The French love romping farces, so it’s no wonder Paradise Hotel by Georges Feydeau was an instant success in its 1894 premiere in Paris. In Paradise, middle-aged Monsieur Pinglet persuades the beautiful young wife of his business partner to join him in a notorious hotel for the night, but, inevitably, complications ensue. Intended assignations, misunderstandings, assumed identities and hopeful infidelities loom large while the huge cast helps keeps the action going.
The zany comedy is directed by guest director, Gus Kaikkonen, who did a brilliant job helming John O’Keeffe’s western comedy Wild Oats at the University of Houston in 2011 and found the majesty and power in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible there last year. Kaikkonen says, ”When Feydeau’s characters bravely break with convention and pursue these unspoken passions — usually with profound ineptitude — all hell breaks loose. Ordinary men and women end up in extraordinary and hilarious situations. I would bet that most of us along the way have found ourselves in some room in the Paradise Hotel.”
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Through March 3.
Fridays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 22. Continues through March 3, 2013
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2012.