The third production of the 2015-2016 season at The Stagecrafters, 8130 Germantown Ave., Sidney Howard’s lively screwball comedy, “The Late Christopher Bean,” opened on Friday, Feb. 5, and will run through Feb. 21. The play is a hilarious madcap satire on greed and moral frailty. (Photo by Sara Stewart)[/caption]

by Hugh Hunter

Now running at Stagecrafters, "The Late Christopher Bean" directed by Barbara Mills, is the most delightful and satisfying comedy I have seen in some time. It is the story of an impoverished artist and the ironic way his life brings out the avarice of those in power.

We never see Christopher Bean himself. He died 10 years earlier of tuberculosis and alcoholism while living in a leaky barn on the country estate of Dr. Milton Haggett. Alive, Bean was the object of scorn; then Haggett learns Bean's art works have become valuable, and the chase is on!

Playwright Sidney Howard adapted the comedy of Rene Fauchois, "Prenez garde a la peinture" (Be careful about the painting). The characters are now Americans in the Boston area. It is also1932 during the depths of the Great Depression, and the once well-off Dr. Haggett is feeling the pinch.

Plain speaking maid Abby had been Bean's only true friend, in a way his living spiritual legacy to the family. But when Abby makes plans to leave the Haggett's service, Mrs. Hannah Haggett is glad to get rid of her because she has found another maid with a more elevated bearing.

Jen Allegra is magnificent as Abby. It is hard to portray a character who is always humble and good without becoming cloying. But Allegra pulls it off. She finds a "flaw" in Abby — her gullibility. But since this flaw is also rooted in Abby's loving nature, it helps make the character's insistent kindliness feel plausible.

Almost like an American western movie, "Bean" gratifies your wish to see goodness triumph. Joining Abby among the "white hats" are Warren Creamer (Brian Weiser) a young artist, his lover Susan Haggett (Megan Farley) and Davenport (Mike Mogar), a principled New York art critic.

The greedy schemers fight them tooth and nail. Mrs. Haggett (Linda Palmarozza) and her daughter Ada (Rebecca Latimer) almost compete to see who can be the most grubby while two venal rogues from the New York art world, Tallant (Connor Behm) and Rosen (Joe Herman), are hilariously crafty.

Then there is the good doctor himself. Haggett's greed is so comically ardent it even takes over his bodily movements.  At times you feel an odd sympathy for him, the kind you might feel for any addict who falls helplessly victim to his own demons.

All action takes place inside the elegant family house (set design and decor, Scott Killinger, Yaga Brady). But the larger world is very present in the form of New York City power brokers and your own knowledge of the connection between personal greed and systemic financial collapse.

And that makes "Bean" topical indeed! It is the second Stagecrafters production this year set in the Depression era. (Previously they ran Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men.”)

"Bean" is a delicious and witty show that also manages to make a charmingly graceful commentary about our present state.

Stagecrafters is located at 8130 Germantown Ave. "The Late Christopher Bean" will run through Feb 21. Reservations available at 215-247-9913.