"MURDER AMONG FRIENDS"

"Of two 'Murders,' only one has life"

             EXCERPTED FROM NEWSDAY - 11/05/05             

    
    By Bob Barry
    Directed by Frederic DeFeis
    Set - Fred Sprauer
    Lighting - Al Davis
    Costumes - Lois Lockwood.
    Seen on Friday October 28.
    Article by Steve Parks

          Murder between spouses is so intensely personal that it often makes an easier 
target for comedy than drama. Especially when most of the players are potential 
suspects or victims. "Murder Among Friends," now getting a breezy dust-off by Arena 
Players director Frederic DeFeis and a few of his usual suspects, is just such 
a whodunwhom.

          But beware the hype. Though Arena promotes its current main stage confection 
as a revival of the "Broadway hit comedy/thriller," the 1976 run of "Murder Among Friends," 
starring Janet Leigh, lasted but 17 performances.

          Shenanigans commence as Angela(Tara Lawrence seems too young for this 
peri-menopausal role) crawls out of bed with her actor-husband'shunky agent 
(Jeff Lawrence, Tara's real-life husband). Judging from the flow of alcohol on 
Fred Sprauer's understated Gramercy Park set, New Year's Eve has started early. 
The adulteress and her lover have invited another couple over to share the Dom 
Perignon and witness the crime they've plotted - a staged robbery that ends violently. 
Predictably,hubby Palmer (imperious Vito Pipitone) is brewing his own double-cross. We're
never sure from whom the burglar (Ben Intonato, handsome even with a stockinged head) 
is collecting his payoff or if he's plotting a triple-cross. Throw in the comedicflair of Joan St. Onge
and straightman reliability by Martin Edmond as her husband, and the prospective bodies 
fall into place for this who-gets-the-shaft guessing game.