The Play That Goes Wrong: All is Right in this Wrong
By Ross
Oddly enough, when I first saw this hysterically funny farce in London back in July of 2015, it was on one of those theatrical overload days when I also saw the Noel Coward play, Hay Fever at a matinee with The Play That Goes Wrong in the evening. Regarding that London day, I thought the Olivier winning production of The Play That Goes Wrong was “spectacularly funny“. How right this play was, and I hoped to get a chance to see it again over here on Broadway. I also wrote that I thought the Coward play was “tedious”, even while being charming and well done, commenting that I thought the production was slightly dusty. I’m happy to say that the Mischief Comedy Troupe’s Broadway transfer of that same madcap farce is just as exactingly done. Strangely enough, I saw The Play That Goes Wrong on Broadway the day after the viewing of another Noel Coward comedy, Present Laughter, currently starring Kevin Kline. I won’t give away my thoughts on that show as it opens later this week, but suffice to say, it was a déjà vu moment.
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, as introduced to us by its director, Mr. Chris Bean, played to perfection by Henry Shields (also one of the three creators), hasn’t had much luck recently with their theatrical endeavors. From his opening curtain speech, it sounds like they have had more disasters then one can imagine. So with that being said, we are told we are about to see their new production of a 1920’s style murder mystery play, Murder at Haversham Manor, the serious play within the ridiculous. And as that saying goes, what can go wrong, does go wrong, and boy, do they do it spectacularly. Without a dull unfunny moment in this two hour production, I’d say it’s quite an achievement, one that even on second viewing, kept me laughing from the first second to the last.
The original entire London company, made up of Rob Falconer (Trevor/lighting and sound operator), Dave Hearn (Max/Cecil Haversham), Henry Lewis (Robert/Thomas Colleymoore), Charlie Russell (Sandra/Florence Colleymoore), Jonathan Sayer (Dennis/Perkins), Shields (Chris/Inspector Carter/Director), Greg Tannahill (Jonathan/Charles Haversham), and Nancy Zamit (Annie/stage manager), all are on point, playing actors or stage hands within the play within the play, making madcap mistakes perfectly. It takes a lot of talent to be this bad and act terribly so well, and this troupe mess up, fall down, get their lines out of sync, and ride this disaster out to the end, miraculously. The creative team of set designer, Nigel Hook, lighting designer, Ric Mountjoy, sound designer, Andy Johnson, and costumer designer, Roberto Surace, recreate their wonderfully exacting disastrous work here. All deserve our utmost respect and applause, especially the director Mark Bell and writers, Lewis, Sayer, and Shields (all three part of the ensemble) who make up the comedic troupe, Mischief Theatre in London. It’s nearly impossible to pick a standout performance from the lot, although I found Hearn as the hapless actor, Max Bennett playing Cecil Haversham, the brother of the murder victim, particularly well written and superbly enacted. His grin is infectious, as is the whole darn production. If this is failing, then it’s the best failure I’ve seen on stage since the madcap Noises Off last year at the Roundabout. So break a leg, boys and girls, we’ll be laughing along with you all the way to box office success.
[…] @BwayGoesWrong https://frontmezzjunkies.com/2017/04/02/the-play-that-goes-wrong/ #Spill @ESTnyc @Ensemble Studio #LeighFondakowski […]
LikeLike
[…] dialogue with finesse, but the madcap fun or hilarity found in other Broadway theaters this spring (The Play That Goes Wrong) isn’t quite there. Maybe Coward is not quite brave enough for this modern time. It might just […]
LikeLike
[…] https://frontmezzjunkies.com/2017/04/04/lightning-thief/ #ThePlayThatGoesWrong @BwayGoesWrong https://frontmezzjunkies.com/2017/04/02/the-play-that-goes-wrong/ @SweatBroadway #Studio54Theatre […]
LikeLike
[…] Nigel Hook The Play That Goes Wrong […]
LikeLike
[…] Outstanding Set Design for a Play David Gallo, Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong Laura Jellinek, A Life, Playwrights Horizons Stewart Laing, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory […]
LikeLike
[…] OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY A Doll’s House, Part 2 Caught Everybody If I Forget Indecent A Life Oslo The Play That Goes Wrong Sweat Tell Hector I Miss Him The […]
LikeLike
[…] ✅Oslo ✅Indecent ✅Doll’s House Pt2 ✅Sweat The Play That Goes Wrong ✅Heisenberg ❌The Present ❌The Encounter ❌Oh Hello ❌Significant […]
LikeLike
[…] Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong […]
LikeLike
[…] all the right kind of ways. The most fun I’ve had at the theatre since the equally madcap The Play That Goes Wrong. That West End to Broadway transfer had me laughing from beginning to end, but what The Government […]
LikeLike
[…] and subsequently ran for only 97 performances. But here at Hey, Look Me Over!, Clifton Duncan (The Play That Goes Wrong) does everything so right, with a great vocal assist from Kudisch, and the comic charms of Nancy […]
LikeLike
[…] On“. Performed with a hijacked fever by the goofy and handsome Mark Evans (Broadway’s The Play That Goes Wrong), it literally goes as right as rain, coming out of nowhere with pretty much nothing to do with […]
LikeLike
[…] The Winter’s Tale) and her Pa, portrayed with passion by Jason Bowen (Broadway’s The Play That Goes Wrong), on the other hand, love to have a whole lot of fun, dancing and partying to the joyous moves of […]
LikeLike
[…] Matt Harrington (Matilda) has been busy making audiences laugh as part of the cast of The Play That Goes Wrong. The California native had been on the company’s radar for some time before landing in the […]
LikeLike
[…] and property is none other than her childhood sweetheart, Pip Nickleby, played by Clifton Duncan (The Play That Goes Wrong), a good and generous soul giving shelter to the sick, dispossessed, and homeless.If that […]
LikeLike
[…] back in 2014 with an A list all-star cast, isn’t a solidly perfect farce, like Noises Off or The Play That Goes Wrong, but it does find frisky frivolity in the manic celeb-packed debauchery of this theatrical self […]
LikeLike