‘First Night,’ 2nd Chance

Jack Neary’s early-’80s comedy “First Night” falls in that no-man’s land of playwriting between the crazy-as-all-get-out ‘70s and the general return to sanity of the ‘90s. Even the snazzy revival at the Huntington Beach Playhouse can’t cover up the dated flavor and dramaturgical flaws.

First Night is a growing movement that started on the East Coast and has spread to communities nationwide--Fullerton has a big one each year--designed to replace the drunken orgies of New Year’s Eve with family-oriented public affairs. Coffee and soft drinks--no alcohol--are served, and, as one of the characters in the play says, “All the mimes are turned loose.”

The play takes place late on New Year’s Eve. Film-obsessed Danny Fleming is watching an old movie at the video store where he works. When he wanders into the back room, a smartly dressed Meredith O’Connor appears at the window, then sneaks in and hides behind a rack of tapes in order to jump out and surprise Danny.

These two haven’t seen each other in 20 years, since they were in eighth grade. Danny’s dreams of being a writer are all but forgotten, and Meredith’s two decades as a nun have come to a screeching halt.

What hasn’t changed are their feelings for each other. Danny and Meredith have secretly panted after each other all that time, and Neary expects us to believe that this convenient meeting on a romantic holiday is going to bring them immediately into relationship heaven.

Not.

In order to fill out the evening, they test each other; Meredith, like a good teacher, has her questions written on index cards. Danny continually talks to the audience, explaining his confusion and reluctance and filling in what Neary wasn’t adept enough to do in dialogue.

The characters bicker and snarl over the romantic “potential” each saw in the other at age 14 and generally make much ado about nothing.

*

This isn’t to say that “First Night” can’t make an enjoyable evening of theater. Here, director Gregory Cohen, seeing the play’s pitfalls, keeps things going at a sprint and stages the action with variety and assurance.

Still, what saves the whole thing are the performances. Della Lisi’s Meredith is charmingly naive about real life after 20 years of suppressed habits. Meredith is exuberant in this new territory, and Lisi knows how to flavor her dialogue with character that isn’t written in.

Even more effective is Jay Michael Fraley as Danny. Fraley’s comic timing makes most of Danny’s actions work, even the conversations with the audience. Fraley also shows a restraint--a sort of self-effacing boyishness--that usually makes the pubescent lust of this 35-year-old believable and funny.

Playwright Neary provides one charming gimmick that has a touch of magic. As Danny and Meredith leave the video shop arm-in-arm, Danny returns to the edge of the stage and asks the audience to hum “Auld Lang Syne” as the couple exit. It adds a hint of the sentimental endings of those old films Danny loves so much.

BE THERE

“First Night,” Huntington Beach Playhouse, 7111 Talbert Ave. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $13. Ends Jan. 31. (714) 375-0696. Running time: 2 hours.