Review: ‘Butler’ solid entertainment at DHT
REVIEW BY JOHN BERGER / jberger@staradvertiser.com
 Drew Tandal, back, Timothy Jeffryes and Kim Anderson star in "The Butler Did It." (Courtesy Diamond Head Theatre) ‘The Butler Did It’Presented by Diamond Head Theatre» Where: Diamond Head Theater, 520 Makapuu Avenue |
At first glance the ending seems a bit of a cheat, but there is no denying the solid entertainment value in Diamond Head Theatre’s current production of “The Butler Did It.” This play-within-a-play story of potentially murderous activities during rehearsals in a crumbling off-Broadway theater has a few insider jokes about directors and actors and Actors Equity, but no prior knowledge of such things is necessary to enjoy the broadly written characters or the talented cast that plays them.
The premise is simple: A down-on-his-luck director is seeking to recoup his fortunes and return to the Broadway “A List” by producing and directing an original “classic whodunit” in which all the characters are either butlers or people named Butler. The actors he has cast for the show include a busty and naive young woman who is playing her first off-Broadway show, a stolid leading man who can’t remember his lines, a young Italian-American guy trying to play an English butler, and sexually aggressive fifty- or sixty-something fading star who relieves her sexual tension with the young Italian.
Timothy Jeffreys stars as the playwright/director/producer Anthony J. Lefcourt. The other members of the DHT cast play dual roles as actors playing characters in Jeffreys’ show.
The show is a superb platform for DHT regular Lisa Konove (Mrs. Angela Butler/Natalie). Konove has a small role as Angela Butler, but a major role as the aging actress. Acerbic and tart-tongued, Natalie is the type of character that Jo Pruden played to perfection for many years at several other local theater groups; Konove nails the character for DHT. Konove’s skill in shifting from dark menacing drama to broad comedy makes Natalie the foundation and the centerpiece of the show.
Britton Adams (Raymond Butler/Robert), Kim Anderson (Victoria Butler/Claudia) and Drew Tandal (Aldo/Michael) fill in other key roles: Adams plays the awkward leading man Natalie condescends to, Anderson the gullible ingenue she despises, and the Tandal the hunky boy toy who is servicing her sexually in addition to playing the Butler family butler (Little does Natalie know that Michael has been putting the moves on hot young Claudia but has been rebuffed because Claudia has it going on with the director).
Jeffreys is magnificent as the conniving and stressed out playwright/director/producer whose future prospects hang on the success of the show. Jeffreys’ work in the scenes where Lefcourt attempts to manipulate one actor or another into unknowingly advancing the director’s personal agenda are particularly good. Jeffreys caps his performance with the scene where the director pushes a member of the cast aside and steps into the role to show the actor how to do it. The improbable “stage English” accent Jeffreys uses in the lengthy monologue in that scene adds to its comic impact.
Allen Cole, usually seen in recent years playing malevolent types with hidden agendas, displays his versatility with a thoroughly convincing performance in a very different type of role. To say more about Cole’s work would spoil several of the many surprises that the playwrights and director Rob Duval intend first-timers to experience. It can be revealed, however, that Cole displays his talent as a physical comedian in a scene involving a tray of tea things and a pot of poisoned tea.
And as for that “cheat” of an ending, there’s a line early in the show that hints at it and an early scene that reveals the blueprint for its execution.
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John Berger has been a mainstay in the local entertainment scene for nearly 40 years. Contact him via email at jberger@staradvertiser.com.
