'Proposals' an offer worth accepting.

• Author: Kolas, Paul
• Position: Local

Byline: Paul Kolas

'Proposals'

By Neil Simon, directed by Sally Holden. Presented by Worcester County Light Opera Company at the Grandview Playhouse, 21 Grandview Ave., Worcester. With Robin Shropshire, Rob Lynds, Julia Short, Eric Butler, Jonathan Dano, Jackie Fashjian, Jeremy Woloski, Kaitlyn Ekstrom and Eric Darden. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through Feb. 22. Tickets: $20 adults, $17 seniors & students. Group rates available. Tickets may be ordered at www.wcloc.org or by calling (508) 753-4383 and leaving a message.

WORCESTER -- Neil Simon's "Proposals'' didn't fare very well when it opened on Broadway in 1997, running for only 77 performances, which only goes to prove success and merit don't always converge the way they should.

It's a true anomaly in Simon's body of work, set in the outdoor backyard of a country cottage in the Poconos of the 1950s, and featuring an African-American housekeeper at the heart of its narrative. "Proposals'' has an elegiac resonance to go along with the laughs we expect from Simon. Written when he was 70, it's imbued with a reflective maturity far removed from the man responsible for the puppy love banter of "Barefoot in the Park,'' or bachelor shenanigans of "The Odd Couple.'' The ebb and flow of humor and pathos doesn't always mingle with seamless harmony, but under Sally Holden's gently incisive direction on Friday evening, Worcester County Light Opera Company sterling production made it clear that "Proposals'' is as thoughtful and embracing as anything Simon has ever written.

And that Clemma Diggins is one of the most memorable characters he has ever created. It's worth the price of admission just to see what munificent grace, warmth, wisdom and sly humor that Robin Shropshire brings to the role of the omniscient housekeeper for Burt Hines' (Rob Lynds). Sometimes narrating from the perspective of a ghost who's been dead for three years, Clemma tells the audience she can't remember if she was "colored'' or a Negro during that last summer at the Hines' summer cottage. Shropshire holds you in her grip every moment she's onstage, with her oracular performance.

Burt's daughter, Josie (Julia Short) has just broken off her engagement to Ken Norman (Eric Butler), a law student who doesn't take it very well, throwing a rock at a bush and killing a bird in the process. Ken's best friend, Ray Dolenz (Jonathan Dano), is an aspiring novelist who the previous year had an affair with...