'Red Hot Lover' is coming to dinner
An idealistic, wanna-be adultereris the best description of Barney Chasman, the lead character in Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers.
"He's a guy going through a mid-life crisis," said Fred Elser, who is directing the comedy, which opens tomorrow, for Stage III. "He's about as straight as they come ... but his life is getting on now, and he decides to have an affair in his mother's apartment in New York. He has all these ideas of how it should go, but it never works out."
Last of the Red Hot Lovers premiered in Broadway in 1969. It has since been made into a successful movie and is considered one of Simon's classic plays.
The three-act production shows Barney trying to bed a different potential mistress in each act.
Elser, who also is the executive director of Stage III, said the play contains a lot of sharp wit, but found it difficult working with only a four-person cast.
"It's a real challenge," he said. "If you have three or four people on stage, you can have a lot of stuff going on. When you only have two people on stage, it's a little more of a challenge to keep it moving and keep it alive and entertaining.
"My biggest fear is a one-man show," Elser said jokingly.
The play will be presented as dinner theater Thursday through Saturday. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8. A show-only matinee will be 3 p.m. Sunday. All performances will be at the Augusta Jewish Community Center, 898 Weinberger Way, Evans.
Tickets cost $30 for dinner and the show or $15 for the show only. Reservations can be made by calling 228-3636 or 868-9663.