‘On the Razzle’ dazzles
Posted by Bill VarbleThe combination of Tom Stoppard and Laird Williamson figured to be dazzling, and it is. “Whoopee!” Williamson writes in the program notes. “I like this play.” Led by Tony DeBruno, a terrfiic cast romps through the absurd situations, and yet we see ourselves in them. Michael Ganio’s scenes, Robert Blackman’s costumes, Larry Delinger’s madcap music and Kendall Smith’s lights.
Funny as it was, I didn’t think the timing was consistently razor-sharp, particularly in the second half, but that’s typical of opening nights for fast-paced farces with lots of wordplay and all those doors. This is the one you take company to.
Whoopee!
February 27th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Good review of a delightful play! However, it was written well before 1991. I saw it at the National Theatre in January 1982.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Good review, but Stoppard’s play was written before 1991: I saw it in London in January 1982. Here’s a quote from Stoppard’s notes: “.>>[N]ot much of the dialogue attempts to offer a proper translation . . . and anything improper has less to do with Nestroy than with my unregretful capitulation to the posssibilities of sexual innuendo as and when they occurred.” (The Playbill)
February 27th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Good eye to catch the typo, Don. That was supposed to be an 8, not a 9. Razzle was first produced in the UK in 1981 and came to the US in 1982.
The blogs were written on the fly during a long weekend of playgoing and posted raw, without being read by editors.
March 27th, 2007 at 11:44 am
on ON THE RAZZLE
Perhaps a criticism hurled at the upstart crow might apply to Stoppard”s play. “A bun is the lowest form of wheat.” This play on words to say that “A pun is the lowest form of wit.” applies to Stoppard as well as the Bard. It might also explain why two hours of sophmoric humor receives such high praise.
In past comedies such as ROUGH CROSSING and THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND ,Stoppard has proven to be a master of a form of meta-parody in which the object of ridicule is the very play that the audience is watching. In ROUGH CROSSING this was the mindless musical and in INSPECTOR HOUND it was the British whodunit. The strategy here is to use exaggeration and repetition so that not only is the audience worn down by dumb situational comedy but that they might also see the mechanics of this type of entertainment. If you see how sausage is made you might not want eat it again.