Playwright Lewis Black (a regular on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”) has conjured up a screwball family sitcom that places a great emphasis on “screwball” but fails to generate much comedy. His myriad agendas collide with one another in this heavy-handed exploration of one day in the life of the angst-plagued Coleman family of Cincinnati. He is not aided by the unfocused staging of helmer Daniel De Raey, who thoroughly mishandles a game but misguided ensemble, led by Emmy winner Michael Learned (“The Waltons”) and legit vet Granville Van Dusen.
Attempting to evoke the comic zaniness of such legit classics as “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “Room Service,” “One Slight Hitch” fails to ignite in the first act and cannot be saved by a more workable second act.
Action is set in 1983 in the suburban abode of physician Doc Coleman (Van Dusen); his wife, Delia (Learned); their precocious teen, P.B. (Senta Moses); nubile middle daughter, Melanie (Justine Brandy); and insecure bride-to-be oldest daughter, Courtney (Sherri Parker Lee). It is the morning of Courtney’s wedding, but chaos breaks out with the unannounced and uninvited arrival of Courtney’s ex-beau Ryan (Todd Babcock).
The first act relentlessly details everyone’s efforts to get Ryan to leave. During a series of arbitrary, awkwardly wrought incidents, Ryan ends up with no clothes in the guest bathroom while the family runs amok.
Undermining the shenanigans, De Raey fails to create cohesion or pacing. Each character seems to have an agenda, but no one connects with anyone else.
Plowing determinedly ahead, Learned’s Delia is a control freak who is militantly resolved that her daughter will have the formal wedding she herself never had. Meanwhile, Van Dusen’s Doc desperately attempts to be the calm within the storm.
When she’s not grooving to her Walkman, Moses’ P.B. spews a stream of zingers that fail to score. And Brandy doesn’t appear to believe a word she says, as Melanie attempts to ravage Ryan herself while earnestly declaring her sister and Ryan are meant to be together.
As the main focus of everyone’s concern, Lee’s Courtney and Babcock’s Ryan are so done in by the script’s lack of veracity that they just flounder about the stage. When he finally arrives as Harper, Courtney’s intended, Brendan Ford doesn’t fare much better.
The second act is a big improvement, mainly because old pro Van Dusen finally is given something to do. As Doc insulates himself with rounds of bourbon (happily supplied by Melanie), he comically fends off a series of unseen wedding-party guests arriving at the front door, including the groom’s parents and the priest.
By play’s end, all thought of comedy gives way to Courtney’s cathartic re-examination of her feelings for both Ryan and Harper. The most interesting interjection into the proceedings is Delia’s manic, tour de force recollection of her own marriage that somehow manages to distil the whole social history of the U.S. from World War II to today.
Black needs to completely rethink his agenda if this work is to have legs. What does work magnificently is Akeime A. Mitterlehner’s sumptuous suburban home, with all the requisite doors for comedy-driven entrances and exits. The setting just needs to be put to better use.
