Two 30-or-so-minute comedies start and end the program, My Funny Valentine, with the same stars (Rafael Petlock and Jamie Lee Butrum), but their appearances, tone of voice, demeanors, and relationship to each other differ distinctly, given sophisticated encouragement from director James Thaggard. In between, in Julian Off’s 1-900-Sex-Date, Petlock’s lonely Milton revs up enough gumption to call practiced sex worker Veronique (aka Ronnie), and that sets up a most unusual sexy-but-humorous romance. Jamie Lee Butrum may drop the laundry she’s sorting but not her come-on voice. He can actually smell it! What does that lead to? One funny date it’s great to go on with them. Rafael Petlock (as Man, professional looking and seriously reading a business file) is in a cocktail lounge in T.G.I.F. by Richard J. Budin, when Woman (Butrum, slick of manner and beautifully dressed) asks to sit at his table. As she tries every seductive trick, he counters about being a married man and not fooled by the probable motives of her approach and even her profession. Director Thaggard keeps the suspense at a high, and it’s satisfied finally at the same level . . . high, and mighty humorous. I’ve reviewed Connubial Bliss by Jo Morello and Jack Gilhooley before when it was part of a Gypsy Stage Co. anthology of plays starting in Tampa and touring west-coast Florida. At Starlite, direction (by Bob Trisolini) and different actors as married writers Marie (Bonnie Schiavone) and Charlie (Ryan Fitts) make a difference. Although they are still co-playwrights who are set to split, neither seems as strident, and each is more likeable in the Starlite presentation. Another difference is the agent of both, Leslie, as interpreted by Carolyn Zaput. Her attempt to get the writers together to finish a script for which they’ve been contracted is unbalanced by her attraction to Charlie, but it turns out to be very funny in this version of a seduction by Leslie. Trisolini’s direction of the couple in their quarrel is more subtle, but Cupid’s arrows hit deep into Leslie’s mixed emotions. The only thing I’d question is the increased emphasis on getting liquor from across the stage from Leslie’s office desk, which seems an empty device to keep the show (physically) moving. A brief opening to the second half of the program, Richard J. Budin’s Valentine’s Day, has Harold (David Downer, excruciatingly excited) hiding in bushes outside the home of his girlfriend Sharon (Lauren Ward, full of surprise). Has Harold really been shot with bow and arrow by someone calling himself Cupid who’s taken his cell phone, wallet and all contents, and—most importantly—his clothes? How and what Sharon finds depends, it seems, on what she looks for. Director Tim Guerrieri with his comical actors made this treat short and sweet.
