The Play That Goes Wrong (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Forgoing pesky details like plot and character development, the two-act evening of visual gags - many worthy of a Mack Sennett silent - pieced together by bits of verbal silliness is one of those endeavors that charges onto the stage as a force of choreographed chaos...This reviewer found his enjoyment coming primarily from an appreciation of the comedic skills on display, rather than from the piece itself."
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“In this Henry Lewis-Jonathan Sayer-Henry Shields comedy where everything that can go wrong absolutely does, the result is one of the most laugh-filled works that has ever jollied a stage...The troupe of actors are not simply good; they’re gallant to the point where they should be getting hazard pay...Special mention goes to Johnson’s original sound design and to Falconer’s original music, which is everything the music to a thriller.”
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“The rickety amateur-theatrical scenery is even more rickety than before; shoehorned onto a considerably smaller stage...The cast is new...The present troupe is more than satisfactory...'The Play That Goes Wrong’ still proceeds like a well-oiled clock that doesn’t actually keep time. But it is not quite up to speed...This will come, sure; but they are not quite there, yet...Even so, the comedic fever pitch as ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ remains rambunctiously boisterous.”
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"If you're looking for a cure from the winter blues, a way to forget your personal troubles or just enjoy laughing until you're blue in the face for two hours, there can be little argument that 'The Play that Goes Wrong' has all the right stuff."
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"If it is cliché to say that a show has non-stop laughs, then this show is cliché in the extreme. If it is pat to say that this play lives up to its title, rarely have a talented crew of actors and technicians so seamlessly joined forces to make a ridiculously wrong piece of theater feel so very right...Director Matt DiCarlo, either a genius or a fool, pulls it all together with the nerves of a demolition expert handling a bomb with a dozen different triggers."
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"Absolutely everything is right about the transfer...While 'non-stop laughs' has become something of a hackneyed soundbite, here it’s a 100% accurate appraisal of this hysterically-funny British farce of the highest order; literally not a minute goes by in which the audience – myself included – isn’t howling, from before the show officially begins until the final bows."
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“Everything that was funny during its nearly two-year run in the Lyceum Theatre is just as funny...The difference is a subtle pickup in how the audience relates to the characters. For me it became personal, akin to cheering-on a perpetually losing team. But a ton more fun...The new cast is American, and...are as adept at the comedic turns of phrase and physical antics as were their forebears...It remains a master class in comic invention and execution."
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“Hook’s brilliant scenic design is all part of the fun in this play...All of the actors were terrific. I thought the role played of Thomas Colleymoore was exceptional. Funny, deft and articulate, both he and the inspector were standouts. The exchanges between the two made ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ a great play...Slapstick comedy can get old very fast, here it doesn’t...The audience waits for the next guffaw and is never let down...This play is right on the mark.”
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"My reactions ranged between thinking this play was exhaustingly funny to finding it just plain exhausting...Everything is pitched so aggressively, you wind up feeling as battered as the ensemble. I propose putting your rational mind into sleep mode, the better to savor tickling images of order-inverting bizarreness, straight out of Dada, in which suddenly nothing is in its customary place or being used for its customary purpose. There's a wild, redeeming poetry in such anarchy."
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"Depending on your tolerance for ceaseless slapstick, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' will either have you rolling in the aisles or rolling your eyes. It is certainly a marvel of coordination: The imported British cast deftly navigates the pitfalls of Nigel Hook’s ingeniously tumbledown set, and overacts with relish...But you may find it rather exhausting...It struggles to sustain interest in its series of absurdly unfortunate events. The show must go on, yes, but must it go on quite so long?"
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"It’s so ridiculous it makes you feel almost ashamed to love it...The tumble from slapstick into absurdity is the best part of 'The Play That Goes Wrong'...Not that the stage tricks aren’t fun...But those tricks and carefully rehearsed ineptitudes are not, in the end, deeply satisfying, however well achieved they are...Though they let too much air out of the concept, shriveling somewhat its effectiveness and diminishing its buoyancy, I laughed at all of those things."
