THEATER REVIEWS / TWO FROM SIMON : Sharing Limelight : Neil Simon’s ‘Last of the Red-Hot Lovers,’ is playing in Camarillo and ‘Rumors’ is on stage in Ojai.

It’s Neil Simon Month in Ventura County, however unofficially, as two local companies present solid productions of one of the author’s best and one of his least-known plays, respectively.

Camarillo’s Faye Renee Dinner Theatre is producing the playwright’s “Last of the Red-Hot Lovers,” and the Ojai Art Center Theatre is mounting Simon’s less famous--but more recent--”Rumors.”

“Red-Hot” combines comedy and sentiment; “Rumors” is strictly for laughs. And each succeeds on its own terms.

“Last of the Red-Hot Lovers” is a 1969 piece centered on Barney Coleman, a middle-aged New York restaurateur. Married 23 years to his high-school sweetheart, Coleman yearns for a bit of excitement; the kind, he thinks, that would result from an assignation. Not a full-fledged affair; Barney is too much in love with his wife for such a thing.

The play is set in three acts, all of them take place in Coleman’s mother’s apartment, the site of his attempts at a brief tryst while mom is out doing volunteer work.

The first attempt is made with Elaine Navazio, who is also married--though not as devotedly so as Barney--and isn’t looking for a long-term relationship, either. Annie Sullivan plays the matter-of-fact wisecracker with fiery spirit, in contrast to the staid, nervous Barney.

Judy Weaver plays Bobbi Michelle, a singer-actress who’s Simon’s idea of the kind of Los Angeles woman who is the living definition of “kooky,” a friendly, shallow personality type personified by Goldie Hawn on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” so many years ago. A showgirl and lounge singer, Bobbi is fond of Burt Bacharach tunes but (in a move, presumably by the director, to update the show) drops references to Charlie Sheen, Jay Leno and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The third would-be affair is with Jeanette Fisher, the despondent wife of Barney’s philandering best friend. As played by Patricia Adrian, Jeanette is on the far side of neurotic, and probably (by intention) the least-comic character in the play. She is the one who causes Barney to reassess his life and goals.

Martin Horsey, last seen in the title role of the Faye Renee production of “The Foreigner,” is terrific as Barney. Like Charlie Balker in the earlier play, Barney is introverted and apprehensive.

Much of the comedy here is physical and in pantomime, which Horsey handles with great skill under the direction of Mary Lee Hulette.

The set, by Tom Murry is functional; giving Barney’s mother one of the U. S.’s few remaining dial telephones is a nice touch.

First produced in 1988, “Rumors” is a farce and one of Neil Simon’s few attempts at writing a mystery.

Invited to a dinner party to celebrate the deputy mayor’s 10th anniversary, Ken and Chris Gorman find their host upstairs, wounded by a gunshot and unable to communicate.

Furthermore, his wife has disappeared, as has the family staff; though food for the party stands ready for preparation in the suburban New York kitchen.

The mystery is not Simon’s main concern; getting the audience to laugh is. So, all logic is dropped as Ken Gorman, the host’s attorney, decides not to call the police. Furthermore, the Gormans somehow figure that none of the other guests should learn what happened. As Ken and Chris begin to fabricate excuses, the comedy becomes increasingly wilder.

The opening-night audience last Friday seemed to be too busy laughing at the various mix-ups to be concerned with any of the play’s frequent lapses of logic, or even to be let down by Simon’s deterioration of the mystery subtext.

And indeed this production of “Rumors” is funny, with director Evelyn Raft expertly guiding her four couples through Simon’s swift machinations.

This is truly an ensemble piece, with no star turns; everybody gets a shot, and there are no letdowns in the Ojai cast.

Don Scott and Kimberlee O’Neill star as the Gormans. Vincent Wares and Debra Massarella appear as Lenny and Clair Ganz, the deputy mayor’s accountant and his wife; John Haag and Beverly Rose Gidlow are the victim’s psychiatrist and his wife; and Seth Oserin is Senate candidate Glenn Cooper, married to Laura Peterson Hayes as Cassie Cooper. Kim Howest and Bruce Alan Solow also appear, as a brace of cops who finally show up on the scene.

A parenthetical note: Some of the language is a bit strong, by Neil Simon standards. This is all relative: David Mamet might use more cuss words in his Christmas cards. Members of the “Rumors” cast voted as to whether they felt that the Ojai audience would be able to weather the occasional four-letter word, and gave the locals the benefit of the doubt. Those who can’t take the odd bit of Anglo-Saxon vernacular had best wait for the next Illusions Theatre production for children.

WHERE AND WHEN

* “The Last of the Red-Hot Lovers” continues Thursday through Saturday nights through Nov. 28; tickets Thursday and Friday nights are $25 per person, which includes a buffet dinner; $35 per person on Saturdays, including a served dinner. The Faye Renee Dinner Theatre is at Ottavio’s Banquet Facilities, 340 N. Mobile Ave. in Camarillo. For reservations, call 484-9909.

* “Rumors” continues through Nov. 28 at the Ojai Center for the Arts, 113 S. Montgomery St. in Ojai. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. on Nov. 8 and Nov. 22. Tickets are $8, $6 for students, seniors and Art Center members. Call 646-0117.