Actors add extra zest to comedy’s debut

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Scott and Ellen Phelps, married in real life, play a married, but troubled couple in "Sirens."

Updated: February 7, 2012 8:00PM

In “Sirens,” Deborah Zoe Laufer’s romantic comedy making its Midwest premiere at Citadel Theatre, a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary bumps head-on into a midlife crisis as they take stock on the state of their marriage.

The 90-minute play, directed by Will Casey, is entertaining, though predictable. Yet it benefits from an exceptional cast led by the real-life husband-and-wife team of Scott and Ellen Phelps, who first met in 1982 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

In “Sirens,” Sam, a songwriter whose one and only hit was inspired during his courtship of Adele, finds himself in a funk, depressed that his career has stalled in neutral.

What’s more, he’s convinced the best part of his life is behind him, that “every thrilling thing has already happened.”

Despite a companionable relationship with Adele, Sam longs for the passion the two once shared as newlyweds. To boost his ego, Sam has opened a Facebook account, where he posted a flattering photo of a much younger version of himself. The website attracts 132 “friends” — all women except for his brother — and Sam searches the Internet in vain trying to track down an old high school sweetheart.

To recharge their emotional batteries, the couple decide the time is ripe for a Mediterranean cruise to the Greek Isles. But the plan goes awry when Sam jumps overboard in response to the enchanting call of a Siren (Cassie Johnson, who also plays a travel agent and waitress), an ancient mythological creature whose song for centuries has lured unsuspecting seamen off course to a watery grave.

Homer’s hero, Odysseus, survived the watery trip to the Siren’s island, and somehow Sam also manages to land safely. On the island, the comely Siren tempts him with an offer of sexual favors. But the proviso that instant death would follow any such dalliance gives Sam pause.

Meanwhile, a week passes. Adele is back home in Manhattan and wondering if life also has passed her by. Is the grass really greener up yonder, or is it just an illusion?

She aims to find out during an impulsively arranged dinner date with Richard Miller (Matt Pratt), her long- ago schoolgirl crush. But their get-together coincides with Sam’s unexpected return — and generates some of the play’s biggest laughs.

Scott and Ellen Phelps, seasoned performers who add plenty of zest to the production, last played opposite one another in late 2010 in Citadel’s successful revival of Neil Simon’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” which Casey also directed. Scott is artistic director of Citadel and Ellen is one of its founding members.