Wrong for Each Other

One thing you know you can count on when B Street Theatre tackles a Norm Foster comedy is that it will be funny, obviously, but also tender, touching and tight. Very tight. Not a second is wasted in the latest Foster show, Wrong for Each Other.

The warmhearted comedy, comfortable and nonthreatening in any way, tells the story of Norah (Melinda Parrett) and Rudy (Kurt Johnson), who met, fell in love, got married and then divorced. When they meet again nearly four years later, sort of by chance but more by stalking on Rudy’s part, the two flash back through the highs and lows of their relationship, adding comments in between those memories.

The actors do a sterling job throughout this now-and-then adventure. They’re shy and flirty upon first meeting, gradually becoming comfortably at ease and then on edge. Parrett gets the tone just right as the diffident, difficult-to-get-a-handle-on Norah, while Johnson is completely without artifice as the affable Rudy. How could an audience not root for these two to succeed? Spoiler alert: Whether they will remains undecided at play’s end, but there is hope. That’s another thing you can count on from Foster.

Director Lyndsay Burch, scene designer Samantha Reno, lighting designer Ron Madonia, and stage manager Anthony Poston have collaborated on a production that moves seamlessly in time and location.