Thursday, April 19, 2012

Theater Review: One Man, Two Guvnors

One Man, Two Guvnors and a Thousand Laughs
By Lauren Yarger
I'm not usually one to recommend pain, but I urge you to go see Broadway's One Man Two Guvnors and let your sides split. You will enjoy every minute.

In this transfer from the National Theatre of Great Britain, book writer Richard Bean takes Carlo Goldoni's already-funny story "The Servant of Two Masters" to new comic heights made perfect by the high-energy performance of James Corden (The History Boys) and a terrific ensemble cast directed by Nicholas Hytner.

I laughed until I cried, pretty much through the entire two-and-a-half-hour production which follows the plight of hungry Frances Henshall (Corden), who works for two bosses in an attempt to earn twice as much food. One of his bosses, Roscoe Crabbe, isn't Roscoe at all, but Rachel (Jemima Rooper) posing as her twin brother to find his murderer. The other boss, Stanley Stubbers (Oliver Chris) is in love with Rachel, but doesn't know she s posing as Roscoe, whom he murdered. Meanwhile, Charlie "the Duck" Clench forces an engagement between Roscoe and his daughter, Paulina Clench (Claire Lams), much to the woman's discontent, as she is in love with wannabe actor Alan Dangle (Daniel Rigby).

Helping Francis try to figure all of that out are Dolly (Suze Toase), the buxom employee of Clench, and Alfie (Tom Edden), an 87-year-old waiter putting in his first day on the job. Rounding out the ensemble are Martin Ellis, Trevor Laird, Fred Ridgeway, Ben Livingston, Eli James, Sarah Manton, Stephen Pilkington, David Ryan Smith and Natalie Smith).

Side-splitting, never-ending laughs ensue with amazing physical comedy (directed by Cal McCrystal). and "audience participation." Corden shows amazing energy and is really, really funny. If you haven't heard about him before, you will now. The line, "Alfie, bring the soup," doesn't sound funny, but trust me, you will guffaw as you anticipate what will happen when Alfie follows the order. You also will laugh each time the abused, gnarled waiter takes a header down the stairs.

Also getting their fair amount of sputters are Chris as the overly aristocratic Stanley and Rigby as the hammy thespian Alan.

The setting for the play is updated from early 18th century Italy to early 1960s Brighton, England and helping to set the atmosphere is a Beatles-like group called the Craze (Jason Rabinowitz, Austin Moorhead, Charlie Rosen and Jacob Colin Cohen) sporting purple-shimmer suits (Mark Thompson, costume and set design) and singing songs by Grant Olding. Some of the performers also take turns showing off their instrumental talents with the musicians as they entertain in between set changes.It's fun, but entirely superfluous. Most of my entertainment from the musicians came from watching them laugh while offstage at the action on stage. When they laugh after seeing it so many times, you know it's funny.

One Man, Two Guvnors is cracking them up at The Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th St., NYC. Discounted tickets are available by clicking here.

Christians might also like to know:
-- Language
-- Sexual moves
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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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