From Deseret News archives:
Comedy abounds in 2 Simon hits
'Star-Spangled Girl' and 'Blow Your Horn'
CEDAR CITY — The Utah Neil Simon Festival's second season is showcasing two of the prolific playwright's earliest works, both set in the 1960s on opposite coasts (one in Manhattan, the other in San Francisco).
While one is decidedly more political, both demonstrate Simon's gift for developing relationships and dialogue-driven comedy.
They are being performed in repertory with alternating matinee and evening performances (at 2 and 7:30 p.m.).
• "COME BLOW YOUR HORN" (running time: two hours, 11 minutes, one intermission).
This was Simon's first Broadway play, and with its humorous look at family and romantic relationships, it pretty much set the tone for the 37 that would follow.
Set in 1961, in playboy Alan Baker's bachelor apartment, "Come Blow Your Horn" has a somewhat dated feel, but it's very well acted and still highly entertaining.
Directed by Connie Fulton, the six key players deliver polished, fast-paced performances. The action takes place across a three-week period, beginning as Alan's 21-year-old kid brother, Buddy, declares his personal independence and moves into Alan's apartment — where Alan's little-black-book activities are only slightly less crowded than Grand Central Station.
Their lives are constantly interrupted by a string of the wrong people arriving (or calling) at the wrong time — their by-the-book father, their flustered mother and at least two of Alan's girlfriends.
The cast includes Barry Alexander as Alan, who finds himself suddenly pushed into a matrimonial corner; Nicholas Dunn as playboy-in-training Buddy, who aspires to become a playwright instead of working in the Baker family's waxed-fruit business ("the fruit version of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' "), and Valeen Ogzewalla, who chews up the scenery as the boys' distraught mother.
Matthew Nickerson also chips in a solid performance as Mr. Baker, reminiscent of the "Jazz Singer's" Jewish father, nearly disowning his sons when they stray into what he considers a sinful lifestyle. Both Angela Kay Roundy and Kameron Lopez, as, respectively, marriage-hungry showgirl Connie Dayton and hopeful movie starlet Peggy Evans, are also nicely cast as members of Alan's rather large stable of girlfriends.
One big problem, however, is the lengthy, awkwardly staged curtain call, which appeared to be choreographed purely to keep the applause going for as long as possible.
• "THE STAR-SPANGLED GIRL" (running time: two hours, one intermission).