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"An intricately planned fiasco...It takes incredible skill to pull off such bungling, and Mark Bell’s production nails every spit take and sight gag...Where Frayn went for three dimensions, Mischief Theatre settles for two—but that’s enough to sustain both acts, just barely. The show is pure comedic eye candy, and technically flawless. It’s closer to synchronized swimming or fight choreography than to its more contemplative theatrical cousins, revealing almost nothing about the human condition."
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"The show bears no small debt to Frayn’s classic farce, 'Noises Off,' but it pales by comparison...This effort is pure slapstick from first moment to last, and wears very thin over a two hour-plus running time...The production certainly fulfills its modest creative aspirations...There’s no paucity of wit to the proceedings, and Bell stages the action with clockwork precision...But for all the strenuous effort involved, the repetitive show evaporates in your mind the moment it concludes."
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"An immersive, hilarious evening...Admittedly, two hours of nonstop pandemonium gets exhausting, and even with the intriguing character development (or degeneration), the curtain comes as a bit of a relief. (You can only cringe so many times before getting a cramp.) But on the whole, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' is just right: A ridiculously entertaining disaster."
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"Under the go-for-broke direction of Mark Bell, its high-energy cast is comic gold and manages to sustain, with a never-ending series of diversionary tactics, its one-joke concept...It’s more lowbrow, interested in the gag and shameless in how it gets it: sometimes incredibly inventively, but sometimes going for the low-hanging fruit...Though it could benefit from some cutting, the production is an idiot’s delight...But it takes a while before the laughs come at full speed."
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"The greatest challenge becomes hearing the dialogue beyond the well-justified laughter...Silliness? Slapstick? Sure, but also a tribute to the valiant pseudo-professionalism of this imagined troupe...What Buster Keaton did with clock hands and Charlie Chaplin did with an old boot this cast accomplishes with murder...Mark Bell’s direction keeps an unrelenting pace that leaves the audience breathless and the actors clueless."
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"It’s funny. Sometimes it’s very, very funny, though you have to keep the faith through an almost appallingly tin-eared and flat-footed first act to get to the good stuff...An overabundance of non-sensical sight gags, slow burns, pratfalls, missed cues, wink-winks and the like dull the viewer’s senses and drag out a sophomoric sketch that would be sharper and funnier at an intermissionless 80 minutes. On the other hand...'The Play That Went Wrong' aspires to no higher goal than escapism."
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"'The Play That Goes Wrong' goes wrong so many times, in such mellifluous ways, and with such far-gone commitment to physical comedy...The rare farce with actual worth. A farce that bucks you up by reminding you of the great human capacity for resilience...The exceptional direction of the piece, by Mark Bell, embraces risk and danger to an extraordinary extent. That means 'The Play That Goes Wrong' never seems safe or comfortable in its own skin."
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"The curtain rises and things go awry...It’s the stuff that makes for a funny 10-minute skit...Unfortunately, there’s another hour-and-a-half to go in this show. That’s a lot of time to spend trying to grin and bear it...The Mischief Theatre has a game cast that will try anything for a chuckle...But along the way they forsake the fact that comedy requires logic...A comedy that comes up short with laughs and overstays its welcome—now that’s murder."
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"'The Play That Goes Wrong' is a nonstop, intensifying rush in which the murder mystery is performed from beginning to end...It is strangely inspiring how this inept but well-meaning troupe keeps plowing through the script. As directed by Mark Bell, all of these obstacles are meticulously staged. The eight performers have individual personalities but come together to form a tight ensemble well-disciplined in the art of being hilariously bad."
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“A machine that grinds out laugh after laugh…Technically, the orchestration of sight gags and slapstick on Nigel Hook's brilliantly rigged set is highly impressive. But is it actually, y'know, funny? As a lover of British humor...I have to say that an hour of this stunt is plenty for me. Cumulatively, it's farce on steroids, without any brains. I'd be lying to say I laughed as much as the people around me. Glad they had a good time. Me, I need a little substance to ground the guffaws.”
