Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at Roxy's

If you want to have an evening or afternoon of hilarity, go see The Play That Goes Wrong now playing at Roxy’s through August 10th, 2025. The team at Roxy’s has created a carefully rehearsed farcical romp to delight their audiences.

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields of the Mischief Theatre Company, the play centers on a performance of a murder mystery where anything that can go wrong, goes wrong. The original production has been running since 2012 in London, winning Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards. A successful run on Broadway garnered a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for best scenic design of a play. This production is an encore of Roxy’s prior mounting with all but two of the original cast members reprising their roles. Having seen the original production, I can tell you this version is superlative.

The basic story is about the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s production of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920’s murder mystery play. The society has had previous productions of Two Sisters, The Lion and the Wardrobe, Cat, and James and the Peach. The titles are indicative of the problems the company has had casting all of the roles in the original versions creating the need to change the title of each. However, this time the playwright has provided them with a play that contains just the right number of roles for the actors on hand.

The fun begins before the curtain as the stage manager asks the audience if they have seen Winston, the dog in the show. He wanders around squeaking a doggy toy and calling his name. Crew members are putting the finishing touches on the set with help from a hapless audience member who gets corralled into helping. Each member of the company is playing an actor playing a role in the play - sometimes even two different characters. When the leading lady gets knocked out, Annie who is a stagehand gets handed a script and is forced to continue on in the role. Various problems with set, props, sounds and scenery ensue.

Rick Bumgarner, the shows real director, plays Chris Bean, the Drama Society’s jack of all trades, who is the director for the play within a play and Inspector Carter. Bumgarner gives a performance that is understated but filled with turmoil underneath. He’s the anchor to the mayhem that surrounds him. The other roles are played to melodramatic perfection by a wonderful ensemble. The company of actors playing roles in the mystery includes Nick Albrecht (Robert Grove playing Thomas Colleymoore), Drew Thomas ( Jonathan Harris playing Charles Haversham), Kelcy Moore (Sandra Wilkinson playing Florence Colleymoore), Lyle Valentine (Max Bennett playing Cecil Haversham and the groundskeeper), Jackson Dorris (Dennis Tyde playing Perkins), Sarah Wine (Annie Twilloil), Sam Warner (Trevor Watson) and Rick Bumgarner (Chris Bean playing Inspector Carter) are a wonder to behold. Their ability to maintain the energy and thought it takes to get through the performance should be applauded.

Sam Warner’s Trevor is not at the center of the action, but his various mistakes add greatly to the farce. His interaction with the audience while searching for Winston, the dog in the play, is delightful. Annie as played by Sarah Wine is a backstage powerhouse. She is on hand to deal with any disaster no matter how silly she looks or what problems she creates. When the leading lady gets knocked out, she is forced to step in with a badly fitting costume and wig using a script to keep the play going. Sarah’s no holds barred approach makes her someone to watch whenever she is on stage. Jackson Dorris is such fun as Perkins, the faithful valet to the deceased Charles. His posture, facial expressions and over-the-top performance bring real gravitas to his performance. As the ill-fated lovers, Lyle Valentine as Cecil and Kelcy Mohr as Florence are well suited and play their characters physicality to an almost rapturous point of exhaustion.  Nick Albrecht’s performance is masterful, controlled and gets a lot of laughter throughout. Drew Thomas has a great time playing the actor who can’t quite seem to play dead. He has a real twinkle of the eye and an easy going manner that endears him to the audience.

The technical aspects of the production were on par with the performances. Michael Downs’ set, Chadwick Armstrong’s costumes, Arthur Reese’s lighting, and Jason Huffman’s sound design were really characters in the show.

All seats are reserved, so call 316-265-4400 to book your tickets in advance. Plan to eat in advance as Roxy’s dinner service has been halted until further notice.

Next up for Roxy’s is Evita, running August 22 through September 27, 2025.