If all the world’s a stage, how can you know if you’re living in a tragedy or a farce? Sometimes the difference is simply a matter of writing your own ending, as one resourceful playwright does in Paul Slade Smith’s comedic send-up of theater people, “The Angel Next Door.” Northlight Theatre, on the verge of opening its new Evanston venue next season, stages this “theatrical bonbon” (in the words of artistic director BJ Jones) as the farewell production in its home for the past 29 years, Skokie’s North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.
Smith’s 2023 play is an adaptation of a Hungarian farce written nearly a century earlier, Ferenc Molnár’s “Play at the Castle,” which also inspired previous English-language versions by P.G. Wodehouse and Tom Stoppard — a pedigree that speaks to its potential for witty dialogue and physical comedy. With Evanston-based director Linda Fortunato at the helm and a cast stacked with local talent, this Chicago-area premiere takes its time building to full stride, but the payoff is good fun, especially for viewers who enjoy meta-theatrical humor.
Here’s the setup: married playwrights Arthur and Charlotte Sanders (Sean Fortunato and Katy Sullivan) have just suffered a Broadway flop, and their livelihoods depend on the success of their next project, a stage adaptation of a debut novel by a younger family friend, Oliver Adams (Garrett Lutz). With a juicy contract from a top publisher in hand, Oliver travels with the couple to a seaside mansion where his muse, singer and actress Margot Bell (Aja Alcazar), is due to perform in a concert opposite Victor Pratt (Andrés Enriquez), self-described as Broadway’s favorite baritone.
What’s meant to be a celebratory weekend gets off to a rough start when Arthur and Charlotte learn that Oliver hasn’t signed his book deal yet, nor has he shown the manuscript to Margot, who’s meant to star in the stage version. In fact, he’s only met Margot once, and they’ve solely corresponded by letters since — not exactly the lovebirds depicted in Oliver’s novel.
Making matters worse, Margot has reunited with Victor, an old flame, not only on stage but also in the bedroom. To save Oliver’s romance and his novel, and thereby her play, Charlotte concocts a plan to convince the heartbroken young man that the passionate dialogue he overheard through the mansion’s thin walls was merely Margot and Victor rehearsing lines from a play.
Sullivan, the Tony Award-nominated actress who starred in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2024 production of “Richard III,” portrays a very different type of mastermind here. Sporting chic midcentury pantsuits (costumes designed by Kärin Kopischke), Charlotte is a clever, confident woman working in an industry dominated by men. At one point, she identifies herself by name and occupation over the phone, then follows up with a bemused confirmation that she is indeed Arthur Sanders’ wife. Nevertheless, when her quick thinking and speedy writing save the day, even the exaggeratedly slow-witted Victor recognizes her talent.
Though Charlotte is a key role, this is very much an ensemble show, and Erin Noel Grennan contributes a great deal to the hilarity as Olga, the dour housekeeper who repeatedly complains in a thick Slavic accent about the worst type of guests: “theater people.” Indeed, the script is full of jokes about theatrical types and tropes. In the opening scene, Charlotte, Arthur and Oliver imagine they’re in a play and, as a thought experiment, discuss the devices a playwright would use to introduce them and inform the audience about their situation. This becomes a running bit, as they debate which side of Jack Magaw’s stately set should form the fourth wall.
Smith’s play falls into the rom-com subgenre of screwball comedy, a satirical take on romance that was popular from the 1930s through the 1950s. With sparse amounts of slapstick, this staging isn’t the most physical of farces, though Lutz and Enriquez in particular strike some laugh-out-loud poses. Mostly, the production relies on verbal repartee and situational humor, such as the cringeworthy offstage liaison between Margot and Victor in the first act.
For all its ridiculousness, “The Angel Next Door” is an ode to the joy of theater, so it’s a fitting choice to send Northlight off to its new home. The script lightly pokes fun at the lofty ambitions of theater-makers who aim to change lives through their art, while ultimately affirming the power of theater to lift people’s spirits. As Charlotte wisely opines, “We write happy endings because we need them.”
Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.
Review: “The Angel Next Door” (3 stars)
When: Through May 10
Where: Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Running time: 2 hours
Tickets: $46-$98 at 847-673-6300 and northlight.org
