically thuggish Cliff Chamberlain and Alex Goodrich, inform the ministers that Murphy is the inspector, the once and still Communists - whose inherent loyalties are confirmed by a couple of askew portraits - decide the best way to save their skins is to bribe him to look the other way. Eventually, Murphy and his sidekick Sammy (Tony Bozzuto) realize they've been mistaken for someone else. Still, they keep up the ruse which has paid off financially and romantically in the form of Susan Hart's status-conscious first lady and Kathryn Hribar's conspicuously consuming first daughter, both of whom are interested in Murphy's assets.
Loewith's production, especially the slapstick and goofy sight gags, captures the manic energy of farce, but fails to capture farce's charm. Scenes drag on too long, stumbling where they should sprint, and the play could use some trimming. As for Sherman's increasingly intrusive local references, they come across as pandering, which is hardly something Next's audience requires.
"The U.N. Inspector"
Rating: 2 stars
Location: Next Theatre, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston
Times: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 12
Running time: About 2 hours, 15 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $23-$38
Parking: Free street parking
Box office: (847) 475-1875, ext. 2 or nexttheatre.org
Audience: For adults