I curse the phrase “Always leave them wanting more,” because when it comes to media, I’m the one who wants more. More background, more explanation. I want to know why. Which is one of the reasons this play has stuck with me since I saw it on Monday night.

The American Swedish Institute’s (ASI) newsletter described Dinner for One as being based on a comedy sketch that is watched as a New Year’s Eve tradition throughout Europe. In an interview with the play’s creators printed in the program, Christina Baldwin described seeing the sketch playing on a loop during a tour of ASI and being fascinated by it. I, too, might have seen a bit of the sketch at the first Winter Solstice event I attended at ASI, but it didn’t have the same draw for me.

I’ve often gone back to the original source a movie was based on, hoping for additional background or clarification. In some cases, such as reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House after watching 1999’s The Haunting, I discovered a completely different story. In this case, I watched the original sketch and discovered the bones the play was built upon . . . and an ending that made sense in context but that I disliked. As with other American interpretations of British works I’ve seen (I’m looking at you, The Prestige), the American interpretation seems to have a lot more heart (or just more emotion in general?).

Even with a bit of a slow start, the play felt longer than its 60-minute run time, and I was glad for that. The actors had time to develop the relationship between Miss Sophie and James, her butler, before hilarity ensued in the form of James playing the parts of absent guests while getting progressively drunker. I also appreciated how the musicians were incorporated into the play–as soundtrack providers, as foley artists, as decoration, and as participants. Even the audience played a role. Before the theater opened for seating, we were asked to answer three questions that the actors would use to guide some of the performance (the title of your autobiography, your favorite vacation destination, and a sea creature). As a result, Jim Lichtscheidl, the actor playing James, was forced to come up with an extemporaneous romantic poem with the title “I Floss Until I Bleed.”

Perhaps I would be disappointed if there were more explanation. Sometimes friendships or relationships are difficult to define–either between James and Miss Sophie or between Miss Sophie and her guests. But I would have liked to know who Miss Sophie was mourning for the first few years shown in the play. Initially I’d assumed it was a husband, but later I wondered if it was said guests. And did James love Miss Sophie in a way it was difficult to express except through playing Mr. Winterbottom? Hard to say. But I appreciated the mystery in the play that was missing in the original sketch. Definitely worth paying the full market price for a ticket. And, as it looks like the play has become a holiday tradition at the Jungle Theater, I may see it again next year.

If you’d like a more traditional review/reflection on the play, Jill at Cherry and Spoon has described it beautifully here.