Perfect. Just Perfect.

We saw a delightful confection of a play last night, called Perfect Wedding. As the lights come up, a man is waking up in pain. He rubs his head, then gasps when the lump next to him moves. It turns out there's a woman in there under all those covers. It's his wedding day, he has spent the night in the "honeymoon suite" next to someone who is not his fiancee. In fact, he's not entirely sure who it is.

The woman disappears into the bathroom to get dressed just before the best man arrives. The maid comes. Much confusion and hilarity ensue as the bride sweeps in, ready to get dressed, and eventually the bride's mother, who insists on singing even though she shouldn't even do so in private, shows up. Of course, the maid and the mystery woman have amazingly confusing names. Of course, the mystery woman turns out to be the best man's new girlfriend.

And of course, in the end, the original wedding is called off, the best man declares his love for the bride and ends up marrying her, and the groom and the best man's now former girlfriend take the honeymoon tickets and fly off to Jamaica. As I say, delightful confection.

One of the real pleasures of attending was that the actors nailed the timing. Doors opened and shut, lines were tossed off perfectly. I laughed most of the way through. And Happy Ending, of course.

This was all in marked contrast to the play we saw about ten days ago -- A Man for All Seasons. AMfAS started out fairly cheerful but a little foreboding and went downhill rapidly. At least the plot and spirit did -- the actors were superb, the story was good, and there were many quotable moments. One of my favorite roles was that of the king -- full of oblivious bonhomie, larger than life. His one scene involved an over-the-top costume that he wore to pilot a new boat down the river "with a little assistance, of course." The costume was supposed to represent a typical pilot's outfit, except made of finer materials.

The king's (Henry) main goal in the play was to get a divorce from his wife (Catherine) so that he could marry someone else (Anne). He and his minions had cowed just about everyone into agreeing to the arrangement, with Sir Thomas More refusing to comment. As the pressure built on More and his family, More became increasingly resolute to follow his conscience rather than to"go along in fellowship" with everyone else. The result, of course, was this particular king's favorite expediency, a head detached from a body, in this case More's. Not a Very Happy Ending.

Still, I relish these two nights of theater, provoking either thought or laughter or perhaps a little of both. Bravo.