`Man Who Came to Dinner' a welcome holiday visitor.

Byline: Paul Kolas

COLUMN: THEATER REVIEW

WORCESTER - You are all required to set aside three hours of your holiday shopping schedule this coming weekend to make room for Worcester County Light Opera Company's delectably witty, caustically urbane, superbly performed and handsomely mounted production of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's comedy of rude manners, "The Man Who Came to Dinner."

Director Mark Goodney and his splendid cast, led by Doug Ingalls' dry martini gem of a performance as the gloriously irascible Sheridan Whiteside, firmly shook the 69-year-old cobwebs off this thoroughly engaging play Saturday afternoon and made it glitter with impeccable style.

Set in the provincial town of Mesalia, Ohio, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we first hear the roaring complaints of a male voice offstage, one belonging to Sheridan Whiteside, a theater critic and radio star with enough influence and celebrity status to address Mahatma Gandhi as "dear Boo Boo." Invited to dine at the estate of rich factory owner Ernest W. Stanley (Mike Casey) and his family, Whiteside unfortunately slipped on a patch of ice before he could enter the house and injured his hip.

Threatening to sue Stanley and his wife Daisy (Cathy O'Brien) for $150,000 while recuperating from his accident, the wheelchair-bound Sheridan lays siege to the Stanley household, barking orders to the intimidated staff, doctor, and nurse like an aristocratic dictator, while running up hundreds of dollars in long-distance and international phone calls. He dispenses insults to fawning guests with literate, wilting ingenuity. Yet, underneath this seemingly intolerable display of ego run amok, there is the warmth of a thoughtful, generous beating heart. The core of Ingalls' performance is how deeply he burrows into his character's multifaceted personality, effortlessly balancing his abrasive side with semi-sweet affection and vulnerability. He supports the Stanleys' son and daughter, Richard (Zach McGrath) and June (Bryson Michael), in their respective desires to be a photojournalist and marry an "anarchist," as June's father calls Sandy (Luke Savage).

He declares the cook, Sarah (Kama Jayne), to be one of the three greatest chefs in the world.

Most of all he shows what a "boy" Sheridan really is, especially when he receives a phone call from Walt Disney and begs him to do a Donald Duck imitation for him. What he most covets, though, is his relationship with his bemusedly tolerant, longtime secretary, Maggie Cutler, played with unyielding, luminous integrity by Sally Holden. Maggie knows Sheridan inside out, how to handle his self-serving tactics and tyrannical machinations, and their exchanges often have the give-and-take wit and emotion of a Tracy and Hepburn movie. He'd be lost without her, and when she falls in love with a local newspaper reporter, Bert Jefferson (David Gilman), he calls upon the services of an old friend, the actress Lorraine Sheldon (Linda Oroszko), to undermine their romance and hold on to his precious Maggie.

Oroszko is as dazzling as the clothes her character wears, posing for the stage lights with a diva's constant self-regard while she feeds the latest gossip to a ravenously eager-to-hear Sheridan with exquisite affectation. It's a gorgeously realized performance, drenched in elegant vanity, one that would walk away with the show's scene-stealing honors if it weren't for Rob Lynds' brilliant, monumentally narcissistic turn as Beverly Carlton, another celebrity pal of Sheridan's based on the famous playwright Noel Coward. For that matter, Hart and Kaufman based Sheridan on their friend, the famed critic and radio personality Alexander Woollcott. Another character, Banjo (a terrifically slick Gary Swanson), who drops by to see Sheridan, was written with Harpo Marx in mind. Lavishly adorned by Goodney and Jeff Garceau's set design and Garceau and Barbara Wiehrauch's costumes, this rich and extraordinary production also boasts strong support from Candy Schap's terrified nurse, Miss Preen, Rick Munnis' frustrated Dr. Bradley, and Marilyn Brooks' mysterious Harriet Stanley. It's easily one of the best live theater productions of the year.

`The Man Who Came

To Dinner'

* * * *

Written by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman, directed by Mark Goodney. Presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company, at the Playhouse, 21 Grand View Ave., Worcester. Performances at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. All tickets are $16. For reservations call [phone], or visit www.wcloc.com online. With Doug Ingalls, Sally Holden, David Gilman, Linda Oroszko, Cathy O'Brien, Mike Casey, Candy Schap, Rick Munnis, Bryson Michael, Zach McGrath, Lenny McGuire, Kama Jayne, Rob Lynds, Gary Swanson, Marilyn Brooks, Alicia Manley, Lisa Mielnicki, Jeffrey St. Jean and Luke Savage.

Key to the Stars

* * * * ... Hot Stuff

* * * ... Good Job

* * ... Not Bad

* ... Never Mind