Las Vegas Spotlight: November 2005

Pay a visit to Vegas’s three most reliable theater companies this month, and you’ll get a mini-tour of the history of stage comedy. From an ancient satire to a recent Broadway hit, big laughs are centerstage in November.

Starting November 4, the Las Vegas Little Theatre presents London Suite, written by playwright Neil Simon, the man who’s been putting Broadway audiences in stitches for over 40 years. A series of vignettes that take place inside a posh English hotel, London Suite is four plays in one. The impressively large 12-person cast is under the direction of Frank Mengwasser.

Meanwhile at the Theatre in the Valley, Charles Busch’s 2001 play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife will be tickling funny bones with Busch’s trademark wit and naughty humor November 10-20. The allergist’s wife of the title is Marjorie, a middle-aged Manhattan yuppie whose routine of shopping and museum-hopping is disrupted when a mysterious and alluring old friend suddenly shows up at her door. Susan Lowe and Dee Drenta play Marjorie and the intruding friend, roles that were originated by Tony nominees Linda Lavin and Michele Lee.

At the Community College of Southern Nevada, look for another timely revival of the ancient Greek classic Lysistrata. Written by Aristophanes (the Neil Simon of his day), the play is about a group of Athenian women who vow to withhold sex from their husbands until they end the war that they have been fighting for over 20 years. Is there any doubt that the women will win out in the end? The production runs November 11-20, and tickets are a great value at only $10 ($8 for students and seniors).

Also at CCSN, for a limited engagement, is Confessions of a PT&A Mom. In her bawdy one-woman show, local stand-up comedian (and local PTA vice president) Carole Montgomery talks about how she balances her comedy career and her life as a wife and mother. Montgomery offers up her Confessions on November 13 and 20, and again on December 2, 3, and 9.