THEATER REVIEW : Knightsbridge Scores With Simon

Neil Simon’s father-daughter comedy “I Ought to Be in Pictures” is not vintage Simon, not nearly in the same league as, say, “The Odd Couple.” But Simon has yet to write an indifferent play, and his 1980 three-character observation of modern family manners gets a lump-in-the-throat revival by the Knightsbridge Theatre in Old Pasadena.

On the way to closing the curtain on its first year in the historic Braley Building, the Knightsbridge has established its commitment to a mix of classical, contemporary and original work. (Upcoming is “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “The Elephant Man” and “Richard III.”)

The theater’s most consistent strength, while presenting three plays simultaneously on a staggered schedule, has been its level of acting. Its weakness continues to be its lackluster production design. Both are apparent in “I Ought to Be in Pictures.”

The play is winningly anchored by gruff-but-poignant Art Kempf as a faltering screenwriter unexpectedly visited by a 19-year-old daughter he hasn’t seen since he walked out on his family 16 years earlier. The young woman, who has hitchhiked from New York to her dad’s rundown Hollywood bungalow, claims that she wants to be in pictures and that her dad owes her.

What she really seeks, though, is her father’s love, and Julie Maddalena convincingly catches the teen-ager’s tough veneer and underlying vulnerability.

The play’s third figure, the dad’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, is sensitively portrayed by Linda L. Rand, who holds her own despite being sandwiched between two irrepressible characters.

The highlight of the production, directed by Priscilla Finch, is Kempf’s rendering of the dad’s exasperation on hearing his daughter’s illusions about breaking into movies. As she prattles about cozying up to the stars as their parking valet at Tinseltown parties, his disbelief reaches an eye-popping crescendo.

Producers Joe and Barbara Stachura have updated the script with some harmless contemporary references. But the shortfalls in costuming, lighting and set design are irritating.

The dad’s bungalow is supposed to be scruffy--at least before the daughter spruces it up in Act 2--but here the faded furniture and blank plywood wall are off-putting instead of artfully moody.

The theater should overcome this lack of attention to physical detail, which is undermining some artful acting.

“I Ought to Be in Pictures,” Knightsbridge Theatre, 35 S. Raymond Ave., Old Pasadena, Saturday, 5 and 8 p.m., Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Ends March 20. Tickets $10-$15. (818) 440-0821. Running time: 2 hrs.