The Play That Goes Wrong – sidesplitting.
On the Aisle
As a girl I dreamt of a life on the stage, I acted in neighborhood and college theater, and spent a wonderful summer directing camp productions, but alas I didn’t pursue that early dream. (See Theater Dreams, and Piano Man – Remembering Herb)
But going to the theater has always been a guilty pleasure, and it’s what I missed most during the pandemic when Broadway and Off-Broadway houses were shuttered.
Over the years I’ve seen innumerable shows and if I saved all the Playbills they’d surely cover many yards on the proverbial football field. And my most memorable? Of course numerous productions of Shakespeare done traditionally, radically, in modern dress, with non-traditional casting, or every which way – I won’t even count those. And so in no special order, here goes.
Almost anything by Tom Stoppard, including his most recent, the brilliant and devastating Leopoldstadt. And all of Terrence McNally. (See And Things That Go Bump in the Night)
And the long-running Cats except for the awful set. And my favorite playwright Edward Albee, especially Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Zoo Story. And Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia Here I Come.
And The Man Who Came to Dinner, and of course all of Samuel Beckett including Waiting for Godot and Endgame currently being revived at the Irish Rep.
And West Side Story and Assassins and almost everything else by Steven Sondheim. And Chorus Line, and She Loves Me. And all of Tennessee Wiiliams, especially The Rose Tattoo and Streetcar. And all Neil Simon’s wonderfully clever plays, and Frank Lesser’s Guys and Dolls. And Ragtime, and Kander & Ebb’s marvelous and moving Cabaret.
And Fiddler on the Roof twice – in English and in Yiddish. (And no, you don’t need to speak Yiddish to understand the play, and anyway it’s all translated unobtrusively on the backdrop.) (See Tradition)
And Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical Long Day’s Journey into Night. And William Inge’s Bus Stop, and the fabulous 42nd Street. And Alfred Uhry’s poignant Driving Miss Daisy. And the irresistible Jersey Boys, and all of Rogers & Hammerstein, especially my favorite, their sublime The King and I.
And lest I forget Athur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and anything by Anna Deavere Smith. And the surprisingly moving Come from Away, and the absolutely side-splitting The Play That Goes Wrong. (If you see it wait for Duran, Duran.) And How I Learned to Drive, and The Vagina Monologues.
And Agatha Christie’s always-running-somewhere The Mousetrap. And The Fantastics, and Noel Coward’s canon. And anything produced by Elevator Repair Service Theater especially Gatz. And Beautiful, and Million Dollar Quartet. And Wendy Wasserstein’s Heidi Chronicles, and August Wilson’s painful Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom and Fences. And all the other wonderful plays I’ve loved and left out.
But please don’t think I’m not discriminating, quite the contrary. I’ve walked out of the theater dozens of times well before the final curtain. So if you sat through Book of Mormon, we can still be friends – but don’t tell me what happens after the first act, I couldn’t care less!
The King and I – sublime.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Like you, Dana, I was in lots of productions in high school and college (you’ll see the photos when you read my story), read so many plays as a theater major, and saw as much theater (both regional and on visits to NYC) as I could consume. Even as a youngster, my parents had tickets to the professional touring season in Detroit and would bring us to appropriate shows (Carnival, Camelot, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; on their first national tours).
Now, ticket prices in NYC are so high, and we haven’t been to NYC since before the pandemic, so I’ve missed a lot. I would dearly love to see Leopoldstadt, but I don’t see it in my future. Perhaps it will be filmed and shown on PBS, or something like that. But thank you for reminding me of all the great work out there!
Will read your story!
Yes tix prices are high but there are several websites offering discount tix for most of the shows.
Next time you come to NY let’s go!
Dana, I’ve seen most of the plays you mention, either in New York, in regional theatre, or in summer camps of my youth. Growing up just a few miles from Manhattan made it easy to go to the theatre, and of course it cost less to see a Broadway show back then than it does to see a movie now.
The only show I ever walked out of at intermission was Les Miz. I had read the Victor Hugo novel, so I knew what would happen, and I found the music tedious. But I’ve never seen Book of Mormon, so I might be with you on that one!
Good to hear you saw most of the shows I loved Suzy, and take my advice – don’t see Mormon!
I certainly trust you on “The Book of Mormon!” You more than established your bonafides with that litany of productions you’ve seen!
I’m in a play reading group (online) and it turns out Alfred Uhry wrote another really interesting play, also set within the context of Atlanta’s Jewish community. It’s called “The Last Night at Ballyhoo.”
Thanx Dale, and I did see Last Night at Ballyhoo and it was wonderful!
Impressive list of theatre productions, and you are lucky to be in New York to have great access. I recognize almost all of them, but have to admit that I have hardly seen a one. Just as I recognize many books I haven’t read. But it gives me lots to look forward to.
Come visit Khati, and we’ll get some theater tix!
Well Dana, after the 1st act of Book of Mormons…kidding! I’m so impressed with all you’ve seen, I would actually seek your advice for my next theater outing with the chance you’ve seen it or definitively know about it. Amazing.
Aw Patty, my pleasure – I do love theater!
How lucky you are to have experienced such wonderful and varied theatrical productions. We do our best here in Chicago, but not since the pandemic hit. I think I’m ready to go back!
Go back Laurie!
I’m sure Chicago boasts a good theater scene – you are the Second City after all!
Dana,
I loved your list of memorables, and your exhilaration in delivering it. You have a rich and omnivoric experiential base; like theater is your soul mate, your nutrition, your genie, one after another the shows roll out of your story, like a series of bulb flashes, pop, pop, pop, some of my favorites, some I never heard of, some I snoozed through (sorry, I won’t do it again). I wish you had kept all of your Playbills, what a collection it would be, but it does seem many travel with you so that like sublime Anna and Yul (as pictured), you’ll never walk alone, except that I think I just crosscut into Carousel.
Thanx Jon, and yes Carousel, and yes love that show too!
What a vast and impressive catalogue of plays and musicals — I’m impressed and envious of how many great shows you’ve been able to see! But actually you had me at Stoppard; I read Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in high school and never looked back. I haven’t seem Leopoldstadt yet, but I did see India Ink first-run in London, so that counts for something.
I liked Book of Mormon too! But I like South Park humor, and did four years time in Salt Lake City, so it has a special appeal to me.
Ah John, for giving us Retro I’ll forgive you the Book of Mormon thing!
And come to New York and we’ll get theater tix!
Dana, what a rich experience you’ve had as a theater patron in NYC! This is a well-told tale of some of those gripping plays and musicals that you’ve been privileged to see. I know each of them has brought you under its spell and given you moments of inspiration that have lasted for years. Nicely done!
Thanx Jim, I am indeed a theater lover!
That is an impressive theatrical resume!
And Chicago indeed has fantastic theater. I’ve taken some writing and performance workshops with local companies, and seen many shows. “The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild” left me in complete awe of how a writer can weave multiple threads and then tie them together into a boffo finish.
Hope you get the theater bug Dave, and as you say Chicago has a renown theater scene!