By Marilyn Jozwik
Oldsters doing the unexpected or outrageous has always been fodder for comedy. Seniors dropping F-bombs, smoking joints, or dressing like youngsters always get a laugh.
In “Nana’s Naughty Knickers,” Sunset Playhouse’s latest offering, we see a 73-year-old grandmother, Sylvia (Colleen Hart), who has turned her NYC apartment into a boutique for a line of racy lingerie for senior women she makes by hand. It’s a funny concept especially with the frills playwright Katherine DiSavino has tacked on, namely a tricked-out apartment left over from speakeasy days. Hidden levers in Sylvia’s apartment open closets and cabinets to reveal glitzy displays of her wares that awe customers who visit her “shop.”
The business has been going silky smooth for Sylvia until her granddaughter, Bridget (Angela Bolmes), a law school student, comes to visit for the summer. When she stumbles across her grandmother’s side hustle, she is appalled to see nana dealing in such a commodity. Plus, it’s illegal to run a business in the apartment and the IRS hasn’t been let in on nana’s lucrative secret.
Sylvia (Colleen Hart), left, and her friend Vera (Cathy Marschall) plan strategy for Sylvia’s lingerie business in a scene from Sunset Playhouse’s “Nana’s Naughty Knickers.”
To complicate matters further, the neighborhood’s handsome cop (Eric Boldger) is sweet on Bridget and doesn’t miss a chance to visit her at Sylvia’s apartment. Another snag in Sylvia’s lingerie business is her building’s owner, Gil (Jim Mallmann). He would love any excuse to get rid of Sylvia, a 50-year tenant at the prime NYC location, and get considerably higher rent from a new tenant in the currently rent-controlled apartment. Gil becomes suspicious of the parade of people and packages to Sylvia’s apartment.
All this leads to hijinks as Sylvia’s bawdy business is on the brink of exposure.
Director Donna J. Daniels keeps the action at a fast clip in this 85-minute laugh fest.
Hart embodies the spunky Sylvia and remains nonplussed through ringing telephones (there’s still a landline), doorbells and shouting doormen, inadvertent closet openings and a frantic granddaughter afraid nana might get evicted or end up in the hoosegow.
Bridget (Angela Bolmes) shares a sweet moment with Policeman Tom (Eric Boldger) in a scene from Sunset Playhouse’s “Nana’s Naughty Knickers.”
Bolmes follows up a stellar performance in Sunset’s fall comedy “Murder at the Howard Johnson” with another fine turn as Sylvia’s granddaughter. She hits all the right emotional levels as she tries to dissuade her grandmother from continuing the business with practical reasoning, but then flails into action when she realizes she has to keep things under wraps. All this while maintaining a rocky relationship with her cop beau.
The icing on this deliciously funny cake is Syvia’s friend, Vera (Cathy Marschall). Marschall’s Vera is big and boisterous, a lovable loudmouth who is happy to join Sylvia in her business venture—especially since she gets to model lingerie with hilarious results. Marschall gets all the physical humor here and delivers a bunch of laugh lines to perfection.
Boldger adds some nice male eye candy to the female trio while Mallmann is suitably crusty as taciturn landlord Gil. Mallmann was paired with Bolmes in Sunset’s successful “Murder at the Howard Johnson.”
Smaller roles also get top drawer ratings here, especially Jenny Kosek as the goth-dressed Heather, who forms an unlikely partnership with Slyvia, and Sandra Pocaro as Gil’s wife, who throws a wrench into the landlord’s plans.
The cast of Sunset’s Playhouse’s “Nana’s Naughter Knickers.”
Don’t look for any poignancy or meaning here, although there is one rather tender moment when Bridget asks Sylvia about her start in the lingerie business. Syvia explains that she worked for a bra company (interestingly, she mentions Maidenform by name) in sales because she wanted something meaningful to do. That little conversation was about as close to touchy-feely as the play gets. From there, it’s all rollicking non-stop misadventure as playwright DiSalvo goes straight for the laughs – no detours!
If you go
Who: Sunset Playhouse
What: “Nana’s Naughty Knickers”
When: Through March 22
Where: 700 Wall St., Elm Grove
Info/Tickets: SunsetPlayhouse.com/262-782-4430