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"This is a planned demolition (and an exceedingly well-executed one at that)...We wonder how on earth the performers are going to sustain this level of lunacy. Remarkably, they do...Their comic timing is so precise you can't help but laugh. Their pratfalls are so real, you can't help but gasp...'The Play That Goes Wrong' isn't a brilliant comedy, but you're going to laugh anyway. This is two hours of unapologetic, stupid fun, buoyed along by a cast of ultra-committed performers."
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"Little more than a procession of gags, sometimes executed with tremendous dexterity, but most of them unconnected to anything resembling reality. They are gags for gags' sake...The pace is so relentless and the absence of anything but gags, gags, gags quickly wore out its welcome...If you don't find the first ten minutes amusing, settle in for a long night. If you find yourself laughing early on, you've come to the right place."
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"It's very funny, with more gags per minute than any new comedy in recent memory...There's no way not to laugh, almost continuously, at the spectacle of silliness unfolding before you...For all this, though, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' stops well short of hilarious. Even if, like me, you enjoy the nonstop antics across the two hours of playing time, you may find yourself frustrated by how shallow it all is...It's not enough to result in an evening that's satisfying, let alone coherent."
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"With its relentless working of a handful of hoary gags, it amply proved that the law of diminishing returns applies to the mechanics of farce perhaps more than it does to any other theatrical genre...The actors and the director certainly deserve commendation for the precision of the physical comedy...Long before the red herrings had been sorted out I came to feel that it wasn’t just the play-within-the-play that was going wrong, but the whole exhausting, exhausted conceit."
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“From its misprinted title on the Playbill program cover—which appears as if it had been erroneously offset by the printer—to its continual presentation of pratfalls and slapstick gags, ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ is a sheer delight. It should not come as a surprise that three of the eight cast members (Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields) wrote this escapist and frivolous entertainment, which presents a trite murder mystery called ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor.’”
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"A hysterical, and predictable, experience that will have you laughing until you're exhausted...The comedy lies in the tragic anxiety of putting on a working show, and laughing at their disaster is a good time...As wonderful as this funny comedy is, the play within the play wasn’t amusing enough to create a complete experience for the whole show...Even more exhausting than the running time is the insidious misogyny permeating the experience."
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"This farce is causing a lot of silly, spontaneous laughter whether you sometimes want to, or not, but just can’t help it...Leave it to the British to invent these ridiculous circumstances where the key to success is making certain that what can go wrong, will; and with such precision in timing that it’s hard to believe this is what they actually rehearsed and intended...Little by little everything just falls apart in this let-loose chaotic comedy, supremely directed by Mark Bell."
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"From the moment this runaway romp takes off, the antics come so fast and furious that I stopped taking notes, I was laughing so hard...Sit back and marvel at the mischief-making of the Mischief Theatre company, whose skills in physical comedy and split-second timing are impeccable...We should be thanking them for crossing the pond and brilliantly performing the genre that’s hardest to do well in the theatre – namely, farce."
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"What delighted me the most were the exuberant performances by actors with whom I'm not familiar...The main problem with this precisely directed 'The Play That Goes Wrong' is that we are able anticipate from one moment to the next how and why things are fated to go wrong...It is basically devoid of surprises. That's why I can't say whether you will be satisfied or remain ultimately suspect, as I was...You can, nevertheless, absolutely expect to laugh."
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"Go see this play. There is NOTHING wrong with 'The Play That Goes Wrong.' Unless you've got something against laughing...My only quibbles with this production are that the last ten minutes or so happen so fast with so much falling apart on the stage that the intricate and hilarious story dissolves, along with everything else, before our eyes. What should have been fireworks is more like a fizzle...Nevertheless–get thee thither. Trust me. You need this much laughing."
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"An uproarious theatrical experience unlike any other – and one that will have you laughing until your sides ache...Each cast member performs with unique comic flair...One thing is certain: 'The Play That Goes Wrong' will have you laughing nonstop from the first moment to the last. 'The Murder at Haversham Manor' may be a disaster, but 'The Play That Goes Wrong' is a brilliant success."
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"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...It takes a lot of talent to be this bad and act terribly so well, and these troupe members mess up, fall down, get their lines out of sync, and ride this disaster out to the end, miraculously...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."
