Review: Park Square kicks off 50th season with star-studded ‘It’s Only a Play’

If she’s a fallen star, she refuses to stay down.

Sally Wingert is bringing salt, vinegar and profane star power to the St. Paul stage in “It’s Only a Play,” Terrence McNally’s farcical backstage comedy kicks off Park Square Theatre’s 50th season.

She plays Virginia Noyes, a former Hollywood celeb who ran afoul of the law and is trying to revive her career by headlining a theater show. And she’s bringing a whole lot of zip, frivolity and serious chops to the updated 1982 script still has some dated elements, including a landline.

Wingert headlines an all-star cast in Stephen DiMenna’s crackerjack staging, a crackling, laugh-out-loud production with expert timing and witty performances.

Here are five things that stand out about the show.

Design: The action is set in the beautiful townhome of producer Julia Budder (Emily Gunyou Halaas). She has backed a play called “The Golden Egg” and is hosting its opening night party. While guests are arriving downstairs, she along with star Virginia Noyes (Wingert), longtime actor-turned-TV star James Wicker (Jim Lichtscheidl) and playwright Peter Austin (Sasha Andreev) have gathered upstairs to await the early reviews.

Benjamin Olsen has crafted a white-splashed scenography that’s gorgeous and swanky. And it features a sofa that’s used repeatedly for a schtick that never gets old. Similarly, Mathew LeFebvre’s costumes are the height of elegance.

So, yes, there are jokes about the Actors’ Equity union and about an actor who makes it on a TV series that means money and celebrity even as he misses the soul fulfilment offered by live theater. There also is a periodic checking of guests’ coats and costumes from different Broadway shows. And, oh, don’t forget the lies that get passed off as compliments on opening nights.

Is that you, Kristi Noem? Warren Bowles’ Ira Drew, a professional theater critic, skulks around with clothes besmirched by dog vomit. Eww. The truth is that he earned it. In addition to writing scathing reviews and creeping into parties where he shouldn’t be, he also shares something with former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. He has unrepentantly shot a dog.

Star power: DiMenna has tapped some of the Twin Cities’ biggest stage stars. In addition to Twin Cities stage vet Bowles, the cast is headlined by uber-versatile Wingert, long dubbed Minnesota’s Meryl Streep. She uses language and gestures to sketch a character trying to keep it all together.

Jim Lichstcheidl, one of the finest comic actors between the coasts, is effortlessly debonair, delivering like butter on your favorite toast. He doesn’t quite smother the character’s insecurity with ego, but he comes close, showing a quicksilver conflict in a figure torn between the money he’s earned and the need for the soul nourishment of live performance.

Gunyou Halaas’ Julia is so genuine and good-hearted, you want to give her wings (but don’t kill her off). The actor imbues Julia with soothing, beatific grace.

Talk about ego, Daniel Petzold’s British director Frank Finger waltzes in and literally expects everyone to kowtow to him. The show plays with the notion of Americans loving all things British and Petzold milks the mishmash of accents and a peculiar gate, for all its worth.

Nate Turcotte is totally contained as naïve farm boy Gus P. Head who is taking it all in.

A love affair: Ultimately, “Only a Play” offers a valentine to actors, directors, playwrights and producers. These characters, vulnerable and giving their all, may be poor things at the mercy of folks who take pleasure in eviscerating them. Yet they pick themselves right back up and go on as indefatigable embodiments of hope and resilience. Hey, that’s something that’s evergreen.

When: 7 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Oct. 19.

Where: Park Square Theatre, 20 W. 7th Pl., St. Paul.