God’s Favorite

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

Cast of God’s Favorite at Gaslight Theatre

God’s messenger’s come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, and fabrics. Some are hilarious. Some downright silly, Some try to be serious and end up being comical. Some try to be comical and end up downright serious. One of the most enchanting came from the mind of Neil Simon in his beloved, hilarious 1974 play God’s Favorite.

Although God’s Favorite is loosely based on the Book of Job, with Joe Benjamin (Ed Schoenradt) as the main character, Britt Lafield winds Sidney Lipton into a paranoid bundle of perpetual hysterical motion. He can’t see without his glasses. A New York Jew, he lives in Jackson Heights, and makes only $137.00 a week as God’s Messenger. He has to take the bus because someone stole his bike, and he’s convinced it was the Devil, himself. Sidney is also convinced the Devil looks a great deal like Robert Redford.

Sidney takes center stage with an amazing performance by Lafield at the Gaslight Theatre’s second production in their Westminster theatre home. He doesn’t mean to steal scenes from anyone, but Lafield brings Sidney to great delightful vitality providing attention to the minutest detail. Poignant, funny, nervous, disorganized, his motor mouth has difficulty sticking to any one point.

Wearing hush puppies, and a tattered raincoat, his white sweat shirt features a red letter G. Timing doesn’t seem to be his forte as he tries to enter Joe’s gorgeous mansion on the North Shore of Long Island at midnight in the middle of a rain storm in the 1970’s. Indubitably that’s somewhat appropriate since most messages from God generally aren’t scheduled by appointment.

At midnight he sets off the alarm system, sending him flying into the bushes, losing his glasses on the balcony. The “noiseful” racket brings Joe and his two quirky twins, Sarah (Mindy Daugherty) and Ben (C. P. Elliott) to panicked life. A burglar has tried to get inside. Imaginations run out of control and Sarah becomes convinced it’s not only a burglar but also a rapist. Daugherty and Elliott connect with solid timing. Sarah and Ben’s brains must somehow be connected, since they ride the same track frequently finishing each other’s lines. The two young actors handle this with ease.

Joe’s wife, Rose (Karen Krause) wondering what the commotion is about, appears with a somewhat mellow outlook. It must have been David (Joshua Fisher) who forgot his key. Party boy David has a habit of coming home late and quite lathered from liquid refreshments. His lack of focus drives his father to distraction.

Calm, cool, and somewhat collected David serves as an observing critic to his family’s wealth, father’s ambition, and undying Faith. Fisher does a wondrous job in maintaining David’s persona with sharp artistic control.

Joe’s Faith is what this is all about and why Sidney crawls back into the house looking for his glasses which Joe already found. Overwhelmed by the luxury home, Sidney nervously travels the room picking up several objects for observation, while Joe follows him putting everything back where it belongs. It takes Sidney sometime to get to the point. The track his train runs on has lots of switches along the way.

Needless to say, Joe has a great deal of difficulty believing Sidney is really a messenger from God. Finally, the New York Jew gets to the point. God and Satan were in conversation a week ago Tuesday. Satan insisted not one man exists who would not renounce God if things got too terrible to handle. God takes the bet and insists there is one. That one being Joe Benjamin.

The trauma begins.

In the first act, Schoenradt tends to yell more than he does expressing emotion. He’s believable in the role, but the yelling tends to work against what he’s really feeling. In Act Two, Schoenradt gives Joe a more rounded sense of humanity. His cardboard box company has burned to the ground, his house has burned, and he suffers terrible itches all over his body along with several other physical ailments.

Sidney offers him a contract to sign: Renounce God and the terribleness will be instantly over. Joe refuses.

Directed by Jane Schoenradt Allard, the Gaslight’s second production stands up well to “Simonized” expectations. Simon’s plays are popular with small theatre groups. Some make the mistake of thinking they are an automatic shoe-in. On the contrary, the one-line zingers Simon is known for must be treated with natural conversational ease rather than being pointed to as “here comes a very funny line”. Allard guided her cast into the realm of believability with sound staging.

The set design by Elliott and Jeannette Prentice gives the immediate sense of a wealthy family living in a gorgeous mansion. One small thing bothered me at the beginning. The sophisticated wallpaper wasn’t as smooth around the edges as would be expected. When Act Two opens, the reason why becomes quite clear. The transformation the set needs to go through during the fifteen minute Intermission is remarkable. Considering the work that takes place, loose edges mean nothing.

Schoenradt’s performance in the second act gains powerful momentum in gaining audience empathy.

Prentice and Erika Hoffman play the Benjamin’s two faithful servants, Mady and Marris. Mady, a young soft-spoken woman matches insight and observation by the more outspoken Marris. When they first walk into the burned out house, it is Mady who declares, “I’m not cleaning up this mess” while Marris shrugs her shoulders countering with “at least we have only one floor to clean”.

Before the show begins, Mady and Marris add a nice touch to the production. They casually dust shelves and put away the vacuum cleaner, going about their household duties. When the house lights go out it is Mady and Marris introducing themselves and giving before-the-show announcements.

The Gaslight theatre makes grand space of a once upon a time service station on the corner of 73rd and Lowell Blvd. The small lobby with the box office has been nicely decorated with a come hither look. An hour before the show begins; music is featured in an adjoining room filled with paintings and sculptures for sale by local artists. The concession stand features cold drinks and Brownies from a local bakery that are simply to die for. Rich? Oh, yes indeed, but they are by far the best I have ever had anywhere anytime, especially the Turtles. They are worth going to the theatre for, but in the process what you’ll see is a charming, well produced, stoutly acted production of Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite. Call for reservations. Go, and welcome the Gaslight Theatre into the theatre community with open arms. Forget the diet. Just say, “Turtle, please.” Your mouth will say “thank You” as will your heart after experiencing Simon’s play.