‘Play It Again, Sam’ Remains a Classic

Theater Review

With Woody Allen’s movie ‘Midnight in Paris’ receiving critical acclaim and his one-act play ‘Relatively Speaking’ playing to full houses on Broadway (it stars Pacific Palisades former honorary mayor Steve Guttenberg), I was looking forward to seeing ‘Play It Again, Sam’ on stage.   The play, at the Morgan-Wixson Theater in Santa Monica weekends through February 12, first appeared on Broadway in 1969 and, three years later, was made into a movie starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton.   I’d seen the movie several times, but never the play, and was curious to see if the laughs were still there. Often, comedies that strike you as funny at the time fall flat years later’the jokes are dated, the pacing wrong, or the concept simply no longer works. This play is still a winner, a real audience-pleaser and arguably a classic.   Allan Felix’s wife leaves him and his best friends Dick and Linda Christie try to line him up with dates. After going through numerous disasters, he finds himself falling in love with Linda.   The jokes are still funny because Felix willingly talks about his fears and insecurities, which tap into our own. Even though some aspects of the play are dated’the rotary phones, which one character uses continuously’the comedy and the Morgan-Wixson production are a lovely and enjoyable way to spend the evening.   As Felix (David Lengel) prepares for his first date, he worries about making a good impression. What music should he play? Should he leave a specific book lying around to impress his date? And since he knows she works for a photographer’maybe he should offer a quote about photography he found in a magazine?   On opening night, the performers’ timing was subtly off because they hadn’t had the experience of when and how long the laughs would be’and in some cases there were belly laughs.   Lengel gave a solid performance, and his was not an easy task, because unless he did an impression of Woody Allen, he had to make the character his own.   As his ex-wife Nancy, J.C. Wendel managed to get huge laughs every time she came on stage to speak about Felix’s inadequacies as a husband.   Giving Felix ‘dame’ advice was Jack Winnick, who had the unenviable task of portraying Humphrey Bogart, which he did with aplomb.   Felix’s best friends Dick (Doug Oliphant) and Linda Christie (Athena Jade Bergen) worked well as a couple. Oliphant was nicely understated, although his dual with Felix also allowed him to show his flamboyant side. Although Bergen’s voice is a bit thin for the stage, one could understand why Felix would fall for her.   The play was directed by Paul Guay, who co-wrote the films ‘Liar, Liar,’ ‘The Little Rascals’ and ‘Heartbreakers.’ He admits that he is a huge Woody Allen fan, writing in his notes that Allen has written and/or directed and/or starred in some 53 films’more than one a year since he wrote and co-starred in ‘What’s New, Pussycat?’ in 1965.   Go see this play for the jokes, to laugh at Felix’s dancing, the intellectual girl’s response to a question and the takeoff on the movie ‘Casablanca,’ when Felix convinces Linda that she has to get on the plane with her husband to go to Cleveland.   ’If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not on it, you’ll regret it, maybe not today maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life,’ Felix says. She tells him that is beautiful and he replies, ‘It’s from ‘Casablanca’… I’ve waited my whole life to say it.’