Over cocktails in a perfectly pleasant 1950s living room, we meet Bob (Joe Swanson) and Norma (Rachel Postle Finch), who work for the US State Department. Along with their spouses, Millie (Elora Riley) and Jim (Theo Janke-Furman), respectively, they're also next-door neighbors and friends. But they're hiding a secret - all four of them are gay, and the real loving couples are Bob and Jim, and Norma and Millie. They are literally in the closet; they sneak back and forth between their connected Georgetown duplex homes through a coat closet. The faux heterosexual marriages allow them to live their private lives as they wish, while continuing to live and work in a society that doesn't accept homosexuality. It's the "perfect arrangement," except that they're living a lie and can only be their true selves alone behind closed doors. The situation becomes untenable when Bob and Norma's boss (Peter Colburn) instructs them to look for and weed out not just communists, as they have been doing, but also "deviants." Bob is convinced he can control the situation, while Norma does what she can to protect people. Adding to the complicated mix is the boss' less than bright wife (Julie Ann Nevill) that the women have to entertain, and Millie's former fling (Lily Rains), now a fellow State Department employee in danger, who threatens to expose them if she's not given her job back. All four members of this arrangement are forced to make choices, to decide if they want to continue living a lie, or be honest about who they are, suffering the immediate consequences in the hopes that it will eventually make things better for them, and those who come after them.*
Walking Shadow's Artistic Director John Heimbuch directs the piece and achieves the '50s sitcom feel. This is aided by the set design; a script note from the playwright specifies a set similar to that of I Love Lucy, so they did just that, recreating the look and layout in a way that makes it feel subtly familiar. With the sold out opening night audience providing the laugh track, I really felt like I was watching a live taping of a sitcom! That is, until the facade drops and we get more into the drama and complications of this life of a lie the foursome is forced to live.
The entire cast is great, particularly the four members of the love quadrangle, with almost two different performances - one the simple sitcom character, the other the real and complicated person behind closed doors. They're dressed in smashing '50s era outfits - sharp suits for the men, and color-coordinated full-skirted dresses, jackets, gloves, hats, and purses for the women, as well as some Laura Petrie inspired pedal pushers. There's no scenic designer credited since they based it on I Love Lucy, but the look they achieved is so clean and chic, with lots of fun '50s props, and period music. (Costume design by Mandi Johnson, lighting design by Aarya Batchu and Tony Stoeri, sound design by Thomas Speltz, props design by Sarah Harris.)
Both Home, I'm Darling and Perfect Arrangement remind us that the '50s were not as great as they may have appeared on those iconic TV shows, especially, in this case, for gay people, who were not free to be their authentic selves and live and love as they chose. The modern era is not great for the LGBTQ+ community either, and going back into the closet like Bob and Millie and Norma and Jim is not an option.
