Linden Keeps It Light in ‘The Play’s the Thing’

A lot of us grew up, more or less, in the vicinity of Hal Linden. There he was, on the early ‘60s “Anything Goes” cast album as Billy Crocker, adjusting his bow tie and grinning. There he was, eight seasons on “Barney Miller,” for which Linden won three Emmys as the stalwart center of a strong situation comedy.

Even in less interesting ventures, Linden has proven a genial, versatile, classy presence. In the late 1980s, he embarked on a regional tour of “Man of La Mancha,” which wasn’t very good, but he was good in it, solid and true, a man genuinely happy and comfortable on a stage.

Now a hearty 69, Linden takes the stage once again, this time as Sandor Turai, the wily dramatist running everyone’s lives in “The Play’s the Thing.”

The so-so El Portal Center for the Arts production only hints at the 1926 comedy’s required high style. This is too bad, since the style’s the thing in “The Play’s the Thing.” P.G. Wodehouse’s adaptation of the Ferenc Molnar original (translated as “Play at the Castle” or “A Performance in the Castle”) is a confection, not a poundcake. Yet even as his more strenuous cohorts pound the material, Linden leavens things with the proper insouciance.

We’re in an Italian villa overlooking the Mediterranean, nicely suggested in scenic designer Michael Baugh’s capacious castle setting. At rise--and this is one three-act comedy that demands a rising and falling curtain--Turai (Linden) is musing aloud to his theatrical collaborator, Mansky (Donald Bishop), about how difficult it is to begin a play. How to introduce characters? How to roll out the exposition with some elegance? Thus, Molnar by way of Wodehouse solves the very problems they’re addressing.

Young composer Albert Adam (Matthew Troyer) is appalled to overhear his operetta-queen fiancee, Ilona (Nora Linden, daughter of Hal), making whoopie, or something near it, with her former beau, leading man Almady (Rod McCary). Composer becomes suicidal. New operetta threatens to disintegrate. Then Turai contrives a solution: He will make his despairing colleague believe he overheard a rehearsal for a play, not a real-life romance.

There’s a swell footman-butler character, classic Wodehouse, by the name of Dwornitschek (Ciro Barbaro). He is a man ever helpful and who sleeps only “in the winter.” Barbaro gets his laughs in this sure-fire role. With more finesse and period flair, McCary gets his, especially when he’s forced to mouth the most complicated and endless French names. Both, however, could use some seasoning. As directed adequately but stolidly by Everett Chambers, the supporting performers strain for lightness.

When Tom Stoppard reworked the Molnar original as “Rough Crossing,” he pumped up the slapstick, the wordplay, the musical elements--everything. The Wodehouse version doesn’t work nearly as hard; it’s easygoing, perhaps to a fault. It is tone-funny, not joke-funny. It is therefore difficult. Too often in this production, you’re stuck watching Loren Freeman overdoing everything as a fretful secretary, or you’re left wondering why no one agreed on who’s going to try which dialect, to what degree.

For all that, the El Portal rendition may prove a pleasant diversion for most folks. It helps having Linden around. Both Lindens, in fact: Nora Linden’s pleasantly snappy way with Ilona’s retorts keeps her scenes moving in style. In this instance it’s an easy call: Like father, like daughter.

* “The Play’s the Thing,” El Portal Center for the Arts, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 7 p.m.; Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends June 4. $35-$42. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Hal Linden: Sandor Turai

Donald Bishop: Mansky

Matthew Troyer: Albert Adam

Nora Linden: Ilona Szabo

Rod McCary: Almady

Ciro Barbaro: Dwornitschek

Loren Freeman: Mr. Mell

Written by Ferenc Molnar, adapted by P.G. Wodehouse. Directed by Everett Chambers. Scenic design by Michael Baugh. Costumes by Diana Reynolds. Lighting by Jim Moody. Sound by Steve Shaw. Production stage manager David Mingrino.