Jennifer Chung Klam

San Diego Arts

'The Hit' at Lamb's Players Theatre

Murder, mirth, meringue
By Jennifer Chung Klam
Posted on Jun 16 2008
Last updated Jun 16 2008

Imagine you’ve got a terminal illness and hire an assassin to kill you when you least expect it. Only you fall in love and change your mind – but now you can’t get a hold of your flighty assassin!

That’s the goofy basic premise of “The Hit,” a light romantic-comedy-thriller that whips up far-fetched frivolity spiked with lots of laughs. Lamb’s Players Theatre presents the world premiere play by Mike Buckley, better known as an award-winning set designer who’s worked on more than a hundred shows at Lamb’s.

In this show, the owner of an antiques store barely staying afloat finds out she’s got cancer, and the outlook is grim. Susan can’t bear the thought of her sensitive little brother watching her die slowly and painfully – the same way their mother went. So she hires a hit man to do a “Kevorkian” on her, hoping brother Steve will collect the insurance money and pursue his math dreams at Stanford.

Mike Buckley and Cynthia Gerber in 'The Hit.'

Photo: Ken Jacques

After some mistaken identity shenanigans, it turns out Susan’s hit man is really a woman – a perky, quirky and irresistible young woman perfectly embodied by actor Season Duffy. Her character, Samm, has no experience at whacking people, unless you count the time she accidentally “iced” an old lady by scaring her to death. But after sampling a dozen potential careers to her dissatisfaction, she’s trying out the family business working for Uncle Slavo, a greasy thug who leans on debtors for the Russian mafia. Or something like that. David Cochran Heath’s guttural, faux-Slavic mumbo jumbo is a hoot.

To complicate things further, Susan is falling in love with the widower (Sam with one ‘m’) that she first mistook for the hired gun. Samm and Steve are pretty gaga over each other, too, but can’t date because of the serious conflict of interest.

In addition to writing the script, Buckley also created the antique shop set crowded with props, and plays the sweet but romantically clumsy widower. Buckley and Cynthia Gerber as Susan are charmingly awkward in their hot-cold dynamic relationship, as they slowly allow themselves to become vulnerable.

But Samm and Steve are the truly captivating couple, with their mathematically punning flirtation and high energy. Chris Bresky’s Steve is overly hyperkinetic but lovable, while Duffy enlivens every scene she’s in.

Paul Maley and Gail West fill in as a dozen different shoppers and oddballs and tourists, adding to the merriment.

The sturdy cast and production team, led by director Robert Smyth, lend a sit-com feel to the play’s lightweight chatter. The laughs come quick and easy, up until a screwball ending attempts to hastily wrap it all up and asks a bit too much from the audience.

In Heath’s preamble to remind audiences to turn off cell phones and check out “Boomers” at the newly upgraded, Lamb’s-operated Horton Grand Theatre, he called “The Hit” a “fluff dessert,” a “lemon meringue pie.”

It’s an apt description. Not very nutritional, but it’s a tasty treat.

About the author: Jennifer Chung Klam is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer.
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