BWW Previews: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is About to Bring Pandemonium to Omaha!
I know the perfect solution to combat the dreariness that can beset us as the summer turns to winter in the Midwest. A great show. A funny show...no, a side-splitting show that has been making waves across the ocean.
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, a Tony Award winner that surprised even the critics with its overwhelming success on Broadway, will open at the Orpheum on October 30 and run through November 4, 2018. The show, the brainchild of the clever minds of Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of London's Mischief Theatre, was brought to the United States by producers J. J. Abrams and Kevin McCollum. Abrams had been in London filming "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," when he saw the show and immediately decided that the play must go west. With the assistance of veteran Broadway producer McCollum, the play was brought to New York with the original cast.
A fascinating tidbit about the innovative marketing for THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG--Abrams surprised the 400 guests of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" with tickets to the play and walked them through Times Square to the theatre.
Because Americans have the reputation for liking everything bigger, including their comedy, the play was tweaked to exaggerate the performances. According to Shields, the Broadway version is even funnier than the original. Much of the humor takes inspiration from Monty Python and Mr. Bean, while mixing slapstick, farce and even the silent film.
The premise of the play is this: the Cornly University Drama Society is trying to stage a 1920s murder mystery. But they just can't get it right. In fact, they can only get it wrong, which plays out in a hilarious chain of events and mishaps that earn the reputation of being "Broadway's funniest and longest-running play!" by the New York Post.
The National Tour of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is directed by Matt DiCarlo with original Broadway direction by Mark Bell. Set designer Nigel Hook won the 2017 Tony Award for scenic design. Producer McCollum personifies the set which contains a series of ingenious malfunctions, calling it "the antagonist" to the actors in the show. The result is pandemonium.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel
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