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"The delightfully entertaining farce is easily the funniest play I’ve ever seen. At times, I was crying laughing so hard...The ensemble is wonderful. They shed their egos and fully throw themselves into the often violent and never-ending intense physical comedy with masterful fervor...I spent the entire evening in the strange, beautiful no-man’s-land between giggling and full, open-throated, guttural, screaming laughter."
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"Under Mark Bell’s direction, the ensemble cast delivers a high-energy, brilliantly acted farce that celebrates the magic of the theatre by highlighting its foibles—a resplendent conception concocted by writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields...A gift to audience members: two hours to let their guard down and allow themselves to laugh again...Your brain will thank you for the resplendent release of endorphins and the boost in happiness and well-being."
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“This is a show you can laugh, chuckle, giggle, chortle, snicker, guffaw, hoot, titter, and roar at as a farcical illustration of Murphy's Law...Under Mark Bell's inspired staging, everything works to make it seem like nothing's working, including a truly remarkable set...A good reason the havoc works is the sangfroid with which the...mummers play their idiotic characters...as they advance in perpetual combat with walls, windows, floor boards, pillars, doors, heads, and props.”
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"A silly slapstick backstage farce that has improbably opened on Broadway...Its silliness is relentless, beginning before all the playgoers have even taken our seats...The running jokes are repeated with what I suppose is intended as mounting hilarity, although some might see it as diminishing returns. 'The Play That Goes Wrong' could just as easily have had a running time of 20 minutes as two hours, without losing anything essential."
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“Expect pratfalls galore, sight gags and a set that is timed for disaster by Nigel Hook, who will most definitely be nominated for a Tony Award…This whacked-out company of actors will have you laughing for almost two hours and, though each is superb, another Tony nod will go to Dave Hearn who steals the show just by being so amazingly super hyped to be there…This play may have gone wrong but when it does, it comes out deliriously right."
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"Exquisitely timed, perfectly performed slapstick comedy...Clever as all get-out, without resorting to the kind of visible-seams cleverness that separates slapstick from classic farce, a form I admire but that rarely gets me laughing out loud...There is nothing arch about 'The Play That Goes Wrong,' no in-jokes that only a native Brit could appreciate. It's just damn funny...The real director, Mark Bell, and the rest of the company all deserve the highest praise for this glorious romp!"
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"One must admire the cast of eight for creating vivid characters and precisely executing the script’s many slapstick bits...Director Mark Bell keeps things moving relentlessly. While I feel a bit churlish criticizing a work that had me laughing uncontrollably several times, I had a problem with the play’s length. I would have liked it twice as much if it had been half as long. Two plus hours of repetitive slapstick without much plot or any wit is more than I can enjoy."
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"Uproariously funny...I was uninhibitedly laughing aloud through much of the mayhem created on stage by this superb gang of actors who show themselves to be expert in physical comedy as well as dialogue meant to go with raised eyebrows...Under the direction of Mark Bell, the mayhem persists with ingenious complications at virtually every turn...I could bestow an ensemble award for the lot, so smoothly do they mesh into the overall hysteria."
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“Fasten your seat belts, audience, this is going to be a hysterical ride…Hearn is one of the great highlights of the production. He’s adorable, executes slapstick like a silent film pro, and responds with uproarious precision…Every move is accompanied by perfectly timed freezes as the cast registers and/or endures one disaster after another. Expressions are priceless…Fights are beautifully choreographed, elaborate pratfalls and saves worthy of Chaplin. Bravo director Bell...Go. It’s a tonic.”
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"Two hours of hilarity...You would think this one-joke premise would run out steam after an hour, but Mark Bell’s breakneck staging keeps the guffaws building as the play-within-a-play keeps deteriorating. The English company is an inspired lot of buffoons...'The Play That Goes Wrong' is marvelously right with English visitors giving us Americans a welcome break."
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"Finds the line that separates the annoying and stupid from the I-can’t-believe-I’m-laughing-at-this brilliance. And when the company hits that line, which it does over and over, resistance is ultimately futile...Although Mark Bell is the real director, he should get a special Tony for best choreography in a nonmusical. The physical comedy demands stopwatch precision to make the cumulative antics, not just pratfalls and spit-takes, work without hurting the real actors."
