The Pleasure of His Company (by Samuel Taylor, with Cornelia Otis Skinner) is the first suavely managed drawing-room comedy in several seasons. With Actress Skinner's help, Playwright Tayloron whose shoulders, more than anyone else's, has fallen the opera cape of the late Philip Barryhas contrived a bright tale of the prodigal father who, turning up for his daughter's wedding, turns everything around him upside down. And Cyril Ritchard, on whose shoulders have fallen both acting the prodigal and directing the play, has added greatly to the gloss.
Actor Ritchard plays an eternal playboy,...