Neil Simon wrote one perfect act for “Last of the Red Hot Lovers.” Unfortunately, it’s stuck in the middle of two others that, at least in the Penobscot Theatre Company’s current production, just don’t live up to the faultless hilarity of the one in the middle.

That one act however is worth the price of admission.

“Last of the Red Hot Lovers” opened on Broadway in 1969 in the midst of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement. Simon was 42, five years younger than his protagonist, Barney Cashman, and a hot commodity after the success of “Plaza Suite” a year earlier and “The Odd Couple” in 1965.

In an effort to join the sexual revolution before it passes him by, Barney, who runs the seafood restaurant he inherited from his father, sets up three potential trysts – one per act – at his mother’s apartment while she is off doing hospital volunteer work.

Elaine, the sex-crazed, booze-swilling, cigarette-smoking wife of a man who might have mob connections, is one of Barney’s customers. He slips her the address of the apartment along with the time and date on her receipt. Pot-smoking, free spirit Bobbi, Barney picks up in the park, and Jeanette, a victim of the free love Barney is seeking, is his wife’s best friend.

In her first show at PTC, Suzana Berger chose to play down in acts 1 and 3 the slapstick comedy and the exaggerated mannerisms of the New York stereotypes Simon exploits so well in the second act. That means the one in the middle sticks out like a sore thumb. The first act doesn’t prepare the audience for it and the third is an absolute downer by comparison.

To even things out, Berger should have pushed Joye Cook-Levy as Elaine to play the character more as a gangster’s moll and Jeri Misler as Jeanette to create a woman on the edge of something rather than a wronged wife out on a window ledge. While Sarah-Jane Casey may have gone way over the top in her portrayal of Bobbi, she is a non-stop belly laugh. On opening night, it seemed as if she single-handedly saved the show from the director’s too-serious interpretation.

Surrounded by all these women was Rich Kimball. He was delightful as the self-effacing Barney, so far out of his depth but so desperate to succeed. Kimball is best known as a character actor but he was able to carry the leading role because in real life he so affable. Barney’s sincerity, which Kimball wore like a second skin, made it impossible to dislike a guy who borrowed his mother’s apartment for afternoon delights.

Kimball is an actor who’s a team player. Put him opposite a charismatic actress like Casey, who raises the bar to the Opera House’s balcony, and he will follow. Put him opposite the low-key Elaine or the nervous Jeanette and he won’t upstage or overpower them. His Barney hit all the right notes, but he, Cook-Levy and Misler did not seem to be dancing to the same tune.

His tango with Casey, however, was perfection. Although her rapid-fire delivery with an English accent sometimes was hard to follow, her energy onstage was a delightful treat. Casey created the quintessential 1960s woman with flowers on her dress and marijuana in her purse. Her seduction of Barney is full of youthful energy and an absolute lack of self-awareness that was charming and wonderful.

Cook-Levy’s Elaine was too unpretentious, too undefined and not enough of a type for the audience to understand why Barney would ever give her an extra shrimp in her shrimp cocktail let alone invite her up to his mother’s apartment first. Elaine’s a married woman who has affairs instead of joining book clubs. The actress never showed the audience that. Her Elaine seemed as unsure and as tentative as Barney. That killed their comic interaction and made for a deadly dull first act.

Maybe women like Jeanette who take tranquilizers every few minutes and are in the midst of marital meltdowns just aren’t funny anymore. As Jeanette, Misler captured all the angst the character is going through since her husband casually told her he’s having an affair.

In the context of the play, Jeanette feels more like the device created to send Barney home to his wife than a fully developed character. In Misler’s hands, Jeanette was pathetic rather than sympathetic and after the joy and verve Casey gave the second act, her portrayal made the third one tough to sit through.

For “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” to be funny consistently nearly 30 years after it was written, the director and performers must give in to the stereotypes of the times as Casey and Kimball did in Act 2. If Berger had pushed Cook-Levy and to Misler to create more exaggerated characters, this might have been a show that audiences laughed at from beginning to end instead of just in the middle.

Logan Dixon is one unexpected and uncredited delight. Dressed as Barney’s mother in a gray wig and orange bathrobe, the 12-year-old actor resets the stage in between acts. He creates a mesmerizing character that bears an uncanny resemblance to Kimball’s Barney.

As always, the work of scenic and costume designer Lex Liang along with lighting designer Driscoll Otto put theatergoers in a time and place before the actors ever said a word.

“Last of the Red Hot Lovers” will be performed through Feb. 17. For tickets, call 942-3333 or visit www.penobscottheatre.org . Judy Harrison may be reached at jharrison@bangordailynews.net or 990-8207.

jharrison@bangordailynew.net

990-8207