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“It’s 'Noises Off’ without the clever bits. Still, one does giggle a little and full credit to actors Lewis, Sayer and Shields for conceiving this show, writing and starring in it...It simply isn’t funny to have sets fall down…You need characters who seem aware of the disaster they’re in and are trying to figure a way out of the mess…All we get are punch lines with no setup…It’s not rooted in anything...Not always, mind you—sometimes real characters of a sort appear, almost as if by accident.”
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"'The Play That Goes Wrong' features an utterly terrible fictional script executed utterly terribly by a terrible group of fictional actors, enveloped in a real-life brilliant script executed brilliantly by a very real and very brilliant group of actors. You only realize you've been smiling, gasping and laughing for nearly two hours when it comes to not smiling upon your return to the regular world. This is a two-hour explosion of physical comedy, malapropisms, and knockabout satire."
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"The play doesn’t take itself seriously for a single moment, and the original cast works together like a well-oiled machine—a quality that can’t be overvalued when the scenery is literally crashing down on all sides. Physical gags, goofy wordplay, and desperate attempts to preserve a modicum of theatrical illusion dominate Mark Bell’s screwball production. The rapid-fire gags hardly leave time to catch your breath between spit takes."
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"Outrageous with collapsing props, melodramatic acting, and missed cues, this Olivier Award-winning play within a play ropes you in as soon as you take your seat...The timing is precise and the approach deliberate. It would not work without the meticulous timing that makes everything run smoothly as it falls apart...Yes, it could have been snipped here and there, but if you are up for a good-time catastrophe, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' is just right."
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“One of the funniest plays to hit Broadway in many a season…An uproarious madcap farce that leaves no stone unturned in its wildly inventive quest to celebrate the unpredictability of live theater with superbly choreographed ineptitude…The immensely talented troupe, clearly game for anything, are expert improvisers and marvelously adept at physical comedy…You might laugh so hard you’ll hurt yourself, which is not necessarily such a bad thing.”
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“Until you’ve seen it, you will not imagine how inventive, impulsive, surprising and artful a stellar set like this one can be. Of course a farce needs direction, and Mark Bell has staged it brilliantly, conducting it as though it were a major symphonic work…You will find this delicious piece of merriness a genuine spring tonic. Our British cousins have always favored farce, more than we do over here, and when served up as expertly as this, we can understand why.”
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"'The Play That Goes Wrong' should be funny because everyone is trying to make it go right, but instead we are offered a series of implausible, high-pitched, over-the-top exercises that have more in common with an overlong improv sketch than a carefully planned Broadway comedy."
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"A hilarious romp about eye-poppingly shoddy theatrics...Since the premise is so thin, I didn’t think Act Two could sustain the same level of mirth, but somehow it did, keeping up a giddily daft 'Carol Burnett Show'-style slapstick throughout. Something as silly as this could only work if it was put together with serious craft, and it was, like a pristinely assembled jigsaw puzzle that, when put together, makes you scream with laughter. Kudos to director Mark Bell."
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"If slapstick isn't your thing, then turn around now. This farce is not for you. But if goofiness makes you giggle, then 'The Play That Goes Wrong' may leave you gasping for breath...A symphony of silliness, with the set falling apart piece by piece, often conking an actor's head in the process. It starts off funny and just gets funnier. I have some quibbles. Cutting a good 15 minutes or so (as well as the intermission) would make it swifter...But otherwise, this play is just good fun."
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"Not only does it out-farce 'Noises Off,' it also brings physical comedy to a seemingly dangerous level. The slapstick accidents are so outrageous, it’s easy to forget all about the (intentionally) corny story...Director Mark Bell has wisely slowed down the dialogue (but definitely not the action) a tad for us Americans, and the broad comedy is played even more broadly than in London. The cast mugs a lot. The premise is rather one-note. No matter. Just go along for the hilarious ride."
