#Fully committed actor full

Hellish events in the less than posh basement of an unnamed restaurant catering to the rich and famous this brisk, satiric romp managed to keep me fully engaged. A feisty senior citizen who managed to snag a reservation but left the famous eaterie sufficiently unimpressed and unintimidated to complain about the fact that her AARP discount was not honored, the small portions of what the restaurant euphemistically tags as its 'sampling menu' and the fact that these dishes ranged from lukewarm to 'freezing''cold.Īs for the center of this modern day upstairs-downstairs comedy, my visit to Sam's world of He's eager to have his son spend Christmas with him, but, unlike the strangers Sam must deal with, is never unreasonably demanding. The irascible chef whose acute sense of taste does not extend to being able to tell a nonentity from a celebrity and whose tough bossiness hides a fragile culinary ego.

A handful of the more ordinary people Sam talks to come off as fully-rounded, flesh and blood characters. Nina and Tim Zagat do double duty as mentioned celebrities and as triggers for the crisis that propels the lean cuisine plot. His input during the play's development accounts for the secondary author credit 'based on characters developed by Becky Mode and Mark Setlock.' Many of the characters are mere quick sketches to skewer the types who jockey for key playing positions in the Manhattan status game and for the fun of dropping illustrious names such as Phillip Johnson, Henry Jravus and Diane Sawyer.

Mark Setlock, who deftly and with lightning swift timing plays Sam and the more than two dozen callers from inside and outside the restaurant is also no stranger to the role of restaurant employee. However, she has followed the popular 'write about what you know' advice commonly given to young writers, by mining her stints at establishments like Bouley for this her first stage play. Mode, who currently writes for the Cosby show, no longer needs to make ends meet with part-time restaurant jobs.

#Fully committed actor full

As the dishes have fancy names so being full up or fully booked becomes 'fully committed.' Ms. The title of Becky Mode's play alludes to the pretentious euphemisms that pervade the upper echelons of the culinary establishment.