Jeeves Takes a Bow at NC Stage Co.
Few Asheville-area traditions match the pure glee of NC Stage Co.’s Jeeves comedies — and on local stages, it may have no equal.
The combination of playwright Margaret Raether’s humorous adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories and a Who’s Who of area theater talent are as reliable as productions get. And though such familiarity and consistency has the potential for staleness, the annual results are akin to new seasons of a beloved TV show or the latest installment in a film series that exhibits no sign of slowing down.
Such is most certainly the case with the latest show, Jeeves Takes a Bow, which finds lovable layabout Bertie Wooster (Scott Treadway) and his trusty valet Jeeves (Peter Thomasson) trying out life in 1932 New York City. Despite being an ocean away from their native Britain, individuals from the homeland are almost magnetically drawn to the pair, including Bertie’s bumbling chum Nigel “Binky” Bingham-Binkersteth (Charlie Flynn-McIver), whose diplomatic posting in Washington gets delayed in the name of love — or at least extreme infatuation.
Cast as a bit player in the new Broadway musical Naughty Natalie in hopes of wooing star Ruby LeRoy (Maria Buchanan), Binky seeks to keep his doings hidden from his aristocratic family by claiming he’s Bertie, and Bertie is Binky, and that the team of Binky and Jeeves are a crackerjack songwriting team.
The “identity swap” proves an immensely rich comic foundation and results in all sorts of hilarious shenanigans as mobster/show backer “Knuckles” McCann (John Hall) works to protect his investment, and the sheltered Viviene Duckworth (Glenna Grant) arrives from England in hopes that Bertie (the real one) will take her around town for research on her book about debauchery in Manhattan.
It all unfurls in Bertie’s glamorous apartment, crafted with an incredible eye for detail by scenic designer Julie K. Ross and props designer Sylvia J. Pierce. Director Angie Flynn-McIver navigates her gifted ensemble around the various pieces of furniture, making full use of the intimate stage to the extent that its square footage feels about double its actual size.
Such maneuvering involves the welcome return sight of Treadway and Charlie Flynn-McIver chasing each other around like schoolboys, as well as the rest of the cast circling sofas and hopping up on tables in comparable childish fashion. The exception, of course, is Thomasson’s Jeeves, who takes it all in with stiff-upper-lip grace and is quick with a whiskey to ease tensions, and just as fast in whisking away a pistol that enters the fray.
The clash of manners so often at the heart of Raether’s plays is especially potent in these intermingling of British and American sensibilities. While the tried-and-true interplay of Treadway, Thomasson, and Flynn-McIver is again a treat, the exaggerated Yankee behavior of Buchanan and Hall alongside Grant’s extreme buttoned-up English professionalism yields its own distinct blend of hearty laughs.
These disparate backgrounds come to a head in an uproarious, rootin’ tootin’ finale that lets the cast stretch its vocal talents — particularly Flynn-McIver and his astonishingly spot-on John Wayne impression (three years after The Duke’s first credited film role, so not entirely anachronistic).
Having missed NC Stage’s 2018 production of Jeeves Takes a Bow, comparisons will not be made by this reviewer to the 2023 edition. However, seeing that Treadway, Buchanan, Hall, and both Flynn-McIvers reprise their roles without a hint of rust or dramatic/directorial hesitation suggests an enduring appeal for the material and the opportunity to act opposite one another.
However long the theater company wants to keep staging Jeeves plays, appreciative audiences will be there. But on the off chance that the tradition is nearing the end of its run, there’s yet another reason to experience this wonderful show while you can.
Jeeves Takes a Bow runs through Sunday, Dec. 17, at NC Stage Co. For details and tickets, visit ncstage.org.
(Photo courtesy of NC Stage Co.)
