From "The Desk Set," William Marchant's 1955 boulevard Broadway comedy, comes an observation for our own troubled economic times: "A recession is when your best friend loses her job; a depression is when you lose yours." Originally written to star the estimable Shirley Booth, the play is best remembered today via the 1957 film, in which Phoebe and Henry Ephron tailored Marchant's play for the talents of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, in the process altering the comedy's romantic angle. The stated mission of Retro Productions is to present "good theatrical stories which have an historical perspective—with an emphasis on the 20th century." In this none-too-confident production of Marchant's amiable bauble, we witness nothing less than the birth of the electronic age and the confrontation of human and machine. With Marchant as pesky guide to provide the chuckles, we step back into a "Mad Men" world minus the malice.
Bunny Watson (Kristen Vaughan) heads the busy research team of the Federal Broadcasting Company; her all-female staff includes the wisecracking Peg (Heather E. Cunningham), the efficient Sadel (Aubrie Therrien), and the neophyte Ruthie (Alisha Spielmann). Bunny's on-and-off romance with hesitant executive Abe Cutler (Ric Sechrest) is going nowhere when efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Matthew Trumbull) enters. He's there to install a new electronic brain, and suddenly the threat of unemployment looms in this cozy fact-finding office.
Though this presentation is retro enough to have three acts and two intermissions, Marchant tells his tale briskly, with a sharp ear for witty detail. In an age when Google rules, all this might seem quaint, but there's something refreshing in being reminded of a time when persons were actual, not virtual, fonts of knowledge.
In the cramped quarters of the Spoon Theater, "The Desk Set" is an ambitious undertaking, and although Rebecca Cunningham's set is attractively inventive, the cast, under the direction of Tim Errickson, often has an awkward time of it. And in this intimate space, some of the performances are too obvious by half. This doesn't apply to Vaughan, whose Bunny is the shining grace of this production. Never pushing her comedy, Vaughan's subtle characterization is believably charming and, when asked for, suitably poignant.
Oh, and I'd bet on these smart girls against Wikipedia anytime.
Presented by Retro Productions at the Spoon Theater, 38 W. 38th St., 5th floor, NYC. May 7–22. Mon., Wed.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.retroproductions.org.