Review Roundup: What Did Critics Think of PERFECT NONSENSE at Hartford Stage?

Jeeves & Wooster in PERFECT NONSENSE opened at Hartford Stage in Connecticut on March 21 and is running through April 20, 2019.

Everything goes awry when Bertie Wooster, a wealthy British gentleman with a penchant for telling stories, decides to stage a one-man show on London's West End. Things go from bad to worse when Wooster's loyal valet, Jeeves, valiantly steps in to help save the day in this Olivier Award-winning Robert and David Goodale adaptation inspired by the hilarious P.G. Wodehouse classic The Code of the Woosters.

For tickets and more information, please visit https://www.hartfordstage.org/jeeves-and-wooster/

Let' see what the critics have to say...

E. Kyle Minor, New Haven Register: As delicious as Wodehouse's narration is to read, it's meant to tickle the reader rather than keep a theatergoer on the edge of a $100 seat ($4.40 in late 1930s prices). A reader can enjoy the "Jeeves" stories at one's own pace, where as farce on stage they play nonstop and hopefully a step ahead of its audience. If this material was genuinely stage worthy, it stands to reason, Wodehouse would've written a play rather than a magazine story or novel.

Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant: While Bertie remains his ingratiating insouciant self - regularly stopping the show to blithely comment on something clever that just happened, or inform us that "I don't usually get out of the bath in front of 500 people in Connecticut" - Jeeves and Seppings keep the play on track. So "Perfect Nonsense" becomes a Wodehouse book pushed through the "Play That Goes Wrong" filter.

Mark G. Auerbach, The Westfield News: The three actors, Arnie Burton, Eddie Korbich, Chandler Williams, play multiple characters, male and female, sporting a variety of British accents. They excel at their quick change of characters, the dexterity of Foley's very physical staging and choreographer Adam Cates' challenging footwork. Individually, they're tour-de-force. Together, as an ensemble, they're as well-oiled as a Swiss watch.

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