Best. Production. Ever.

I saw Rick in 2nd Flight’s production of Noises Off on Friday, at the Cramer Center.

You have to see this show. You really, really have to see this show. I’ve seen two other productions of Noises Off; once at the Olney Theatre, and the movie version starring Michael Caine. Both were damned funny. But they had nothin’ on 2nd Flight.

Rick played the resident straight-man, Frederick Fellows, an actor with certain problems regarding the play-within-the-play’s convoluted prop demands. The look of sheer befuddlement on his face is priceless. And it keeps popping up.

Robert Chaves acts as the play’s frustrated Director. Considering his very real consternation with incompetent actors, questionable plot and a techie who hasn’t slept in 48 hours; it’s a wonder he doesn’t have a heart attack. Maybe the character’s too busy sleeping with half the cast…

Everyone was just terrific in their roles. Erin Anderson did magnificent work as the dim-witted (and very attractive) nymphet, Brooke. She also spent half the show in nothing but lingerie. Yowza. Her onstage paramour, played by Dave McKendry, was wonderful to watch as his anger grew throughout the show.

The two fellows that stole the show, however… damn. I mean, damn. Mike Weinstein played the devoted and thick Technician, Tim. He was understated as he was hilarious. He got it exactly right. Matthew Randall played Selsdon, the, ah, ‘veteran’ actor of the cast. All right, fine, he was old. Randall himself is decades younger than the part; but between the painted wrinkles, the palsied tremors, and dear god the omni-present squint, Selsdon was perfect.

As a burglar, he spent a good portion of the show just trying to get his gloves on properly, a feat he never accomplished. The gloves clung to his mitts like Quasimodo’s tunic on a ten year-old: Lumpy and poorly filled. This was a personal choice of the actor, there’s no mention of the glove-difficulty in the script. And it was effing brilliant.

Noises Off requires a revolving set: We see Act One from the front of the House, Act Two is backstage, and Act Three is once more from the front. The Cramer Center doesn’t have a revolving stage. Between acts, a squad of techies stripped the stage completely. Every wall came down, every scrap of furniture was moved, revealing a skeleton of wooden doorframes. After the second act, everything was replaced or rotated appropriately, and the effect was nothing short of ingenious.

I’ve worked with Rick before. I knew he was funny. But I had no idea he could do physical comedy so well, too! In the second act, the backstage is in a frenzy. Selsdon continuously plods after a bottle of whiskey. Ti­­m is struggling to make sure the actors are in their proper places in time, sneaking off to buy flowers for all the wrong girls. Dave wants to kill Frederick because he thinks Fred slept with his girl. Plates of sardines as far as the eye can see. It was like watching ballet. One hilarious ballet.

The show only has one more weekend at the Cramer Center. I cannot recommend enough that you check it out for yourself, you will not be sorry.

Way to knock ‘em dead, Rick.