Hedgerow Theatre's 'Plaza Suite' missed the mark

Hedgerow Theatre hit the Valentine season hard this year. Not only did it produce

Plaza Suite

, Neil Simon's comedy about the tribulations of midlife marriage, and the first in his

Hotel Suite

trilogy, but it also cast it with artistic director Penelope Reed and her real-life husband of nearly 40 years, actor and frequent Hedgerow designer Zoran Kovcic (he designed

Plaza Suite's

lavender-and-cranberry set), playing both featured couples. It's a sweet concept, fitfully executed.

This production lops off one-third of the action, keeping the visitors from Mamaroneck and Forest Hills, but sacrificing its second act, "Visitor from Hollywood." Simon fans will recall the action - or lack of it, in the case of Mamaroneck's neglected wife, Karen Nash - occurring during various visits to Room 719 of the Plaza Hotel. It's set around the time it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine an attractive young secretary might be hot for Walter Matthau's Sam Nash (he starred in the 1971 film version).

However, it is a significant stretch to imagine Reed and Kovcic as 47 and 51 years old, respectively, ages mentioned several times during the scene; if anyone disagrees, I'm lowering my own age by at least a decade. Age is less of an issue when they later appear as Norma and Roy Hubley, parents of a reluctant bride to be, but here, another problem arises: though Kovcic turns up the bluster, Reed changes only her dress. In both scenes, there's an awful lot of Acting, but precious little characterization.

Janet Kelsey's direction lets the show's pacing fall where it may. The Nashes do not banter or bicker, they mostly just converse, with Reed maintaining the same breathlessly flustered manner whether she is ordering room service or trying to persuade her husband not to leave her for the secretary, Jean McCormack (an affectless Rebecca Cureton). Reed and Kovcic's Hubleys draw more laughs; with a daughter locked in the bathroom refusing to come out and be wed, it's a more comic premise, anyway, and better suited to Reed's agitated delivery.

Still, the production feels like a vanity project throughout - less about exploring Simon, or even relationships, than an event put on by friends for friends who are sure to gather for Reed's and Kovcic's antics solely because it's an opportunity to see them together on their own stage. That arrangement no doubt holds some appeal for Hedgerow regulars, but as an independent work of theater, it's a missed love connection.

Playing at: Hedgerow Theatre,

64 Rose Valley Rd., Media. Through March 6. Tickets: $10 to $25. Information: 610-565-4211, www.HedgerowTheatre.org.

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