Love, Excess and the IRS

Newport Theatre Arts Center’s revival of William Van Zandt and Jane Milmore’s “Love, Sex and the IRS” is an example of theatrical excess that begins with the script and ends with the staging.

There is an excessive amount of suspension of disbelief necessary here, without a logical moment in the whole evening. We are asked to accept the fact that Jon Trachtman (Jeff Grin) has had a roommate named Leslie since college days, and that his mother has never met Leslie. We also have to believe that Jon has filed their joint tax returns all this time, claiming Leslie as his wife, without Leslie ever even glancing over the returns before signing them. To top that off, when Jon is being audited by the IRS, we must accept that the auditor (Dean Edward) genially comes to their apartment.

The shtick for this inconsequential comedy is that Leslie is a male, played by Dave Beatty. Of course, Jon’s fiancee, Kate (Carrie Pohlhammer), who is having a little fling with Leslie before her marriage, has to provide the dresses for Leslie’s charade for the tax man. And once Leslie is uncomfortably dolled up, that is, of course, the moment Jon’s mother (Louise Tonti) shows up after all these years--shocked to find Leslie is a woman and living in sin with her son.

The tax man, who thought Leslie was a man, is ready to believe he is a woman, especially because Leslie reminds him of his wife. As a matter of fact, Leslie, like Milton Berle, couldn’t convince anyone he’s a woman, except these dummies. The tax man agrees to stay for dinner, and he and Jon’s mother proceed to get falling-down drunk, which is a pretty good idea, considering the stupidity around them.

Co-authors Van Zandt and Milmore wrote this comedy as a vehicle for themselves, but it runs like a used car. Director Greg Cohen treats it that way, failing to curb the actors.

Beatty could be very funny as Leslie, with his innate sense of physical comedy, but his wild calisthenics could be cut in half. As his sneaky roommate Jon, Grin stays within bounds as a performer but falls short of the full characterization that would make Jon believable as the likable idiot he is.

Tonti as the mother is fine, as is Edward as the tax man, but both make the mistake of playing vaudeville drunks. Pohlhammer’s clueless fiancee gets kind of lost in most of the overplaying around her, and Michelle LeFerr as Leslie’s ex-girlfriend fails to give her character the vulnerability to make the disasters befalling her either believable or funny.

The director allows Landon S. Wright, as building manager Mr. Jansen, to be outlandish, with a grating, rasping voice and an overbearing personality. As a subway bum, who’s also an ordained minister brought back by mama to make Jon and Leslie’s marriage legal, Paul L. Arnold glowers a lot to no purpose.

BE THERE

“Love, Sex and the IRS,” Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. Tonight-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m. Ends Oct. 25. (714) 531-0288. Running time: 2 hours.