By Zachary Pincus-Roth
08 Apr 2007

David Edwards and Fred Berman in Room Service.
photo by Carol Rosegg

The Off-Broadway revival of the 1937 screwball comedy Room Service plays its final performance at the SoHo Playhouse April 8. The play ends after 12 preview performances and 158 regular performances.

Room Service, written by John Murray and Allen Boretz and directed by Dan Wackerman, began previews Nov. 17, 2006, and opened on Nov. 28. The production originally started Off-Off-Broadway at the Bank Street Theater from July 6-Aug. 5, 2006.

The revival is presented by the Soho Playhouse and the Peccadillo Theater Company along with Jonathan Reinis Productions, Jeffrey Sine and The StoryLine Project.

The cast includes David Edwards, Fred Berman, Dale Carman, Sterling Coyne, Scott Evans, Blythe Gruda, Robert O'Gorman and Kim Rachelle Harris.

The simple plot involves a theatrical producer who is holed up in a Times Square hotel with 19 actors and a novice playwright just in from Oswego, NY. The scheming producer tries to court an investor for the show, while simultaneously dodging the hotel manager's many attempts to collect on the overdue bill.

The comedy is best known as a 1938 film vehicle for the Marx Brothers. It debuted on Broadway in 1937 and was directed by George Abbott. The cast included Sam Levene, Eddie Albert and Betty Field. The show ran a solid 500 performances at the Cort Theatre. A 1953 Broadway revival, with Jack Lemmon and John Randolph, had a brief life. In 1970 Ron Liebman starred in an Off-Broadway revival, and 16 years later the Roundabout Theatre Company produced a revival starring Mark Hamill.

Scenic design is by Chris Jones, costume design by Gail Cooper-Hecht and lighting design by Jeffrey Salzberg.

The Soho Playhouse is located at 15 Vandam Street between 6th Avenue and Varick Street.

The company of the Peccadillo Theater Company's Room Service.
photo by Carol Rosegg