Regular readers of TheatreStorm will know that I have a large place in my heart for community theatre as well as professional work. What community theaters may lack in professional experience, they make up in the kind of enthusiasm, discovery, and community joy that can rarely be duplicated in professional productions. Their existence is to be treasured, appreciated, and supported.
Benicia Old Town Theatre Group is certainly a company that deserves all that. They have been producing community theatre in Benicia since 1964, an impressively long run. So they must be doing something right.
A visit to their theatre in Old Town Benicia is always guaranteed to be a lovely outing, given Benicia’s location by the water (the Carquinez Strait), as well as the close-to-the-theatre 1st Street shopping district, with its antique stores for window shopping, a fine bookstore for browsing, and a large selection of restaurants, both upscale and down. The theatre building itself is a historic turn-of-the-century wooden gem, with lots of character.
Which brings me to the current production of Neil Simon’s “Rumors.”
It isn’t perfect. Let’s face it, the old adage is on the money: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” And farce is even harder.
The premise of “Rumors” is a tenth-anniversary black-tie dinner party for Charley and his wife that goes drastically wrong. As the guests arrive, Charley is in an upstairs bathroom with a bullet wound to his ear, and his wife is missing. As each new arrival enters the room, the explanations for the peculiar situation of the absent hosts get wilder and wilder (those explanations are the titular “rumors”), and the party descends into comic mayhem.
On opening night, the company of “Rumors” got off to a rough start. Although the pace was brisk, and the diction crisp, there was a forced quality to the performances which felt a bit like overacting. But as the intermission approached, the company staged a series of slapstick moves involving numerous tumbles and pratfalls which couldn’t fail to impress. When I returned after intermission for the second act, I thought the verdict was still out. I was prepared to be disappointed, but, happily, the actors seemed to find their legs and all went well. If the first act seemed forced, the second act was far more relaxed, and the laughs rolled along easily, making for a very good time.
Quite often a production of this sort will have one or two standout performances, and in this case, the prize for that goes to Joshua Roberts as Lenny Ganz. When two policemen arrive as a result of having heard a report of gunshots (remember Charley’s ear?), it falls upon Lenny to explain things, which he does in a long, hilarious, utterly ridiculous monologue in which he acts out all that has led up to the moment. Roberts hits this comic monologue out of the ballpark. On opening night, he stopped the show as the audience rewarded him with an enthusiastic ovation. Also memorable was Chuck Shilling as Officer Pudney. Shilling’s easy manner and laconic delivery demonstrate he is an actor who appreciates the comic potential of underplaying.
If the first act seemed forced, the second act found a better rhythm, and by evening’s end the production had settled into the fun it promises.
“Rumors” plays in Benicia through May 10, 2026. For further information click here.
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Rating: **1/2 (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“Rumors” by Neil Simon. Director: Clinton Vidal. Set Design: Clinton Vidal and Flavia Smith. Set Painter: Beate Brühl. Sound design: Grace Ottmer. Lighting Operator: Tim Kvetch. Properties and crew: Cindy Smith and Karyn De Souza.
Cast:
Ken Gorman: Kyle Nash. Chris Gorman: Jennifer Rubio. Lenny Ganz: Joshua Roberts. Claire Ganz: Virgie Poole. Ernie Cusak: Andrew Norris. Cookie Cusak: Ginger Burnett. Glen Cooper: Rob Smiley. Cassie Cooper: Brittany Kamerschen. Officer Welch: Linda Scaparotti. Officer Pudney: Chuck Shilling.
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