REVIEW: BESIDE MYSELF, A WORLD PREMEIRE COMEDY—Laguna Playhouse
- TheShowReport
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
In a Fast-Paced Mix of Thought-Provoking Revelations and Quirky Humor, BESIDE MYSELF has Audiences on the Edge of their Seats!
LAGUNA BEACH—NOV 8, 2025
In a world where modern anxiety meets magical possibility, where a radical, yet revolutionary new medical procedure has the ability to create a permanent remedy to existential crisis, unexpected problems can sometimes arise, resulting in serious post-operative symptoms. An esteemed doctor, for instance, has just created a new quick-fix craniotomy technology treatment to offer patients relief from a life of stress, but the procedure has surprisingly manifested an unforeseen conundrum: now the patients have a double dose of identity roles — a sort of Jekyll & Hyde complex…although a very funny one. One personality is understanding and compassionate. The other, not so much.
Corroborating this bodement is a real brainteaser of a play – a sparkling new world premiere comedy called BESIDE MYSELF, written by Paul Slade Smith, which follows two versions of one woman, trapped in a single body, as she wrestles for control in a witty, surreal exploration of contemporary psychosis, neurosis and personality disorder.
Speaking of brains, the show presents an unlikely premise, of course – that a bit of brain surgery performed by the elegant (but just a bit smarmy) Dr. Thatcher (Jacquelyn Ritz) can transform anyone suffering from profound nervousness or anxiety into a calm, confident, high-achieving individual.
You remember William Shatner in his ultra-panic mode in that famous Twilight Zone airplane episode, right? It was called “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet?” “There’s…something on the wing!!” Now picture a woman named Gemma (Erin Noel Grennan), first seen in a dentist’s office, who is really on the edge — profoundly nervous and anxious but zen personified — and who is now in her waiting room chair cowering, shivering, face-tapping and hiding herself from other patients while waiting for her miracle-working specialist to pop out of her office and tell her everything will be okay. Gemma, who’s in her own twilight episode right now, does this so convincingly that the entire audience has suddenly shifted their demeanor to anxiety as well. Some of them were actually wringing their hands.
Reassured with smiling platitudes and sales-pitchy promises by Dr. Thatcher and her bright-eyed “Stepford Wives-looking” assistant Sylvie (Alanna J. Smith), a walking, talking, beaming satisfied customer of the surgery herself, Gemma finally is talked into doing the procedure, trembling all the way.
It’s a hair-flipping, knee-jerking fight for self-control in a topsy-turvy show where all who undergo the mysterious procedure become as unrecognizable as a defense attorney turned prosecutor.
When Gemma emerges from the other side of surgery, it’s a complete night-and-day twist of personalities, and it soon becomes clear what is missing. Let’s just call it, a dose of humanity. Still in her hospital bed, she is calm, confident and cocky. So cocky, in fact, that she takes the flowers brought to her by her doting, wannabe boyfriend Colin (Thomas Edward Daugherty) and tosses them onto the floor the second he leaves.
Before long, Colin is wondering where the girl he knew went. Gemma decides to even leave her job, determining that it is not serving her interest. It’s not long before we see the transformed Gemma, along with a team of other split personalities who had the same operation, advising people to seek and destroy those who would demean or oppose them.
Paul Slade Smith (original Broadway cast of “Finding Neverland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and the Lincoln Center revival of “My Fair Lady”) is actually the author of four very successful plays: The Angel Next Door (which ran across the country in 2023); The Outsider (which won two Helen Hayes Awards in its Washington, DC premiere); Unnecessary Farce and Beside Myself.
You may have also seen him recently appear in the title role of "The Remarkable Mr. Holmes" at Laguna Playhouse. His signature blend of intelligent humor and theatrical innovation always seems to offer much entertainment and insight into his specialty — the complexities of the human psyche. So, following the first iteration at California's North Coast Repertory of BESIDE MYSELF, Paul's newest and wackiest comedy play (co-written with his wife, Erin Noel Grennan), it now currently runs at Laguna Playhouse through November 16th to standing ovations and much critical praise.
But great comedy has always had a special way of opening doors to complex subjects. Perhaps the most thought-provoking realization in the show's plot is that there are two diametrically opposed people inside each one of us: the person who possesses empathy and the one who does not.
But when the incredible David Ellenstein is the director, he always finds a way to make everything work out, even when a remote-control zapper enters the fray toward the climax. In fact, all the actors are exceptionally gifted and, other than Erin Noel Grennan as Gemma, play multiple roles. Matthew Henerson plays Karl and others; Christopher M. Williams plays Jerry and others; Alanna J. Smith is Sylvie and others; Thomas Edward Daugherty plays the boyfriend Colin and others; and Jacquelyn Ritz is the good doctor plus others.
The play runs a swift two hours, with intermission, and ends up as an upbeat note of healing and friendship. The story, playful as it is, gives us all a thoughtful lesson that our minds are simply made up of many compartments, and what we sometimes perceive as unbearable personal stresses are really nothing more than life's daily challenges thrown at us, most of which can be overcome quite easily, and often making us all the better for the experience.
LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS – BESIDE MYSELF, A WORLD PREMIERE COMEDY; by PAUL SLADE SMITH; Directed by DAVID ELLENSTEIN; LP Managing Director ADELE ADKINS; Scenic Design by MARTY BURNETT; Costume Design by ALINA BOKOVIKOVA; Lighting Design by MATTHEW NOVOTNY; Sound Design by AARON RUMLEY; Props Design by MICHAEL WOGULIS; Hair & Wigs Design by PETER HERMAN. The Production Stage Manager is SHANNON HUMISTON.
CAST: TOM DAUGHERTY (The Angel Next Door at Laguna Playhouse, Bounce at the Kennedy Center) as “Colin, et al;” ERIN NOEL GRENNAN (The Angel Next Door at Laguna Playhouse, Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help at North Coast Rep) as “Gemma;” MATTHEW HENERSON (Twelve Angry Men at Laguna Playhouse, Shakespeare In Love at South Coast Rep) as “Karl, et al;” JACQUELYN RITZ (Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse, Fallen Angels at North Coast Rep) as “Dr. Thatcher, et al;” ALANNA J. SMITH (Fiddler on the Roof at La Mirada Theatre, Young Frankenstein at Walnut Street Theatre) as “Sylvie, et al;” and CHRISTOPHER M. WILLIAMS (Tartuffe, Holmes & Watson at Laguna Playhouse) as “Jerry, et al.”
BESIDE MYSELF plays from October 29th through November 16th. Performances are Wednesdays at 7:30pm; Thursdays at 2:00pm and 7:30pm; Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Sundays at 1:00pm & 5:30pm. There will be no performance on Sunday, November 2 at 1:00pm or Sunday, November 16 at 5:30pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Dr. in Laguna Beach. Tickets start at $56 and can be purchased by visiting www.lagunaplayhouse.com.
CHRIS DANIELS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWER
THE SHOW REPORT
Photo Credits: Aaron Rumley
