The Dingdong NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (86)
See it if you can sit through a terrible translation, awkward direction & uneven acting to see a breakthrough performance by Kelly Curran.
Don't see it if you understand that farce is more than just dropping pants and slamming doors & you want to be served a little cleverness w/your silliness.
See it if you like boulevard farce Americanized with a cast of 5 each playing multiple roles, lots of laughs, & hope filled resolution at the end
Don't see it if you can't find the ridiculous in everyday marital problems, or don't like seeing actors in period underwear
See it if You like silly French farces. Enjoy low budget productions,enthusiastic actors,a versatile hillarious young actress -sit back and enjoy
Don't see it if You expect top quality sets and spectacular sound effects.
See it if you enjoy a really silly and dated farce, mildly dirty humor and innuendo, with over-the-top acting (as it should be here).
Don't see it if you dislike farce and/or toilet humor.
See it if Minor league French farce. "Don't Dress For Dinner" was much better of this genre. See "The School for Scandal" now instead.
Don't see it if The script is pretty stupid. Did not find the actors attractive, either. I liked the set and costumes, though.
See it if You appreciate a game, really hard working cast give their all.
Don't see it if You expect a farce to offer more than a few laughs.
See it if you really, really like farces. Some good performances but overall it fell flat.
Don't see it if you are looking for a profound theatrical experience.
See it if You find cheap sexual innuendos funny, you laugh when people pass gas, think marital infidelity is an endless source of jokes.
Don't see it if You love good farce, (This is not it) You enjoy good comedy, (This is not it) You like intelligent humor, (This is not it)
Critic Reviews (9)
“Occasionally hilarious and mostly harmless...Under Hal Brooks’s direction, there’s little emotional center, and the precision of the pacing comes and goes. With all the one-liners and quick changes and frothy lingerie and funny accents, however, you might not notice...However lascivious in its come-ons and varied in its penis jokes, ‘The Dingdong’ is ultimately conservative in its conclusions: a tease of a play.”
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"The farce spectrum can veer from crude to exquisite. Mark Shanahan tends to favor the lower depths: lots of puerile wink-wink wordplay and pratfalls both sexual and scatological...In casting ill-matched repertory members d’un certain age, director Hal Brooks blunts the spirit of the original...The stage sizzles to life every time Curran turns up...She embodies what we bourgeois theatergoers rather hope to see when attending a French farce."
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"'The Dingdong' is passable fun, providing a solid laugh for every two or three that fall flat. It's also easy to admire the cast as everyone goes through his or her paces, switching costumes and characters with abandon. But this is Exhibit A in the argument that light entertainment can be even more challenging than the most serious drama. The characters in 'The Dingdong' suffer from a lack of discretion; you could say the same thing about the people behind this production."
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"Much of the fun of the play is seeing the same actors return over and over again in different roles often within a matter of seconds...While Brooks’ staging is stylish and elegant. The problem becomes that the stakes are not very high, and consequently we don’t worry or care enough about the possible tragedies for the characters if and when they are discovered...However, the rest of the production team is right on target."
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"A first-rate farce…The ‘DingDong’ plays fast and loose and is often ferociously funny and somewhat surreal…Excellently directed by Hal Brooks…The Pearl Theatre Company of actors is highly skilled with the requirements of farce: facility with speed of dialogue and emotional changes, physical dexterity, and a balanced, light and yet authentic attention to characterization."
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"The play's inherent funniness is stomped on by Brooks’s heavy-handed direction and the company’s frequent overacting. High energy is all well and good for playing farce, but there must be total conviction in the truth of each action...I’m afraid the Pearl’s production, apart from the delectable cranberry sauce and stuffing of Kelley Curran’s comical versatility, veers too closely to the actual meaning of ‘Le Dindon,’ i.e., the turkey."
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“Director Hal Brooks unbridles five actors in ‘The Dingdong’...He propels it even further into the absurd by having those five actors bring to charming, boisterous and nuanced life 12 distinct characters...George Feydeau is one of the most famous writers of bedroom farce, and Mark Shanahan’s adaptation is a remarkable homage. Witty banter, along with exaggerated physicality, are at the heart of 'The Dingdong.' Even the most pursed lip might be cajoled to laugh out loud.”
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"Hal Brooks’ direction is impeccable…But the great fun here is in watching this talented cast double and triple up on roles…And then, there is Kelley Curran! This brunette bombshell essays four different parts with the kind of comedic élan that made Carole Lombard a legend. Trust me, funny and sexy isn’t an easy thing to pull off. Ms. Curran makes it look like a day at the beach on Cannes. Vive La Kelley!"
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