THEATER REVIEW : ‘Breakfast With Les and Bess’ Needs Seasoning

“Breakfast With Les and Bess” at the Laguna Playhouse is a simple comedy about a family metamorphosing in the pursuit of happiness.

Mom and Dad, the Les and Bess of the title, star in a very successful morning radio talk program that, after 10 years, has taken over their lives. Les wants out of the show, but Bess is too terrified of change even to consider giving up the comfortable status quo.

Meanwhile, their grown-up children, daughter Shelby and son David, seem hellbent to find themselves in any way they can, whether it be at the bottom of Central Park Lake, in jail or in the arms of a groom who is practically a stranger.

Everything comes to a head one morning when Shelby’s new husband, stumbling about the apartment in his underwear searching for the bathroom, introduces himself to Mom and Dad for the first time, just as they are beginning their live broadcast from the living room.

The story takes off from there as Les and Bess struggle to connect with their children and with each other, even if it means bidding farewell to fame and fortune on the airwaves.

The takeoff was slow on opening night, but the comedy picked up considerably in the second act as the situation became more complicated. However, Lee Kalcheim’s script strives to be more about character than situation, and as characters, Laguna’s Les and Bess and their family are a rather bland lot.

Director Robert Robinson, who staged Laguna’s very funny production of “Bedroom Farce,” seems to have relied on the words alone to produce hilarity, as if “Breakfast With Les and Bess” were itself a radio show.

The actors have nothing to do but talk, and wander back and forth between the dining table and the sofa on Andrew Barnicle’s flat and inhospitable set. The apartment does not look lived in, and neither does the play.

As the title characters, Norman Aronovic and Laura Gardner are attractive and likable, but there’s no hard evidence as to what fascinating personal charms have made them the darlings of a.m. radio. Gardner has some funny business in which she makes up to look good on the radio, but it never develops into anything. Aronovic gets to play drunk, but doesn’t make nearly as much of it as his fellow inebriate, Nate (Andy Hedden), who gets some nice laughs with practically no lines at all.

* “Breakfast with Les and Bess,” Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2 p.m., Sunday evenings, 7 p.m. (except Feb. 5.) Ends Feb. 5. $17-$22. (714) 494-8021. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Laura Gardner Bess

Norman Aronovic: Les

Erin Lander: Shelby

Troy Johnson: Roger

Chad Tillner: David

Andy Hedden: Nate

A Laguna Playhouse production. Written by Lee Kalcheim. Directed by Robert Robinson. Set: Andrew Barnicle. Lights: Jose Lopez. Costumes: Michael Pacciorini. Sound Design: David Edwards. Stage Manager: D. Alexander.