Elizabeth Berkely's husband offers her to sly swindler Richard Dreyfuss in "Sly Fox."
April 02, 2004
Sly Fox
By Frank Scheck
Bottom line: A cast of seasoned comedic pros works hard, but the production doesn't quite take off.
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York Runs indefinitely
Farce, that most delicious of theatrical genres, seems to be having a difficult time on Broadway these days, what with the current revival of "Twentieth Century" barely working up any steam and now this fitful revival of Larry Gelbart's 1976 hit.
Featuring a cast stuffed with enough pros to fully staff a faculty at a comedy university, this production of "Sly Fox," despite a lot of hard work from everyone involved, never quite manages to take off into the comic stratosphere.
Nonetheless, it garnered enough laughs at a recent weekday matinee to suggest that it may find support from Broadway audiences starved for laughs.
Very loosely adapted by Gelbart from Ben Jonson's classic "Volpone," the play, set in San Francisco during the late 1800s, depicts the machinations of the rich Foxwell J. Sly (Richard Dreyfuss). The able-bodied swindler, who deposits his treasures in a wooden trunk at the foot of his bed, is conning the various leeches around him by convincing them that he's at death's door and that they'll inherit his fortune when he croaks. He's aided in his duplicities by his loyal associate Simon Able (Eric Stoltz), who takes care of such mundane details as sprinkling Sly's bed with water to simulate night sweats.
Among those whom Sly hopes to swindle are the avaricious Lawyer Craven (Bronson Pinchot), the greedy accountant Abner Truckle (Bob Dishy) and the elderly Jethro Crouch (Rene Auberjonois). Things get a little more complicated than Sly bargained for when he takes a fancy to Abner's delicious young wife (Elizabeth Berkley). When she's offered up to him by Abner in the hopes that Sly will die from the exertions, it leads to a trial for rape.
Gelbart's updating, liberally sprinkled with Borscht Belt-style one-liners, has its funny moments, but ironically it now seems almost as stately and old-fashioned as its source material. Under the direction of Arthur Penn, who also staged the original production, the cast members work very hard to generate laughs, to varying effect.
Dreyfuss does a reasonably good job of conveying Sly's manic greed, but he simply lacks the galvanizing charisma of such predecessors in the part as George C. Scott and Robert Preston. He's actually much funnier in his second role, as the exasperated judge presiding over the trial. Stoltz never quite seems to tap into his inner sprite as Sly's aide-de-camp, playing the material far too straight. The rest of the players display no such restraint, but other than the occasionally successful shtick, such as Auberjonois' funny walk or Pinchot's facial tics, they don't have much to offer.
Even while the production chugs along in professional fashion, it never jells with the precision necessary for this type of comedy, with the result that the laughs are only fitful. Of course, these days fitful can be better than nothing.
Sly Fox Presented by Julian Schlossberg, Roy Furman, Ben Sprecher, Michael Gardner, Jim Fantaci, Cheryl Lachowicz, Christine Duncan and Nelle Nugent by arrangement with Andrew Braunsberg
Credits: Playwright: Larry Gelbart Director: Arthur Penn Scenic designers: George Jenkins, Jesse Poleshuck Costume designer: Albert Wolsky Lighting designer: Phil Monat Sound designers: T. Richard Fitzgerald, Carl Casella Cast: Foxwell J. Sly: Richard Dreyfuss Simon Able: Eric Stoltz Abner Truckle: Bob Dishy Jethro Crouch: Rene Auberjonois Lawyer Craven: Bronson Pinchot Miss Fancy: Rachel York Mrs. Truckle: Elizabeth Berkley Court Clerk: Professor Irwin Corey Capt. Crouch: Nick Wyman Chief of Police: Peter Scolari
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