The ENGAGEMENT PARTY at the Geffen Theater in LA

The clever one act, eight actor play THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY by Samuel Baum is in its final weekend at the Geffen Playhouse in LA.  It's a contemporary drama set in a NYC, Park Avenue penthouse apartment.  A beautiful, wealthy couple who can't keep their hands off each other are about to celebrate their betrothal with an intimate dinner party.  The select set include the bride's wealthy, Wasp parents, the couple's college chums and the groom's childhood bro from Carnasie.  The verisimilitude of drawing truth from fiction is established within minutes; the Harvard alums confirm their illustrious educational pedigree despite its pompous redundancy.  The cast of characters are painted with broad strokes; the beautiful blond "shiksa" Katherine engaged to the lucky "schmuck" Josh, her posh parents Conrad and Gail, Josh's Jewish classmate Alan, a Columbia professor who shuns wealth and Tony who tells it like it is having stayed true to his humble upbringing.  Cocktail banter crackles with cunning between Conrad and Alan on the pratfalls of prosperity.  This serves as an appetizer for the main event which begins brewing between Josh and Kai in the kitchen.  Kai reports to Josh at work.  His wife Hayley is Katherine's friend and college roommate.  Kai asks Josh to put in a good word with his well-connected, future father-in-law to help Hayley secure a coveted career position.  Understandably, Hayley had forbade him from doing so.  Kai shares Hayley's recent struggles with addiction and depression.  What's surprising is Josh's curt refusal to get involved.  Meanwhile, much ado is being made of the $300K bauble Josh put on Kat's finger as it's being passed around for inspection.  Red wine is flowing and gets spilt upon the table in a heavy handed metaphor. After the cleanup, the sparkly trinket is found to be missing.  Josh suspects Kai of having sticky fingers. Kat is taken aback that Josh could contemplate such contemptible behavior of his friend only to find herself culpable of thinking Hayley as complicit. To say the dinner party was not a festive jubilee is a major understatement.  The guilty party scenarios were enticing but the play's payoff falls short like a flattened soufflé with too many treacly ingredients in the mix.  The dialogue felt stilted and the acting felt somewhat stiff.  Although, Bella Heathcote as Kat and Mark Jacobson as Alan both provided smooth performances.  Too bad Wendie Malick in her role as Kat's mom was undercooked.  However, there were tasty tidbits to savor in this diverting drama.  I favor THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY as a pleasant palette cleanser.  But, overall it was underserved as a biting social satire having missed ample opportunities to stain with scathing, indelible commentaries.