‘I Hate Hamlet’ not funny enough to hit high note

One of the best lines in “I Hate Hamlet,” the ditsy comedy running through Sunday at Penobscot Theatre, comes from a surly L.A. producer who sums up the works of Shakespeare as “algebra onstage.” After all, who hasn’t felt at one time or another that the Bard requires an imaginative calculator for the vocabulary alone?

In this way, Paul Rudnick’s 1991 swashbuckling story has an entirely appealing demeanor because it throws a welcoming arm around those who relate to Shakespeare with impatience, boredom and bafflement. “I Hate Hamlet” simply pokes light fun at more than 400 years of idolatry and at the more contemporary obsessions and worries of an actor in a commercially driven industry. Filled with gags and goofiness, the show will either make your stomach hurt from laughing or your head hurt from shtick.

The “I” of the title is Andrew Rally, a B-level TV actor who arrives in New York to play the Dane in a summer production in Central Park. Andrew’s dirty secret is that he has always hated the role. But he’s no fool. He sees that if he takes the part, his girlfriend, exhilarated by the thought of her boyfriend starring as the lead on such a prestigious stage, will surrender her virginity to him. Playing Hamlet might also quell the stage vs. screen, high vs. low art career dilemma buzzing in Andrew’s head.

In the central conceit, Rudnick places the action in Andrew’s new digs, the Gothic apartment once inhabited by the legendary actor John Barrymore, whose 1920s portrayal of Hamlet is considered one of the best on American stages. Early in the first act, Barrymore is summoned from the dead and shares, among other flamboyant insights, that the key to playing a first-rate Hamlet is tights.

If it all sounds rather silly, well, it is. Too silly, in fact, for my tastes. “I Hate Hamlet” is a “Noises Off” wannabe and for all its brilliant one-liners – and there are many, most of them delivered by Barrymore – the play just doesn’t have much substance. Who cares if Andrew hates Hamlet? Frankly, I’m not all that fond of Andrew and seeing this production didn’t offer much reason for me to change my mind.

Patrick Zeller puts good energy into this limp role, and Alexie Gilmore, as his holding-out-for-mister-right girlfriend, plays the cute card. But even the love story – my virginity for a Hamlet? – treads into inane territory and these two actors can’t save it.

Catherine LeClair jockeys between sharp comedic delivery and goofiness as Felicia, the pushy real estate agent-cum-seance-director who lands the apartment for Andrew. And James Bocock’s fidgety performance as the slick and wormy producer from L.A. comes off more like a used car salesman in New Jersey.

If it weren’t for the grace of Carolyn Lowery as Andrew’s sophisticated New York agent and for the alacrity of Michael Mendelson as Barrymore, whose hamminess lights up the stage, the show would seriously lack the Noel Coward-esque spirit that Rudnick invokes. Mendelson may be adding a bit too many fay touches – and wasn’t Barrymore clean-shaven when he played Hamlet? – but his antics of drunkenness, cynicism and general personal calamity drive the piece forward. He creates a florid image of The Great Profile that is believable and dynamic.

While “I Hate Hamlet” is an entertaining script to read, it feels hokey and overly choreographed in performance. It is funny – just ask anyone who was bent over in laughter on opening night. But the humor works for only so long and then the play becomes histrionic and slight, slipping clunkily between cartoon and sitcom.

What is disappointing about the Penobscot Theatre production of “I Hate Hamlet,” directed by Christopher Dolman, is a combination of unconvincing special effects, unattractive costuming and a flimsy set. After the carefulness and solidity of other recent productions, namely “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Angel Street,” as well as Dolman’s “Jack and Jill: A Modern Romance,” this show seems limited, if not cloying. I’ve come to expect more from this troupe. That’s the problem with seeing an excellent show, after all. It breeds expectation for more excellence, and this production didn’t hit as high a note this time.

Penobscot Theatre will present “I Hate Hamlet” Thursday-Sunday through May 18 at the Opera House on Main Street. For information, call 942-3333.