22nd Play - The Play that Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields & Jonathan Sayer
The off-Broadway (New World Stages) company of "The Play That Goes Wrong" - Jesse Aaronson as Max, Ryan Vincent Anderson as Trevor, Brent Bateman as Robert, Bartley Booz as Dennis, Matt Harrington as Chris, Ashley N. Hildreth as Annie, Chris Lanceley as Jonathan, and Maggie Weston as Sandra. The cast also includes Damien Brett, Laura D’Andre, Ellie MacPherson and Sid Solomon.(Photo: Jeremy Daniel)
I’ve heard a lot about this play - I think it’s still running on Broadway. Everyone seems to love it, so since I somehow have a copy of the script, I thought I’d check it out.
Summary: “Welcome to opening night of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a Broadway show—a ramshackle set, a leading lady with a concussion, and a corpse that can’t play dead. It’s a classic murder mystery… and it’s a mystery how it ever got to Broadway!” From Broadway.com
Laura’s thoughts in brief: Well, I will say that there were some times that I literally laughed out loud reading this. That doesn’t happen often when I read plays. So, they’ve got that going for them. Unfortunately, this is a play that needs to be seen. Most of the gags are visual. For anyone who has EVER done a play, there’s humor to be found in the mistakes that happen backstage and onstage during performances. And that is literally the WHOLE PLAY. So, funny, but … I just wanted a little more depth. I know, this is not the right play for that. As I said for the play 10 out of 12 that I looked at earlier (7/5/24), if you want to see a play fall apart, I think that Noises Off is still the better option. We don’t get to know the characters in this one very well, and the play starts to fall apart immediately (in a good way - that’s the plot). Maybe a little bit more of the play going right would make it funnier when it goes wrong? If you like slapstick and silliness, this is your play. It’s literally just one gag after another. I want a tiny bit more plot with my slapstick, but that’s just me. And, let’s just say that reading this play is quite the WRONG way to experience it. Go see it! (Or go see Noises Off - Steppenwolf will be doing it this year.)
READ MORE! Here’s what others had to say about productions:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/theater/review-the-play-that-goes-wrong-review.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aisle-view-an-inspector-calls_b_58e00fdee4b0d804fbbb7394
https://thirdcoastreview.com/2018/12/08/review-so-much-wrong-with-the-play-that-goes-wrong