MÉNAGE À MEH, OR
BOB & CAROL & DEAD & AIRLESS

Last Saturday, I caught the world premiere of Ménage à Quatre, a play that seems to promise a farce but instead delivers a muddled mess. Written by Peter Lefcourt and directed by Ryan O’Connor, the show is a guest production at the Davidson/Valentini Theatre at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The most shocking twist? For a play staged at a queer venue, the story centers exclusively on two straight couples. That’s not inherently a problem—unless, as here, the most interesting element happens to be the one gay character.

Daniel Montgomery

That would be Daniel Montgomery, the production’s not-so-secret weapon. Montgomery not only plays a gumshoe—one Ezra Pound (yes, like the poet, and yes, that joke is run into the ground)—but also narrates the show with self-aware panache. He’s the only actor who seems to know we’re in a would-be farce, leaning into noir tropes for the dick with wry detachment and just the right amount of cheese. The rest of the very well-cast ensemble is unfortunately stuck in sitcom realism, unaware they’re in a spoof. That tonal dissonance is one of the show’s fatal flaw.

Carly J. Casey, Jeremy S. Walker, Sarah Wolter and Matthew Downs

The script is the other. It plays like Lefcourt dashed it off between lunch and a punch-up on a TV pilot. And to be fair, he’s written brilliantly for television—Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Beggars & Choosers, Desperate Housewives, to name a few. But this marks my fourth encounter with a Lefcourt stage play, and it’ll be my last. Just because a man can structure a snappy 42-minute episode doesn’t mean he should stretch it across a full-length play—especially one without an intermission. I nearly created one myself by walking.

Jeremy S. Walker and Daniel Montgomery

As for the plot: Gary (Jeremy S. Walker) suspects his wife Jeannie (Carly J. Casey) is cheating. He hires Ezra Pound (still not funny), who discovers the affair is with Gary’s best friend, Reuben (Matthew Downs). Reuben’s wife Meg (Sarah Wolter) is understandably devastated. So what do these mature adults do? The cheaters dare the betrayed to have an affair of their own. They may or may not go through with it, but just in case, Gary and Jeannie hire the same detective to spy on them. By the time we reach this second round of marital espionage, the logic has left the building.

Carly J. Casey and Jeremy S. Walker

The play moves in dozens of short, punchy scenes, which seem designed more to pad the run time than build tension. Montgomery’s narration exists solely to stitch these fragments together, making you wonder if the format is there to support the play—or distract from it. Either way, it doesn’t work.

Jeremy S. Walker, Carly J. Casey, Sarah Wolter and Matthew Downs

If Ménage à Quatre is meant to be a satire of sex, marriage, and trust, it lacks the teeth. If it’s meant to be a sincere exploration of modern relationships, it lacks the depth. If it’s meant to be funny, Mr. O’Connor doesn’t fully commit—leaving the cast stranded in a no-man’s-land between punchlines and pathos, unsure whether to lean into the absurdity or aim for emotional truth. And if it’s meant to be a farce? Only Daniel Montgomery got the memo.

Sarah Wolter and Daniel Montgomery

photos by Frank Ishman

Daniel Montgomery, Matthew Downs, Sarah Wolter, Jeremy S. Walker and Carly J. Casey

Ménage à Quatre
Sweet Talk Productions
Davidson/Valentini Theatre at the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, 1125 N. McCadden Place in Hollywood
Fri and Sat at 8; Sun at 2
ends on August 17, 2025
for tickets ($30), visit Plays 411