We’ve all been there.
Celebrating at a parade, leaping up and down as we cheer on the passers by, after which rapidly, our underwear decides to take a trek down south. Immediately, our modesty is revealed for all the world to see.
Okay, effectively perhaps not all, however most of us? A couple of? Any?
Louise could also be looking forward to somewhat trauma bonding, as a result of her bloomers selected to create a global incident on the royal parade she and her husband have been attending. Instantly, her quarter-hour of fame are activated, a slew of Düsseldorf gawkers placing these bloomers on their radar. To make issues much more awkward, the room she has for hire instantly turns into the most popular piece of actual property on the town.
San Jose Stage’s “The Underpants,” with impeccable farcical-styled timing led by director Kimberly Mohne Hill, is every kind of humorous and presently related. The script, tailored by Steve Martin from the 1911 German play “Die Hose” by Carl Sternheim, does loads of nice issues regardless of its comparatively mild plotting and jokes that don’t all the time possess a lot variance.
The lady who’s coping with the literal fallout from the incident is Louise Maske (Lyndsy Kail), insisting that hey, no large whoop. But her mysogynistically-driven husband Theo (Will Springhorn, Jr.) is satisfied that this may spoil his run as a really mid-level civil servant.
However what this incident has not ruined is Louise’s desirability, regardless of her marital standing. Amongst those that are conscious of that is the poet Frank Versati (Nick Mandracchia), who sees Louise extra as a muse for his poetry than somebody to snag within the sheets. Then there’s the pipsqueakish Benjamin Cohen (Keith Pinto), a timid fellow who simply likes the concept of Louise.
One who isn’t shutting down this concept of a torrid affair for Louise is neighbor Gertrude Deuter, a girl whose arousal round these males who float and flit round her is palpable. Later nonetheless, the senior citizen scientist Klinglehoff (Garland Thompson Jr.) has his personal eyes on the room that’s now shared by Versati and Cohen, an area that could be opening up quickly. Seems that Versati is able to show his manhood by caring for a prostitute elsewhere, guaranteeing a stirring quantity of poetry to be crafted in his imminent future.
Mohne Hill ensures that her forged is ready to do what they’ve typically accomplished in previous Stage productions on the quaint three-sided stage. Pinto, who performed Theo together with Kail as Louise at Middle Rep again in 2012, possesses masterful dexterity challenged solely by the limberness of his hair inside a largely sympathetic portrayal. There’s a ripe distinction between the smarm of Springhorn Jr.’s Theo and the squeak of Pinto’s Cohen.
The conviction of Theo is hilarious no matter what he states. Whether or not exploring the inanity of why a person ought to be allowed to cheat, or declaring how he’ll interact in sexual exercise by booming, “I will take off my pants!,” Springhorn, Jr. provides loads for others to work with.
Kail’s Louise presents a extra sincere type, a extra reactionary and simple method to the zaniness that envelops. There’s additionally some melancholia into turning into the early-Twentieth century model of being caught in an undesired viral second.
Different assist characters convey forth veteran presence on high of a extremely purposeful scenic design by Heather Kenyon that leaves numerous open area for the forged to certain in and outside that fly open on a dime. Miller is pleasant because the seasoned Gertrude, a matriarch who’s fast to supply recommendation that may not be nice, however is definitely jubilant. And a truthful portrayal by Thompson Jr. brings forth the tidiness of the denouement contained in the very environment friendly, tight, and uninterrupted 90-minute runtime.
Contained in the sight gags and storyline that’s large and broad, with performances which can be even larger and broader, “The Underpants” supplies numerous laughs which can be borne of humor and coronary heart. The storyline could also be loads of humorous, however the nature of contemporary society’s obsession with trivial issues and the way it can have an effect on people in perverse methods has a say right here as effectively.
And, if you’ll a parade, tighten up them underwear.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Affiliation and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social.
‘THE UNDERPANTS’
By Steve Martin, introduced by San Jose Stage Firm
Via: April 27
The place: San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose
Operating time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $43-$62; thestage.org
