Characters
at Paulus’ A.R.T.)
The wise old man role of Joe has gone to Richard Kline, the actor best known as Jack Tripper’s swinger pal Larry Dallas on the ’70s sitcom “Three’s Company.”
Connecticut has had plenty of chances to assess Kline’s talent as a theater actor.
“The first time I was ever onstage was in Connecticut, when I was in summer camp at Bantam Lake in Litchfield,” he says.”I lip-synched to a record.”
He also played Jeeves in the U.S. premiere of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Alan Ayckbourn musical “By Jeeves” at the Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre in 1996. More recently, Kline could be seen as King Arthur in “Spamalot” at Connecticut Repertory Theatre and Andie in “And a Nightingale Sang…” at Westport Country Playhouse.
After the “Waitress” tour ends for him this summer, he’s off to Boston to film the comedy “Love, Weddings and Other Disasters” alongside Diane Keaton and Jeremy Irons.
“There are two big tours I’ve had, ‘Wicked’ and this one,” Kline says. “People ask ‘What do you prefer’ … I find this one preferable. It’s a great stand-alone part in this wonderful dramedy. It’s just a sweet part.”
He also raves about the other cast members. “You’re going to freakin’ love Christine Dwyer. She’s been Elphaba in ‘Wicked.’ She’s as pure vocally as you can get.” (Dwyer has also toured in “Rent.”)
Kline has been able to disappear into stage characters as different as a stiff-upper-lip British butler and a moronic monarch from the Middle Ages. In his “Three’s Company” days, his face was often upstaged by his loud lounge-lizard shirts and jackets. Does he still get recognized from those days?
“Shockingly, I do. I don’t think I look anything like that anymore, but people come up to me all the time. Recently I was offered $20,00 for the parrot shirt I wore on that show, but I don’t have it. I even made some calls, but it’s gone.”
Kline’s specialty on the sitcom was “comic exposition,” he says, “saying outrageous things to get the plot going.” He serves a similar purpose in “Waitress.”
From his onstage perspective on the tour (wearing much more conservative clothing, as a settled Southern gentleman), Kline has witnessed that “Waitress” is a show for all ages, though some of those ages are more boisterous than others.
“The core enthusiasm that pushes the audience is teenage girls. The kids go wild.”
However, he says, “the show has universal appeal, but some jokes get bigger laughs in different areas.”
Ephie Aardema agrees. She plays Jenna’s workmate and confidante Dawn, who’s described in casting notices for the show as “sweet, sensitive, neurotic, stubborn and passionate.”
“In some cities, people have different theater manners,” she suggests. “Some audiences prefer to stay quiet. But in middle America, the lines about sugar and pie always get big responses. Some lines about pie get applause.”
Like Dwyer andKline, Aardema’s played in Connecticut before. She starred in the premiere of the ’60s-pop-scored musical “Sign of the Times” at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre in 2016 as a young woman who falls in love with a somewhat annoying yet perfectly charming eccentric guy who’s always hanging around. It’s not a far cry from what she now experiences as the jittery Dawn, who is romantically pursued by the relentless Ogie.
Aardema sees Dawn as a reflection of central themes in “Waitress.”
“Jenna sees the relationships that Becky and Dawn have as a mirror of her own. What Dawn finds in Ogie is what Jenna wishes she had,” the actress says. “Jenny has a very grounding, humanizing story, and a big part of it is her relationship with these two other women who are finding their own relationships.”
“I see Dawn as obsessive, quirky, empathetic, a little weird. I think she has a lot of fear and anxiety about finding love.”