BOB'S HOLIDAY PARTY - Beverly Hills Playhouse

Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck

As another year slips away and multiple holiday bashes are taking place, Bob's Holiday Office Party! returns to Beverly Hills Playhouse for its 26 ^th season. And again, as for all those years, this longest running show in Los Angeles is outragedly funny; full of jokes, new adlibs, incredibly witty dialogues, and the super wacky actions from everyone on that stage. The laughing out loud does not stop throughout the play.  If you want to relax and laugh, Bob's Holiday Office Party! should not be missed!

The play is set in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, on a Friday night at Bob Finhead's E-Z Insurance agency in Neuterburg, Iowa. There is a lot going on in this little town. Year after year Bob puts up an annual Holiday party, where he welcomes his colleagues, friends, and clients to stop by his office for their annual holiday celebration. As the play begins, the drinks are the main attention and as the night progresses everyone who comes in is in a state of intoxication; therefore, the behavior of everyone accelerates from out of ordinary to the max of insanity. The mayor of the town is there as is his sexy wife,  the out of ordinary town sheriff, the twin beyond interesting sisters, a former classmate with an agenda and everyone else who has to show up at Bob's party.

But Bob has a dream. He dreams of becoming a professional inventor in a big city and leave that narrow-minded small town in the middle of Iowa. Will he be able to fulfill his dream and leave his hometown??! Among all the craziness, when everyone expresses how much he means to all of them, he realizes that he is the soul and the heart of that town.

Many interesting characters are repeating their parts in this year's production: Rob Elk (co-author, Bob Finhead), Joe Keyes (Co-author, Sheriff Joe Walker), Pat Towne (Mayor Roy Mincer), Peter Brietmayer (Elvin Bewee), Judy Heneghan (LaDonna Johnson), Johanna McKay (LaVoris Johnson), Mark Fite (Marty), Andrea Hutchman (Margie Mincer) and Sirena Irwin (Carol/Brandy). Their stunningly outspoken and openly sharp-tongued holiday humor touches upon local, political, and social comedy and many inside jokes.

Written by Joe Keyes and Rob Elk and produced by Julian McMahon, Charlie Loventhal, Rob Elk and Joe Keyes, this production is infused with extreme degrees of neurotic, beyond the imagination craziness. Under the direction of Matt Roth, this memorable production in its extraordinarily funny show will make you laugh on your way home, as you remember all the fun onstage.

Born in Hollywood, Bob's Holiday Party began as an improvised romp on December 2, 1995 at Theatre/Theater on Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood on Cahuenga. Since then, the party has been at The Hudson Theatres, The Zephyr Theatre, The Pico Playhouse, The Atwater Village Theatre, The Lounge Theatre, as well as The Elephant Asylum Theatre, The Third Stage in Burbank and many more.