Don’t Dress for Dinner

Suddenly French farce is back in vogue in America. Not the 19th-century kind, which has attained classic status and goes into repertory at establishment theaters. No, the still spicier mid-20th-century variety — which until now had great popularity around the world, if not always in the United States, but not the respectability it has newly earned.

For instance, Marc Camoletti’s Boeing-Boeing, which ran barely three weeks when it first appeared on Broadway in 1965, won the Tony Award for best revival last season. It earned back the money from its investors (including the Dallas Summer Musicals) in record time. You can expect to see a tour coming through here next year.

And now Theatre Three is presenting a later farce by Camoletti, Don’t Dress for Dinner. In it, the hero, expecting his wife to be visiting her mother, invites his mistress to his country house. Of course, the wife shows up, as does the hero’s best friend. Madcap madness ensues.

John McLean, a former Theatre Three performer who moved to Paris in 1970, returns to Dallas to direct. McLean was in charge of the company’s 2003 hit Transatlantic Liaison and took it to an acclaimed off-Broadway run three years later. Don’t Dress for Dinner is much lighter stuff: We’ll see if the director has as much talent for theatrical soufflés as for meaty drama.

Where:	Theatre Three 2800 Routh St. Dallas, TX 75201
When:	Feb 5-March 8 Preview shows Feb 5-8: Thu 7:30 pm Fri-Sat 8 pm Sun 2:30 and 7:30 pm Regular run: Opens Feb 9 Mon 7:30 pm Thu 7:30 pm Fri 8 pm Sat 2:30 and 8 pm Sun 2:30 and 7:30 pm
Price:	$10 to $40

Call 214-871-3300