Despite Neil Simon’s popularity and reputation, this was actually the first time I had seen (or encountered) a Simon play, and I can definitely appreciate why people enjoy his works so much. Rumors is a hilarious show about a set of upper class New Yorkers trying to protect their friend from a scandal they themselves don’t even understand and having to go to extreme lengths to keep up the web of lies.

This was also the first show I saw at Nittany Theatre at the Barn in Boalsburg, PA. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the theatre space was very nice (though some air conditioning wouldn’t go amiss). As you can see from this photo of the set, the space itself was nicely intimate, which worked really well for a play like Rumors, which is set at a dinner party.

Directed by Mike Knarr, the Nittany Theatre production was incredibly funny, with excellent performances from all of the cast members. In particular, Rob Arnold as Ken Gorman, Tim Balliett as Lenny Ganz, and Hilary Appelman as Clair Ganz were probably the standout performances as they all had distinct and well developed comedic styles. Arnold’s great strength was his delivery, which blended a flustered sense of purpose with confusion, especially after his character was deafened. In responding to what he thought he was hearing, Arnold got a lot of laughs by confidently moving forward based on what he thought he heard, while the audience knew that something completely different had been said.

Balliett took a different comic tack, with high energy frustration and exasperation as his driving force. Lenny Ganz is quicker than the other guests to anger and since he spends much of the play running around trying to keep up the appearance that there is no scandal at this party, his distress is understandable (plus he crashed his new BMW on the way to the party and got whiplash). Balliett’s strongest moment was probably when he impersonated Charlie at the end of the play and explained to the police in passionate detail the series of events that had taken place surrounding the two gunshots from earlier in the evening. He brought so much over-the-top energy and passion to the performance that we—along with Officer Welch (played by Rod Egan)—bought the story, even if we don’t believe it.

In contrast to these higher energy performances, Appelman was a cool, sophisticated, and snarky voice throughout the play. Clair Ganz’s purpose in the play is largely to provide sarcastic commentary on what’s going on, and to throw out occasional comments which complicate the other characters’ attempts to keep the situation under control. Appelman perfectly embodied this character, with he detached, split-second delivery of one liners.

One of the few weak points of the show was some of the more overt physical comedy. There are times where characters trip entirely over pieces of furniture and end up either splayed on the furniture itself or sprawled on the ground. This seems like a weakness of the writing that the cast did their best with. As an element of the play structure, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense that this group of refined, upper class people would periodically tumble over sofas and ottomans.