Same Jokes, Another Play: It’s Deja Vu in Pasadena

If you only vaguely remember “Same Time, Next Year,” Bernard Slade’s 1975 adultery comedy, your memory will be jogged over and over again in the sequel, “Same Time, Another Year,” now having its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse. George (Tom Troupe) first picked up Doris (Nancy Dussault) in 1951 and these two married people have continued to meet once every year for an illicit weekend in Northern California. “Another Year” continues the action in 1976, with Doris arriving first at the seaside inn they call their love nest.

Unpacking, Doris unveils several poster-size posed pictures of herself and George that she took surreptitiously over the years (nevermind how--it sets up a gag). Each photo is accompanied by a voice-over--a flashback to one of the mushy things these two have said to each other over the years, such as “I only have one wish--that you keep showing up every year.”

Once they start talking in the present, though, their dialogue isn’t directed toward each other at all, but toward some third party (could it be the audience that made “Same Time” a huge hit on Broadway and perhaps the most frequently produced two-character play ever?). For instance, George will tell Doris something she already knows, such as “When I first met you, you were a housewife from Oakland who hadn’t even graduated high school and now you have your own television show!” She even says, “It’s me--Doris!,” when George first walks into their room.

Slade, who also directs, is shameless about recycling his once-successful formula, as well as actual jokes from the first play. The trouble is, the play can’t possibly strike the same chord it once did. In the 1970s, the idea that two normal middle-class people could maintain something so titillating and swinging and hip as an affair sold a lot of tickets to the middle-class Broadway audience. Today, a little further from the “sexual revolution,” affairs are not funny in the same way. George’s wife is now dead, so the secrecy he continues to maintain (at one point frantically checking the room for bugging devices) makes no sense.

And besides, Doris and George have gotten up there in years. In fact, “Same Time, Another Year” is actually a compendium of jokes about old age, not unlike the ones you’d find in Reader’s Digest. I’ll just list a couple, and if you find them funny, then you should see the show.

* “I don’t comb my hair anymore, I arrange it.”

* “Isn’t nature merciful? Just as we start to deteriorate, all our friends’ eyes start to go.”

* “I’ve been to more funerals than George Jessel.”

In the original play, the progress of George and Doris reflected the country’s changing tides. Doris went from a (relatively) good young Catholic woman to a hippy war protester to an entrepreneur to a retired grandmother. They argued about Barry Goldwater; George lost a son in Vietnam. Now, George is given a short rant about the state of the country. But since the couple is too old to be buffeted by every passing wind of change, they suffer from more individualized ailments. Children who are manic-depressive heroin addicts, for instance. I don’t want to give too much of it away.

Dussault adds some snap and twinkle to the evening. Her face is priceless when she finds out the name of George’s new, very young paramour: Amber. Troupe is serviceable. Perhaps the play could be helped by another director, one who would perform some ruthless trimming--by about 45 minutes.

Slade even gives Doris a taste of his own success. In one scene she is attending a writing class and in the next she has written an account of her affair with George for which Random House has paid six figures. She explains: “Our arrangement must be a lot of people’s fantasy.” Perhaps at one time, Doris. Today your book could very well end up on their remainder table.

* “Same Time, Another Year,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Tuesday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 18. $13.50-$35.50. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

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Nancy Dussault: Doris

Tom Troupe: George

A Pasadena Playhouse Production. Written and directed by Bernard Slade. Sets Gary Wissmann. Lighting Kevin Mahan. Costumes Zoe DuFour. Sound Jon Gottlieb. Production stage manager Daniel Munson.