Singular Sensation

Fancy, high-toned restaurants never change. That’s really what playwright Becky Mode’s “Fully Committed” is all about.

She covers it all, from the general public’s ego-oriented demands, which can usually be accomplished by a large bill slipped into the headwaiter’s hand, to celebrity-driven admonitions.

“Fully Committed,” now breaking up audiences at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, shows us what is really happening behind the scenes. The central figure is Sam, a harried young actor struggling with his day job answering the reservation lines for one of Manhattan’s tastier four-star cafes on the pretentious Upper East Side. Sam is primarily worried about getting a callback for an audition at Lincoln Center and having time off at Christmas to visit his father, but those concerns are dwarfed by the demands of those he has to deal with on the phone, from formidable customers to maitre d’ Jean Claude and the villainous chef who rules the premises like Ivan the Terrible.

The evening is a tour de force for the actor playing Sam. He also plays all of the people on the other end of the telephone line. Under director Nicholas Martin, who has guided this show through hit stagings in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Laguna Beach Sam is a riot. Brian Beacock played Sam the last 2 1/2 months of the Los Angeles run and proves the role fits him like a glove.

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Beacock’s ability to switch characterizations in a nanosecond is amazing. As nasty as his callers become, this Sam treats them with a humanity, albeit satirical, that is affectionate and subtly leg-pulling. His “Bryce,” Naomi Campbell’s aide de camp who insists on lightbulbs being changed to flatter his boss, is priceless. Beacock’s macho chef, who spends more time grumbling about everything than cooking, is a gem, and the actor’s rendition of an 84-year-old customer with complaints, including that he’s not getting an American Assn. of Retired Persons discount and has cold food (“I’ve been through a lot!”), is a gentle portrait of a not-too-gentle elderly pest.

It’s obvious why this show is a hit wherever it goes. It’s also obvious that Beacock’s performance, hilarious and insightful, is going to surround the Laguna Beach run with a ringing sound of laughter, and in a few well-wrought moments, just a little bit of tenderness and irony.

SHOW TIMES

“Fully Committed,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends May 20 (2 p.m. only). $34-$43. (949) 497-ARTS. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.