Theater Review : Double-Cast Gamble Pays Off in Cohan’s ‘Tavern’ at Matrix

All you have to do is make your way to the Matrix Theatre on Melrose Avenue to know that producer Joe Stern is back in town. With bells on.

Who else would dream of putting on George M. Cohan’s hilarious farce, “The Tavern,” with two entirely different casts? Who else would guarantee that no two performances are alike by seeing that the mix of cast members changes from show to show? And who else would commandeer a group of players zany enough to submit to such a cockamamie experiment?

The ones commandeered by Stern and his director, Tony Giordano (at least as zany as his performers), are not only distinguished but in many cases well-known. What possessed these fearless actors to give talent and time to this delectable madness at a fraction of their usual fee?

It can only be the irresistible challenge of it all and the strong-arming of Stern (sorely missed in L.A. theater when he spent the last few years executive producing “Law & Order” in New York).

After all, this mixing and matching is a form of Russian roulette: Tonight the chemistry works, tomorrow it doesn’t, on Friday it’s so-so, on Sunday it’s great. That’s the gamble. And to have sat through two evenings of this very funny show--each with almost entirely different casts--only confirms the enormity of the risk.

Separate is not equal, no, but under Giordano’s relentlessly buoyant direction, this “Tavern” is an education in the importance of alchemy in performance and the transformation that a production will undergo whenever you change the slightest component in it.

It is also, however, proof that when you put quality in, you get quality out. While there were major differences in the two performances seen, it was never a matter of Good versus Bad, but of something much more subtle: pressure point changes of shading and relationship, temperament and character--altogether fascinating to observe.

Most pivotal to the coloring of this farce is the character of the Vagabond. He is key to a set of mysterious goings-on at this turn-of-the-century tavern on the road to Albany. Found taking shelter in the woodshed on a dark and stormy night, this Vagabond becomes the orchestrator of events in an impromptu Bedlam: from the strange divagations of a woman named Violet, also found in the woodshed, to the unscheduled arrival of the State Governor and his family, held up by highwaymen. Before the night is out, this Vagabond has ephemerally realigned relationships as fragile as candlelight.

Cotter Smith and Robin Gammell play this role, the former with romantic dash, the latter with a melancholy wisdom of the ages. There starts a major difference. But there are others. Penny Fuller is a collapsible shrinking Violet, while Lindsay Crouse is robust. George Murdock is an apoplectic Governor, Allan Arbus a cool, aristocratic one. And the Governor’s daughter, Virginia, is all curves and softness as played by Julia Campbell, in contrast to Anna Gunn’s more angular responses.

This is theater as superb gamesmanship. Who knows, once Campbell plays the role with Smith, or Fuller with Gammell, what unanticipated dimensions may bubble to the surface? This is all pure, vaudevillian fun and a darn good tale at that, to say nothing of the sheer thrill of discovery provided by the changing of the actors. Cohan’s broadsides hark back to Moliere’s, with the same soft spot for underdogs and the same dedication to pulverizing cant.

The technical values surrounding the production are top-notch and they, of course, don’t change. Neil Peter Jampolis has designed a primitive, rained-on tavern of dark wood. The deafening thunder claps that assail it are by sound designer Matthew Beville, the interior shadows and blinding flashes of lightning by Jane Reisman and the motley costumes--rags to riches--by costumer Alan Armstrong.

All of this augurs splendidly for this new company. Aside from delivering one of the year’s most entertaining evenings of theater in Los Angeles, “The Tavern” offers the dedicated theatergoer a tantalizing possibility: To see the show in several permutations.

A peek at the cast list that follows should soon tell you that you can’t go too far wrong. It’s a gamble, sure, but cheaper than Las Vegas--and, oh, so much more fun.

* “The Tavern,” Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 13. $18; (213) 852-1445. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.

John Walcutt/Kurt Deutsch: Zach

Marsha Dietlein: Sally

Mitchell Ryan/Jim Haynie: Freeman

Cotter Smith/Robin Gammell: Vagabond

Robert Machray/Michael Milhoan: Willum

Penny Fuller/Lindsay Crouse: Violet

Allan Arbus/George Murdock: Governor Lamson

Audra Lindley/Marian Mercer: Mrs. Lamson

Julia Campbell/Anna Gunn: Virginia, their daughter

Daniel McDonald/Jay Karnes: Tom Allen

James Handy/Charles Hallahan: Sheriff

Lawrence Pressman/David Dukes: Stevens

Richard Burns, Cliff Foerster, George Grant: Sheriff’s men.

A Matrix Theatre Company presentation of George M. Cohan’s 1920 play. Producer Joe Stern. Director Tony Giordano. Sets Neil Peter Jampolis. Lights Jane Reisman. Costumes Alan Armstrong. Sound Matthew Beville. Stage manager Elaine Burn-Pyres.