Vienna's 'Rumors' is hilarious

Steve Rosenthal is Ernie Cusack, the husband of Cookie (Anne Hilleary), right, in Vienna Theatre Company's Rumors/By Eddie Page

 Football game?

What football game? Who's talking football?

There was an important football game in the DMV on Sunday but who was minding the television? There was a lot more action in the games on stage at the Vienna Theatre Company where players were flying high and fast! 

Who's talking? Who cares?

Well, they were all were talking, some at the same time in Neil Simon's play Rumors presented to a packed house on Sunday afternoon.

From left, Kate Bierly is Cassie Cooper; Dave Wright is Lenny Ganz; Anne Brodnax is Claire Ganz, and Liz Owerbach is Chris Gorman in Vienna Theatre Company's Rumors/By Eddie Page

The play is a one-night stand on a summer evening in New York when words and actions go awry as Rumors’ characters try to sort out what's going on. 

Leave it to Neil Simon to make merry from stress.

Four couples meet at Myra and Charley’s house to help the happy couple celebrate their 10th anniversary, but, … where was Myra? 

And Charley?  He was missing, too.

A gun goes off, and soon another! (Prepare yourselves for really loud bang, bangs with bang!  bang! adult language.)

Ken (Ilan Komrad) and Chris (Liz Owerbach) are the first party goers to arrive and discover Charley is hurt, but is he still alive?

They try to hide the truth, if only they knew it. Ken soon loses his hearing due to another gunshot blast and repeats what he thinks he is hearing but he's not.  

(With the dynamism of a talking human volcano and under the directorship of Eddie Page, Komrad’s antics and expressionism while he weaves on the second floor from bedroom to bathroom and back again are wild comic scenes.)

Meanwhile, Chris patiently puts up with her husband’s sudden peculiarities to welcome Lenny (Dave Wright) and Claire (Kim Paul) who've been in a car accident in Lenny’s brand new BMW and into the fold of lies and super lies they fall at the party. (Or, is it a wake?)

Arriving next are the funniest couple, the oldest, the most doddering, Ernie (Steve Rosenthal) and Cookie (Anne Hilleary), who well display the mannerisms of old folks.

Cookie has an aching back and can’t find her grandmother's precious earrings. 

Wait!  What’s this? She's holding them in her hand.

And here comes the youngest but certainly not the lovingest couple, Glenn (Nick Koutris) and Cassie (Kate Bierly), who argue over ... what else? You got it! Crystals! Yes, crystals! (You have to be there.)

The couples bicker and lash out at themselves, trying to cover tracks and spill the beans to the...oh, no!

Here come the cops in the form of Officer Welch (Christian Aguilar) and more police to question the circumstances and for sure, Aguilar is so real as a cop, he’s gotta be a real cop with his long drawn and suspicious speech, holding his belt while he ambles in the parlor, walking around from side to side.

Whatever can the anniversary party tell the police?

It’s an entertaining show that gains momentum with each passing scene, as one couple after another enters, argues and becomes confused by the crime.  

What crime?

Michelle Harris dresses the actors to the nines for the festive occasion. Lighting director Ari McSherry has hands working fast to shine on those commanding the stage which are all of them.

Charles Dragonette composed a realistic parlor and upstairs setting, complete with bar and fluttering art of flowers on the walls to set the stage for flittering flirtations of flames, but who’s talking?

Affairs? Who?

Bob Hannan's skillfully designed sounds of cars, phones, and crashes complement the fun. 

Other production team members are Margaret Chapman, properties; Art Snow, special effects; Adrienne Kammer and George Farnsworth, set construction.

Vienna is fortunate to have one last weekend of this hilarity to leave you smiling when you exit the doors. 

What: Rumors by Neil Simon

When: 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2025 and 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025

Where: Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St., SE, Vienna, VA 22180 (703) 255-6360.


How much: $16.


For more information: vtcshows@yahoo.com or call the Community Center, ph. 703-255-6360 

Patricialesli@gmail.com

Mark your calendar now for 2025 New Year Eve’s reservations at

 

Thompson Italian in Falls Church/Thompson Italian website

Thompson Italian in Falls Church (or Alexandria) before they sell out again! 

A six-course feast with different wines from Italy at every course. And fresh glasses to boot with every wine!

A memorable evening (for an understatement) and worth every dollar! ($198 or $260 with tax and tip).

Beginning with the first course...

That would be Steak Tartare Crostini served with Alta Langa sparkling white from the Mirafiori winery in Italy's Piedmont region. Both wine and steak, delicious/By Patricia Leslie

 

The second course was blackened tuna carpaccio, served with Roero Arneis, a dry white, and Tenuta Carretta Cayega, aged in stainless steel tanks, and Tenuta Carretta, aged in barrels, all from the Piedmont. The aged-barrel wine was a little heavy, especially in competition with the Roero Arneis and the tuna and salsa verde/By Patricia Leslie

 

Next up was yummy burrata with pomodoro sauce, basil and toasted focaccia (pictured below) accompanied by Broccardo's Barbera and Nebbiolo also from Italy's Piedmont region.  By this point, we were getting pretty full, but (it was a "miracle") kept going/By Patricia Leslie

The toasted focaccia/By Patricia Leslie

This was heavy and I could not eat all of potato-taleggio agnolotti, truffle butter and parmesan, the fourth course served with Pakravan-Papi's cabernet from Tuscany/By Patricia Leslie

The fifth course was osso bucco (veal shanks with saffron risotto and gremolata) which came with wine from Tuscany's Casanova di Neri's Brunnello di Montalcino. The wait staff offered me a "to go" box since I had no room left for even half of it/By Patricia Leslie

This was the last course, a cranberry-hazelnut tart with brown butter, apple cider caramel and orange gelato served with a sparkling Tenuta Carretta's Nebbiolo, classico metoda from the Piedmont region. Even this (!), I was unable to finish, alas/By Patricia Leslie

 I can't wait for next year!/By Patricia Leslie

For the third year in a row, my pal Cashmere (?) and I had a heckuva good time eating at Thompson's NYE, practically none of the wines (or courses) we were able to finish, unlike our first year of celebration when we drank every last drop (until close to the end when we had no more room). 

I honestly can't remember driving home that year, but Cash reminded me I slept in the car for a while in a parking lot. (Perhaps awakened by the low temperatures.)  Since then, it's been riding a good old, reliable bus.

 And now we pace ourselves and don’t consume every last drop and feel better the next day, too! 

It's a delicious, delightful, dazzling tradition! 

YOLO!

Patricialesli@gmail.com