The 40-seat theater was packed on opening night for Neil Simon's homage to Anton Chekhov, The Good Doctor. Based on short stories by Chekhov, Neil Simon created a delightful collection of nine vignettes narrated by The Writer. Director Tisha Tumangan brings together an outstanding cast led by Anthony Hamm, who bridges each scene as the Narrator/Writer and Anton and Anton's father in the final selection. Neda Najmi, in her first San Diego theater performance, is delightfully deceitful in The Governess and absolutely fantastic as an aging male naval veteran who verbally duels weekly with his aging army counterpart, amusingly played by Richard Lau. Lau also plays an arrogant Officer in "The Sneeze," wherein Richard Land plays an underling who inadvertently sneezes on the officer. Peggy L. Mundell plays the officer's wife, an extremely snooty type, and Jennie Olson is the chagrined wife of the sneezer.
Richard Land also excels in "The Seduction," playing a husband duped into relaying a potential seducer's messages to his wife (Jennie Olson). Olson captivates as a seashore performer in rags, willing to simulate drowning for a few rubles.
April Doctorlero has two interesting roles. In "The Governess" she is shy and totally dominated by her employer (Neda Najmi), while in a solo performance in "The Audition," she is totally over the top from pleading to cajoling for a chance to get a role. Peggy Mundell, in "A Defenseless Creature," is anything but defenseless as she cons a banker (Richard Land) out of a few rubles. In "The Arrangement," she is a streetwise prostitute being purchased by Anton's father on his 19th birthday.
Rebekah Jackson's scenic design is simple, practical, and works well. Costumer Jyothi Doughman offers a varied and most appropriate wardrobe. The unnamed lighting designer gives the cast several playing areas on the small stage and approach. M. Scott Grabau's sound design works well, too, in this worthy production.
