‘Crossing’ Uses Humor as a Play Thing

Forget character development, compelling plot, insightful dialogue. Tom Stoppard’s “Rough Crossing” has one goal and one goal only--to make you laugh. And it succeeds handsomely at the North Coast Repertory Theatre here.

Stoppard adapted “Rough Crossing” in 1984 from Ferenc Molnar’s Hungarian “Play at the Castle,” a play about people writing a play. P.G. Wodehouse, another connoisseur of fine comic invention, did his own successful adaptation in 1926 called “The Play’s the Thing.”

Stoppard resets the show on an ocean liner, where the creators of a Broadway-bound musical are desperately trying to rewrite the troubled work before the boat lands in New York.

The two collaborating playwrights, Turai (Fred Bailey) and Gal (Jim Johnston) commiserate on their troubles. They need a new ending, not to mention a beginning and a middle.

Their composer, Adam (Jason Waller), had been their first choice for lead actor until he developed a nervous speech impediment. Then the ultimate disaster strikes when Adam arrives a day early and overhears a steamy exchange between the leading lady, Natasha (Linda Zweig)--his fiancee--and her ex-lover, the new leading man, Ivor (Clay Rider).

Will Adam break up with Natasha? More important, will Turai and Gal lose their song for the second act?

Stoppard’s famous wit finds plenty of room to cavort in this light premise. One of the many throwaway gems: “He can write a bit, but unfortunately he writes a lot.”

Then there are the running gags. The waiter, Dvornichek (Don Loper), wobbles until the crossing gets rough, then straightens up when everyone else shakes. Gal never stops eating. Turai is forever ordering cognacs that someone else--usually the waiter--ends up drinking.

Under the smart direction of Rosina Reynolds, the timing is fast and funny. Bailey successfully conveys the authority that drives the action as Turai, the playwright who cleverly figures a way to use writing as a way to solve everybody’s messy emotions. Johnston is a fine deadpan sidekick.

Zweig both amuses and intrigues as the attractive over-emoting diva. Waller’s Adam provides the appropriate earnest anguish. Loper shows himself a fine physical comedian as the rubber-legged waiter.

Rider’s Ivor seems the least comfortable of the group, but then he does play the hapless, henpecked has-been. A little more ham and less self-consciousness in the characterization might make him funnier.

Suzanne Shick provides sprightly musical direction of Andre Previn’s music (Stoppard wrote the lyrics), though the singing in general could use a tad more confidence.

Marty Burnett’s sets, always a delight at the North Coast, surprise and please again, with a ship’s exterior revolving to reveal handsome green and wood luxury cabins.

If there’s one caveat to the play itself, it is that the play-within-a-play is sillier than it is funny. Still, the overall effect of the whole is laughter, pure and simple, making this a sea voyage well worth taking.

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* “Rough Crossing,” North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; July 21 at 2 p.m. only. Ends July 21. $14-$16. (619) 481-1055. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

Fred Bailey: Turai

Don Loper: Dvornichek

Jason Waller: Adam

Jim Johnston: Gal

Linda Zweig: Natasha

Clay Rider: Ivor

A North Coast Repertory Theatre production of a comedy by Tom Stoppard. Directed by Rosina Reynolds. Musical direction: Suzanne Shick. Sets: Marty Burnett. Lights: Christopher Hefner and Jennifer Tyrer. Costumes: Pam Stompoly. Hair: Serafino for Hair. Stage manager: Jack Crissman.