Vintage goes Barefoot in the Park

Andy Lacerte and Anne Myers in Vintage Theatre's
Barefoot in the Park; Photo by Sarah Roshan

Yesterday, I wrote about Hunger Artist’s production of Neil Simon’s Rumors. Well last weekend I was treated to a Neil Simon double header, as I attended Vintage Theatre’s production of Barefoot in the Park. There seems to be a lot of Simon going up lately, so seeing two Simon shows in one weekend is not that uncommon. Barefoot in the Park, a quite dated script, is one of his earlier works. It was written in 1963, two years before the world was introduced to Oscar and Felix and 20 years before Simon first took us to Brighton Beach.

Barefoot is the story of a newlywed couple, Corie and Paul Bratter, who have just rented their first apartment – a tiny 5th floor walk-up in New York. The apartment is less-than-a-dream-home with a hole in the ceiling, no heat, a giant hike up a seemingly endless staircase, and some very unusual neighbors. However, enthusiastic and carefree Corie (Hannah Marie Hines) is determined to make the best of the situation. Her husband Paul (Andy Lacerte) is a much more straight-laced attorney just trying to understand his new wife, adjust to married life, and do his best work at the law firm. Rounding out the story is Corie’s single mother (Anne Myers) and their crazy neighbor Victor Velasco (Albert Banker.) As the story unravels, Corie and Paul clash over mothers, marriage, the ill-fated new apartment. It’s a simple love story, originally written by Simon as a Valentine to his wife, that speaks of the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a new bride and the harsh realities of a new marriage.

The cast of Barefoot in the Park; Photo by Sarah Roshan

This is actually a re-mount of the show, with most of the same cast, from the production put up at the Denver Victorian Playhouse last year. Vintage Theatre brought it to the stage this time, with the same director – Sarah Roshan. Roshan clearly loves this story, as it is an easily relatable tale, and has a lot of the traditional humor that Simon is so famous for. Her cast was strong, with Hannah Marie Hines lighting up the stage. She certainly captured the wide-eyed look and sincerity that makes Corie such a lovable and endearing character. Hines also found some layers to Corie that I hadn’t seen before, taking the well-known character in some very interesting directions. Andy Lacerte’s Paul was also well cast, as the two clearly have a lot of chemistry together on stage. Lacerte took a little to warm up into the role, but by the second act, he did a good job of finding the difficult character arc that Paul goes through. Albert Banker’s Victor Velasco was very different than the other times I’d seen this character portrayed. Banker keeps Velasco more understated and less “kooky” than typically portrayed. This actually made the relationship between Mrs. Banks and Mr. Velasco a bit more believable, and it was a welcome change to a familiar script.

The end of the show did fall a bit flat though, which is a common problem with this script. There are several things that Roshan could have done to give the audience a more satisfying conclusion, and a more definitive coming together of the young couple. However, this cast and crew did a very nice job with a very dated script, and managed to keep the story relatable and engaging for the audience, who stood enthusiastically to applaud a job well done. Barefoot in the Park is one of those Neil Simon plays that everyone should really see at least once. Vintage Theatre is running this show through February 14th.