Theater Review

Tom Titus

When you’re putting on “The Gingerbread Lady” and you lose both your

gingerbread lady and your director a week before opening, you could be in

a spot of trouble. Not to worry, however, at the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse, where the show was postponed a week, both star and director

replaced, and a perfectly serviceable production has resulted.

Neil Simon’s first foray into serious theater -- his tale of a

nightclub singer clinging to stay on the wagon with a little help from

her friends -- may not be flawless in its local incarnation, but it’s

much better than might be expected given the circumstances.

Replacing the director -- who bailed out when the actress did in

mid-August -- is Adriana Sanchez who, it seems, can do it all. She’s

already a local legend as a musical actress, but her directing experience

has been confined to a pair of youth shows at the playhouse.

Sanchez has assembled a very affecting show with a pair of superb

performances in the supporting ranks and a surprisingly effective

rendition from Janet Lee, who rescued the theater group in the title role

of Evy Meara. Lee has done wonders with her character in the time

allotted her, and should only improve in coming weeks. Lee already has

her character’s nervous energy nailed, and her shaky faceoffs with her

best friends are quite well done.

Where the show really excels is in the portrayals of Evy’s staunch

supporters -- Lynn Reinert as a vain, vulnerable beauty approaching a

traumatic 40th birthday and Damien Lorton as a neurotic gay actor

grappling with a failed career.

Reinert’s proud, edgy depiction of Toby, a woman with nothing beneath

her surface but insecurity, is first rate, a compelling picture sketched

by the versatile actress whose last role, in “Crimes of the Heart,” was

that of an equally shaky, plain spinster on her 30th birthday. She loses

credibility only when claiming to be from Grand Rapids, Mich., when her

accent suggests Biloxi, Miss.

Lorton turns in his finest work to date as Evy’s overwrought buddy,

Jimmy, seething with a sense of sheer panic that would drive anyone to

drink, recovering alcoholic or not. Many of his lines are typical Simon

zingers, and Lorton delivers them with a splendidly ironic edge.

As Evy’s concerned daughter, Tara Pitt, requires more breadth and

variation in her characterization. Pitt finally connects in her final

scene with Evy, but must overcome a single-dimensional approach to this

critical role in the play’s early segments. In a biting extended cameo,

D.J. (his complete billing) renders a convincing heel as Evy’s

ex-boyfriend seeking to reconnect. Shawn Batsel completes the cast in a

nice bit as a smart aleck grocery delivery boy.

The Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse has made a remarkable recovery from

what could have been a tenuous situation with its “Gingerbread Lady.”

It’s nice to see the company landing on its feet.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear

Thursdays and Saturdays.

CUTLINE: Janet Lee, left, and Tara Pitt are a troubled mother and

daughter in “The Gingerbread Lady” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse.

WHAT: “The Gingerbread Lady”

WHERE: Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa

WHEN: Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through

Sept. 19

HOW MUCH: $10 and $12

PHONE: (949) 650-5269