Mr. Pim Passes By

Who knew it would take to nearly 40 to dashing?

MST's amusing Mr. Pim shows audiences another side of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne
By EVERETT EVANS
Houston Chronicle

Winnie-the-Playwright?

Yes, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne wrote more than just those beloved stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and the rest.

In fact, the children's tales and poems Milne created in the 1920s to amuse his son (the real-life Christopher Robin) were but a small part of his overall output, which included more than 25 plays and 17 books, both novels and non-fiction.

For much of his life, Milne (1882-1956) rather resented the fact that the silly old bear had eclipsed all his other work in the public eye.

So Milne would no doubt relish Main Street Theater's engaging revival of his 1920 comedy of manners Mr. Pim Passes By, his most successful and best-known play. Playgoers who appreciate gentle humor, quaint charm and amusingly drawn characters will enjoy it, too.

The simple plot unfolds at the country estate of bossy judge George Marden and his patient wife, Olivia. Living with them is George's sweetly impertinent niece, and ward, Dinah, eager to marry her dashing artist boyfriend, Brian Strange. George, naturally disapproves of their union, while Olivia encourages it.

Into the staid household comes Carraway Pim, a meek and forgetful little man with a letter of introduction. When he casually mentions meeting one Mr. Telworthy on the boat from Australia, he throws the Mardens into a tizzy. For Telworthy was Olivia's first husband, long thought dead. And if he is alive, they have committed bigamy and their marriage is nullified.

This pleasant trifle boasts some solid laughs amid its droll conversations, as when George decries Brian's modern painting with its ``triangular clouds and square sheep.'' Things get a bit thick with George's fretting over what the law and the church will say about the breach of propriety. But the play is never out of sorts for long. It peaks in the scene of wily Olivia using the confusion to get the better of George, extracting his consent both to Dinah's marriage and the new drapes he detests. In a play of this sort, the wife always gets the better of the husband.

Director Steve Garfinkel, MST's go-to guy for period charmers, achieves crispness and the requisite light touch. With a play this slight, push too hard for laughs and it collapses. Garfinkel and his team seem to understand, easy does it.

Carolyn Johnson exerts sly style and worldliness as the quietly knowing Olivia. Rutherford Cravens blusters and fumes as irascible George. But when he fears he may lose his "old girl,'' Cravens conveys genuine tenderness.

Morgan McCarthy makes an ideal ingenue as Dinah, a delightfully pert minx aglow with dewy freshness and a touch of mischief. Andrew Ruthven's solid Brian nicely balances her vivacity; he's ardent with her, but tongue-tied pleading his case to her guardian.
As Mr. Pim, Fritz Dickmann wanders in and out absent-mindedly, vague and primly fussy, unaware of the havoc he's unleashed. Melinda deKay is stern and sour-faced as the inevitable disapproving aunt, while Lyndsay Sweeney scutters about obligingly as the housemaid.

Boris Kaplun has designed an attractive English parlor with its cozy nooks, and Sarajane Milligan has costumed its people handsomely.

With Mr Pim, MST lets Houston playgoers experience what Milne's writing was like outside the nursery. Given that J.M. Barrie has suffered a similar fate, with an even more significant playwriting career overshadowed by his children's classic (Peter Pan), how long before one of Barrie's neglected plays pops up at MST? Anyone for Dear Brutus or What Every Woman Knows?

everett.evans@chron.com

Mr. Pim Passes By
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 23. No performance Thanksgiving Day. On Nov. 29, Thursday show at 8 p.m.
Where: Main Street Theater, 2540 Times
Tickets:$20-$35; 713-524-6706.