Theater Review : ‘Occasions’: Less Than Special but Not Bad

Can this divorce be saved? The title of the comedy at the Pasadena Playhouse, “Special Occasions,” refers to a divorced couple’s encounters during the decade after they break up and gently poses the question of whether they’ll get back together.

On another level, however, the title also describes what people expect out of evenings in the theater. And while Bernard Slade’s comedy duet is mildly engaging and mildly funny, it’s not much of a special occasion. It’s too formulaic to count as a big deal.

Slade helped create the formula with his 1975 two-character comedy, “Same Time, Next Year.” That one, which examined a couple’s annual illicit rendezvous, lasted years on Broadway.

“Special Occasions” flopped after one night on Broadway in 1982. This isn’t quite fair. “Same Time, Next Year” certainly wasn’t any better than “Special Occasions.” The second play’s set-up is, if anything, more credible.

As the play opens, Amy (Caroline McWilliams) and Michael (Steve Vinovich) just said goodby to the guests at their 15th anniversary party--and they’re about to do the same to each other. Or at least Michael wants to; Amy would rather say good riddance. She feels Michael failed to confront whatever separates them.

They next meet at Michael’s mother’s funeral. Then it’s one of their children’s graduations, an unexpected get-together on Christmas Eve, Amy’s second wedding, a grandchild’s christening, another child’s recital, a hospital waiting room after their son’s in an accident, a daughter’s wedding.

*

They also talk on the phone occasionally, or we see them individually entering therapy (Michael) or Alcoholics Anonymous (Amy). Amy’s the loud, sarcastic, take-charge type. Michael’s the people-pleaser.

During the course of their post-marriage, she starts to mellow, while he starts to warm up. By play’s end, they’re better friends than when they were married. Otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a narrative. When you start with a divorce, the only way to sustain interest is somehow to bring the characters back together.

Yet the ending doesn’t seem fake. It’s the original split that’s never really explained. As the characters grope for reasons, we hear a lot of general complaints but few specific details. It’s especially unlikely that Michael, the one who avoids conflict, would have been the one to walk out.

They’re both likable enough, and Slade passes around sympathy in equal proportions. In Tom Alderman’s staging, McWilliams convincingly charts Amy’s deterioration and recovery, and Vinovich is as adept at this “bittersweet crap” (which is how his character describes his own writing) as he is at the more high-flying comedy of “The Foreigner,” in which Vinovich starred in Pasadena.

Several wisecracks like the above let us know that Slade knows this isn’t Shakespeare. But then neither is it “Alone Together,” an even more contrived marital comedy that played here a year ago. Lower your expectations from “special,” and “Occasions” doesn’t seem so bad.

* “Special Occasions,” Pasadena Playhosue, 39 S. El Molino Ave. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends June 19. $33.50-$40. (818) 356-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes. Bernard Slade’s comedy. Directed by Tom Alderman. Sets by James Noone. Lights by Ken Booth. Costumes by Dawna Oak. Ted Ferriera. Sound Michael Mikulka. Makeup Kara McLeod. Production Sound by Peter Stenshoel. Production stage manager Theresa Bentz.