"Last of the Red Hot Lovers" at North Coast Repertory Theatre

Katie Karel and Phil Johnson in "Last of the Red Hot Lovers."      Photo by Aaron Rumley

        Neil Simon’s 1969 Last of the Red Hot Lovers possesses more depth than an old episode of “Love American Style,” but it’s just as silly in its infatuation with the “with-it” topics of the time like the sexual revolution and smoking pot. Not that this affable comedy about a restaurateur’s middle-aged gotta-get-laid crisis isn’t funny. It can’t not be with the exasperated Phil Johnson starring as the beleaguered Barney Cashman. And North Coast Rep’s production, directed by Christopher Williams, co-stars three delightful – and highly entertaining– actresses as Barney’s very different but equally elusive “conquests”: Katie Karel, Noelle Marion and Sandy Campbell. (Review originally published in San Diego CityBeat on 9/13/17.)