Out & About / Ventura County : THEATER NOTES : Room for Improvement : Simon’s ‘California Suite’ needs some dusting for today’s audiences.

Whenever Neil Simon doesn’t feel enough inspiration to write a full play, it seems, he writes a few one-acts, and sets them in a hotel: “Plaza Suite,” “California Suite” and “London Suite” all follow the pattern.

He has even released “Hotel Suite,” in which one-acts from the others are combined into something passing as new. “California Suite,” set in the Beverly Hills Hotel, is the current offering by the Conejo Players.

As Simon goes, the 1977 play is fair--a long way from the comic perfection of “The Odd Couple” but not as knotted in tiresome middle-age angst as the playwright tends to become.

It was written for two actors to play six of the nine characters. That’s fine for big stars, but community theater demands that as many people participate as possible, so director Don Pearlman populates his production with 11 actors.

Space prohibits detailing each plot, but the two most successful are “Visitor From Philadelphia,” in which a flustered husband (Sergio Bertolli) tries to keep his wife (Gail James) from spotting a drunken prostitute (cameo by Marianne Robertson) lying unconscious in his bed, and “Visitors From London,” featuring Peter H. Brothers and Nicola Salter as a bickering show-biz couple in town for the Academy Awards.

“Philadelphia” features some first-rate physical comedy; “London” depends more on dialogue.

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Also appearing are Trish Haight and Wesley Deitrick in “Visitor From New York” and Tom Hand, Marcy Austin, Mark Fagundes and Erin Fagundes in the concluding “Visitors From Chicago.”

The acting in these two vignettes are fine; it is the stories that fall slightly behind the others. Some of Simon’s references are updated here (the name-dropping includes Emma Thompson and Gwyneth Paltrow, for instance). But others are missed (Cedars of Lebanon Hospital hasn’t existed as such for years, and producer Joseph E. Levine died in 1987).

But it doesn’t really matter--one would have to update a whole lot more than topical references to bring Simon’s point of view into the present. That said, “California Suite” is entertaining enough, and often quite funny.

DETAILS

“California Suite” continues Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. through Sept. 25 at the Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. Tickets are $9 Thursdays; $11 Fridays; and $13 Saturdays. For reservations or more information, call 495-3715.

A Night at the Opera: “Lend Me a Tenor,” now playing at the Marquie Dinner Theatre, applies the same farcical tone to grand opera that “Moon Over Buffalo” (currently moving from the Santa Paula Theater Center to the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center) does to small-time professional theater companies. No surprise, both plays were written by the same man, Ken Ludwig.

And those who don’t love opera all that much shouldn’t worry: Knowledge of the art form beyond the accepted belief that tenors are notorious egomaniacs is hardly necessary.

As the play begins, there’s panic in a Cleveland hotel room. Famed tenor Tito Morelli, scheduled to guest star at the premiere of the local opera company, hasn’t arrived. What will general manager Saunders, his assistant Max and Max’s fiancee (and Saunders’ daughter) Maggie do? High jinks, and the eventual appearance of Morelli, ensue.

There’s lots of door-slamming (set designer Tom Murry has supplied six doors), mistaken identity and general merriment. Martin Horsey, who also skillfully directed, plays the impresario Saunders, with Sean Spence as Max, Erika Deen as Maggie, Lisa Cordray as an actress who’s as passionate as she is ambitious, Eleanor Brand as an opera patron, Rory Austin as a bellhop, Mari Bangs as Morelli’s wife and Walter Smith as the tenor.

This is pure farce--not intended to be subtle--and fine dinner-theater fare. And, if you missed anything, just stick around for the curtain call, in which the story is repeated at breakneck speed.

DETAILS

“Lend Me a Tenor” continues Thursday-Saturday through Oct. 2 at the Marquie Dinner Theater, 340 N. Mobil Ave. in Camarillo. $35 admission includes buffet dinner with choice of entree, nonalcoholic beverages, tax and gratuity; a full cash bar is available. Discounts for children and seniors. Doors open for all performances at 6:30 p.m., dinner is served from 7 and the play begins shortly after 8. For reservations (mandatory) or further information, call 484-9909.

Todd Everett can be reached at teverett@concentric.net.