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"Paul Simon wrote about the melancholy of “The Sound of Silence,” in the sixties. By contrast, Neil Simon showed us just how funny the sound of silence could actually be in the seventies when he wrote “The Sunshine Boys,” performing locally at the Round Barn Theatre in Nappanee through November 3. Dan Hasty as Willie Clark and Thomas J. Besler bring that silence to life in this production. Of course Neil Simon is famous for clever lines, one piled up on top of another, along with his arresting plots, but some of the funniest moments in “The Sunshine Boys” come when these two aging Vaudevillians, now on the outs with each other, silently adjust and readjust the chairs in Willie’s hotel room as they attempt to rehearse for a comeback performance in a television special. The sound of silence, when nothing is said and everything is communicated clearly and hilariously, is a sign of Simon’s genius as a writer, the performers craft in comedy, and Director Ryan Schisler’s canny and perceptive management. Dan Hasty as Willie is by turns garrulous, petty, thunderous, but he is also perplexed by what age and circumstance has done to him, frustrated by his inability to get roles as a solo talent, and unwilling to admit there has been any diminishing of his skills and memory. Hasty moves like someone who suffers with each step, a comedic King Lear who cannot admit he no longer sits on the comedy’s throne. And always, the deaths reported in each weekly issue of Variety remind him everyone’s candle will eventually gutter out, and Willie, for one, intends to rage against the dying of the light. And crack jokes while so doing. What makes this play work is the chemistry between Hasty and Besler. Like any good marriage, they demonstrate the only thing worse than being apart is staying together. We sink into life’s slough, yet we are not alone, even in hilarious despair."

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-The Sunshine Boys, reviewed by Frank Ramirez Lead Pastor, Union Center Church of the Brethren Resident Reviewer and Blogger (Sometime Actor)

 

"Lends goofy charm as the world's dumbest criminal and most reluctant lover. His baffled expressions while being seduced by Bridgette Karl's sexy Jeannie Muldoon in "Do It Again" are priceless, while both performers amp up the charm in the Gershwins' clever jab at clichéd song lyrics, "Blah, Blah, Blah."

 

-Nice Work If You Can Get It, reviewed by Larry T. Collins, of The News Leader. The Tent Theatre in Springfield, MO

 

 

 

 

"Dan Hasty gets lots of laughs as harried clerk Ladislav Sipos, whose philosophy of life -- "Do not lose your job!"-- is wittily expressed in the tongue-twisting "Perspective."

 

"Hasty, the scene-stealing Ladislav Sipos in She Loves Me." 

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-She Loves Me, reviewed by Larry T. Collins, of The News Leader. The Tent Theatre in Springfield, MO

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"The most interesting man, for two scenes, however, is the butcher, Lazar Wolfe, safe in the

talented hands of Dan Hasty."

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-Fiddler on the Roof, reviewed by J. Peter Bergman of Berkshire Bright Focus.

The Mac Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY

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"Dan Hasty is just wonderful as The Monster, staggering, groaning, singing, dancing and

making love like Clark Gable."

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-Young Frankenstein, reviewed by J. Peter Bergman of Berkshire Bright Focus.

The Mac Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY

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"Dan Hasty as the Texas money man Abner Dillon turns in a believable character even

though he's about forty years too young for it."

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-42ND Street, reviewed by J. Peter Bergman of Berkshire Bright Focus.

The Mac Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY

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"Dan Hasty (Friar Lawrence and Peter) was a particular stand out, if such were possible.

You can tell how much he loves the words themselves and is a very strong actor."

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-Romeo and Juliet, reviewed by Jessica Vaughan, DC Metro Theatre Arts. National Players Tour 64

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