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"The actors in this play within a play are true hams...All in all it's a 'Noises Off' kind of comedy—extremely physical where timing is key...This British sensation was banging on all cylinders. When the curtain comes down (along with the set) you'll find yourself just as exhausted as the actors from all the hilarity and laughter...For some it may be a bit over-the-top but I'm going to guess if you don't like this kind of play you won't be buying a ticket anyway."
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"No other show gets so much right by getting so much wrong...Anything that can go wrong does go wrong...The ensemble, imported from London and led by co-authors Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, are all adept physical comedians. It takes great actors to look this terrible...Not just the funniest play on Broadway at the moment, but also one that demonstrates that the London fringe can still act as a launch pad to bigger things."
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"Dropped lines and dropped props are the order of the day, and the players miss their marks with broad comic precision...Subtlety is not the show’s strong suit — though the script has some witty touches amid all the clockwork-timed slapstick silliness, under Mark Bell’s fine direction...For much of its two-hour running time, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' offers a hilarious tribute to the spirit of the theater and the mantra that the show must go on — served up with a thick slice of ham."
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"Some of the most fun I have had in a theater this season -- or any...Some of the gags bring astonished gasps from the audience, which laughs out loud pretty much non-stop...The 'whodunit' pales in comparison to the 'what's-coming-next' in this zany, fun production. 'The Play That Goes Wrong' messes up and is every theater-maker's worst nightmare (in such a delightful way)."
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"This production takes metatheatricality to an entirely new level...Throughout it all the entire audience could not stop laughing...More than most shows, this was absolutely an ensemble piece, and every member of the acting and creative team is deserving of praise...The comedy, stage magic, and physicality of this show was impeccably timed and shockingly precise...Without a doubt, 'The Play That Goes Wrong' is the funniest play Broadway has ever seen."
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"Delights in its frivolity...The point is to be entertained. And watching people mess up or walk into a door or get hit with some flying object is entertaining. I know that's not the most sympathetic take on humor, but slapstick has endured for a reason...'The Play that Goes Wrong' is laugh-out-loud funny...Aided, no doubt by Mark Bell's expert direction. (Comedy, especially farce, can go so wrong so quickly. It takes methodical plotting and precision. The company succeeds.)"
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"What sets this play apart from its predecessors is its complete lack of nuance, suggestion and cleverness...Good comedy, no matter how inane, should have an element of surprise, but in this 'Play That Goes Wrong,' one often knows the punch lines to all the jokes and gags beforehand because the laughs are too obvious and trite...Frenetic energy keeps everything moving at a dizzying pace, but it is hardly enough to sustain the lowbrow humor for two full acts."
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"There’s really tons of fun in this show for people of all ages, interests, and senses of humor...You’ll marvel at how well this cast can sell you on bad acting, which takes incredibly good acting to pull off...The real director of the show, Mark Bell, does a masterful job getting to the root of what drives each of these characters to rise to the spotlight and ultimately to fall in their efforts to meet expectations...What an achievement to pull it off so well, and so consistently."
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"Even if it lacks the intricate construction of 'Noises Off,' or the commedia dell’arte pedigree of 'Guvnors,' the show is nonetheless remarkable in its ability to keep varying and building upon the disasters...Director Bell keeps the calamities coming at a breakneck clip...Sure, it all gets old after a while, and the show goes on for about 15 minutes longer than was probably wise...If all you’re looking for is a chance to laugh, loudly and often, 'Wrong' may be your best bet of the season."
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"I can only hope its silliness and exceptional execution keep it running for a long time to come...My fear was that the whole thing would amount to a one-trick pony, and that tedium would set in around the 15-minute mark. It does nothing of the kind...My personal favorite was Alex Mandell's performance in the role of Max Bennett...In these dark times, a little silliness goes a long way."
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"Although I already saw it in London, I laughed as much this time as I did last time...There’s verbal humor, lots and lots of physical humor that requires synchronization, and visual humor, too. The comedy is lowbrow and the audience’s laughter becomes contagious...The rain had been coming down steadily all day in NYC, making it cold, wet and unpleasant, the political world was roiling with intrigues and dissension, but 'The Play That Goes Wrong' was a happy place."
