• Tweet
• Pin It

Sean Smith, Robb Derringer, Blake Silver, John Marzilli and Robin Riker in "The Way You Look Tonight" (Ed Krieger)

When a pair of ex-spouses meet each other’s lovers for the first time in four years, the first thing that comes to mind is a cliché pitch for a sitcom. Add to that the fact that one of the new lovers is a transvestite, and that sitcom just went Jerry Springer!

But “The Way You Look Tonight” achieves much more than that in its attempt to look at divorce from a humorous perspective. The ongoing laughs throughout the play are the cherry on top of the overall message of the play.

“The Way You Look Tonight” runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 24 at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. Robb Derringer (PRT productions of “The Time of Your Life,” “Of Mice And Men,” “Prelude To A Kiss”), Robin Riker (“All My Sons,” “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”), John Marzilli (“The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Manchurian Candidate” at West Coast Ensemble), Sean Smith (“Jersey Boys” at La Jolla Playhouse, the original L.A. production of “The Phantom of The Opera”) and Blake Silver (“The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Tartuffe”) form a formidable quintet that, under the direction of Terri Hanauer, shines.

The play starts with Teddy (Derringer), a playboy gynecologist, getting ready to meet his ex-wife, Esme, (Riker) and her new beau, Bernard (Marzilli), at their only son’s college graduation. It turns out that their son’s graduation was only a pretext to rekindle their complicated love affair that ended abruptly after 16 years due to Teddy’s infidelity (twice).

Robyn (Smith) puts the message of the play in a nutshell when he says, “People are always trying to categorize relationships, to put them in tidy little packets. But there are things that don’t fit in tidy little packets.”

“The Way You Look Tonight” is an absolutely recommendable play for anyone who has experienced the subtleties of life after divorce or anyone who is looking to get a good laugh.

Performances of “The Way You Look Tonight” take place Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 on Fridays and Sundays, and $30 on Saturdays. The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 Sepulveda Boulevard, West Los Angeles, 90025.

For tickets and more information, call (323) 960-7712 or visit plays411.com/tonight.

• Tweet
• Pin It