“The Good Doctor” is IN! The House at Jewel Box Theatre

Actors Taylor Reich, top, and Don Taylor pose for a publicity photo for “The Good Doctor,” Photo courtesy of J. Beckel, The Oklahoman

“The Good Doctor” is one of Neil Simon’s most intriguing comedic endeavors, it transcends Simon’s wit embracing Anton Chekhov’s satire enhancing the humor in many cases but also diluting the power in the Chekhovian stories.  Simon’s character of The Writer/Narrator is a sympathetic caricature of Anton Chekhov telling stories based on those written by Chekhov in most cases.  The play also includes one vignette based on a song by Peter Link (Too Late for Happiness) and one a scene that Neil Simon wrote specifically for his wife, Marsha Mason (The Audition) as well as those based on Chekhov’s works.

The play is creatively directed by Richard Lemin, a favorite at Jewel Box in directing as well as acting since 1983.  Lemin stages the production so that the scenes seamlessly flow one to the other yet each is defined and delineated clearly.  The play opens with The Writer played by Don Taylor as Anton Chekhov suffering from writers block.  He uses the audience to test out a few story ideas, and gives us five scenes for the actors to present in Act One with four more for Act Two. 

In an ensemble piece such as “The Good Doctor” it is quite common to cast a few actors in several roles cost saving through cast saving, while giving actors more time on stage.  Lemin chose not to do this in “The Good Doctor” an unexpected and quite refreshing approach.  As a result the cast is large with 12 members including Taylor.  A further result is that each actor devotes all of his talent and energy into only one or two roles.  An additional outcome is simplicity—less confusion for the audience.

Taylor is a very natural and comfortable Chekhovian doctor as the Writer/Narrator and he leads a nice cast in a very skillful presentation of quality community theatre.  Amandanell Bold, Chris Harris, Deborah Franklin, Karen Garlitz and Allyson Rose are nicely cast in the ladies roles and they all share the qualities of theatrical troupers while evidencing the talents of theatrical divas.    The gentlemen players are Chip Chappelle, Shep Edwards, Clinton Joseph, David Patterson and Taylor Reich revealing the same teamwork and camaraderie in their various roles.  David Patterson is particularly versatile in a number of scenes. And, significantly, John Ferguson’s appearance alongside Chris Harris in the musical number Simon included is certainly inspired.  It is a pleasure to see Ferguson, he has a stage presence that envelops the audience in the scene called ‘Too Late for Happiness’ and with the sweet musicality of Chris Harris the song is a pleasing and poignant feather in the cap of composer Peter Link.  The scene titled, ‘The Audition’ is the one Simon wrote for Marsha Mason (they met during the auditions) has Taylor voicing Chekhov. He remains offstage as director/playwright offstage Karen Garlitz auditions. Written for the actress, it is a plum role and Garlitz makes the most of her audition/performance. 

All the remaining scenes showcase the actors in adaptations of Chekhov stories or tales based on a story or one-act.  The material is impressive and Lemin intelligently leads the cast in blending Simon’s modern wit with Chekhov’s novel and intriguing satire from classic Chekhov, one of the founding developers of modern theatre. 

“The Good Doctor” plays through March 25, 2018 at the Jewel Box Theatre located at 3700 N. Walker.  Information and tickets are available at www.jewelboxtheatre.org or simply by calling the box office at 405-521-1786.  Curtain is at 8:00 Thursday through Saturday with a 2:30 Sunday matinee. The box office phone is manned through Tuesday through Saturday in the afternoon for phone reservations.  “The Good Doctor” is a fun show for everyone, many Chekhov fans will be delighted as well as Simon fans.