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“It would be futile to try to enumerate all the things that could go wrong—and do—but it must in all admiration be said that instead of being plagued by all the damn fool things, they don’t pall! And that is the genius that director Mark Bell and his remarkably sturdy, ever-coping company of madmen and women absolutely shine at. Things can’t get worse, can’t get funnier? Blam!...This is slapstick with a vengeance…Go. Have a good time. You deserve it.”
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"'The Play that Goes Wrong' goes very right and went very well...Hilarious? Oh, yes. A wonderful farce full of non-stop laughs, very funny and smart...To pull this off you have to be great, and you can see that this troupe—which wrote the show for themselves—has honed it into a gem...Director Mark Bell makes it look easy when of course it’s not—indeed, the physicality that’s called on is quite amazing."
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"Relentlessly well performed. The entire ensemble is brilliant as they pull out all the stops in a physical comedy that never lets the air out for a second while delivering a persistent attack on our funny bone...The effort here is pure slapstick from the very first moment to the eventual fade-out, and over a two hour-plus running time the repetitive conceit becomes preciously thin...The ensemble however is remarkable at being bad and sublime at performing the outrageous physical comedy."
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"Half the fun is the spectacular ineptitude with which the amateur performers deal with the hardships. Virtually incapable of ad-libbing, they doggedly persevere...Pure slapstick silliness, wonderfully executed by a talented cast that truly manages to keep the audience in a steady state of hysterics...Hats off to writers Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields (all of whom are in the cast as well) for taking a one-trick-pony concept and making it into two hilarious hours."
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"For sheer fun and laughter, you’re 100% right in choosing the hilarious 'The Play That Goes Wrong'...While the supremely talent cast delivers farcical slapstick performances...the biggest kudos go to the scenic and lighting designers who create the visual mayhem...It’s cleverly scripted by twentysomethings Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields and adroitly directed by Mark Bell with utmost precision."
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"This show within a show keeps audiences on both sides of the Atlantic laughing non-stop. Mangled lines and dozens of missed cues and bungled entrances all contribute to a surreal atmosphere of a not quite ready for prime-time production...In my review of two years ago, I summed up the evening saying, 'Never have so many laughed so hard for so long.' Fortunately for theatregoers, even with a few nods to the play’s American audience, that still holds true."
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"A clever idea that goes on for two hours when it would work best if it were 30 minutes at most...The entire cast is very good. Special applause should go to Nigel Hook who created the scenic design as well as the stage hands who must keep putting the set back together...If you love physical, silly comedy and enjoy it for extended periods, you will find ''Goes Wrong' hilarious. If that is not your favorite or if you like it only in small doses, then you may find the play goes on too long."
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"’The Play That Goes Wrong’ isn't only funny, it is a masterful demonstration of craft. The writing and direction were in the same vein, tying a perfect and complex knot and knowing exactly how to untie everything…I have never laughed more or harder than when seeing ‘The Play That Goes Wrong.’ There were moments in which I couldn't find a moment to get a good breath in because I was too busy laughing."
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"It relies a bit more on cheap laughs than character-based humor that can generate deeper, longer and more satisfying laughs...Despite its few missteps, anyone who enjoys farce will be smiling, chuckling or laughing the entire evening...It is not 'Hamlet' and it may not even be 'Noises Off,' but we live in troubled times and sometimes two hours of well-constructed silliness is more than enough."
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"I am genuinely worried about audiences who see 'The Play That Goes Wrong,' because it just might be the funniest show they'll ever see...The cast have perfected every bit of timing and dialogue this piece features...It's one of the very few shows I wouldn't mind seeing every night, from every single different seat, just to see everything that happens on stage...All in all, I couldn't recommend seeing this show any more."
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"The fun is anything but high-minded. Yet, there is something elevated about the perfect understanding of theatrical enterprise in its entirety exhibited by 'The Play That Goes Wrong'...The trio that created 'The Play That Goes Wrong,' as well as the cast they lead through its imploding labyrinth, know exactly what they’re doing...Mr. Bell keeps everyone in motion deliriously and seemingly without serious injury...The laughs are non-stop and most of them are really cheap."
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