The Play That Goes Wrong (Off-Broadway)

Review of The Play That Goes Wrong on Off-Broadway

I wanted to go up to New York City and see a show with my mother, which is why we ended up seeing The Play that Goes Wrong. I’ve been blessed enough to see about thirty shows now during my brief lifetime, which I will forever be grateful for, and the greatest thing is most of my family members have never been to a show before.

We never had the money for it growing up, and my parents always worked, so things like theater and the arts were inaccessible to people like us. I wanted to take my mother to at least one show while we still have the opportunity to head up to the city from Maryland, and figured a comedy was the best bet.

So during Todaytix’s Cyber Sale I picked up two tickets for about $65 each after fees and protection. TDF didn’t have that date and time, unfortunately, but we ended up with good seats anyways.

We received our tickets the morning of and saw we were seated in Row L in 1 and 3, right along the aisle, which ended up being a really good seat to see. Honestly, though, in this theatre any seat is a good one. The only horrible ones I spotted were the first row on the farthest corners, as props would easily block someone’s view from that angle.

Onwards with the review!

A college drama club’s play goes terribly wrong.

There’s something to note about this play, especially if you’re going to a matinee on a weekend: the recommended age was eight and up. There were a ton of families in the audience, which my mother and I were shocked at. Who could easily afford $400 worth of tickets? Not us.

Anyways, there were a ton of kids in the audience and thus the reactions were timed to be like that. The show does interact with the audience quite a bit, but the kids in this audience were very very vocal. As someone used to seeing shows like Topdog/Underdog when I come up to New York, I was very surprised by this.

A minute before the show is officially supposed to start, two of the actors head up onto the stage. They’re representing two members of the stage crew who are supposed to fix the stage before everything opens up, but these two are finding a lot of problems to begin with.

The mantle to the fireplace won’t stay, the door keeps popping open, and there is a wooden plank in the floor that if you step on it wrong, then it’s going to pop up and whack you in the face. One of the gags that comes back later is also introduced: the dog that is supposed to be the gardener’s got loose, and no one can find it. The stage manager also lost one of his CDs, which comes up again later as well.

After about five minutes, they head off the stage. We were seated in the left section, so we could clearly see the one guy playing the stage manager—he has a setup with a computer right above the audience to the left, and if you’re watching him while he’s up there, he has his own comedic bits.

Then the head of the drama club, who also plays the detective in the play, comes out with a monologue introduing the play. He establishes that this drama club has had a long history of screwing up their performances, making jokes about how they only had one cat in a show like Cats and whatnot, then he heads off so the play can be begin. It’s called The Murder at Haversham, and it’s a murder mystery.

In the play within a play format, it’s a murder mystery. The actor playing the one who got murdered slowly walks onto the stage, then pretends to be dead. The play then starts officially, with his body being found by the butler and his dearest friend. Thus begins the first gag: the door won’t open.

Basically, the entirety of the play consists not only of actual jokes, but physical comedy as well. It would be tedious to list everything out because just about everything becomes a joke, but there are actual dangerous stunts involved with this show that have to be timed perfectly or something could go wrong. Or as horrible as one can get in theater.

So not only do you get a story within a story (A: this drama club is full of disasters and B: a fictional murder play), you get the comedy as well. My mother and I thought it was funny, but not the greatest thing.

Some people in the audience were crying and laughing so hard they couldn’t stop. We didn’t think that of it—we agreed after the show it was that funny. A lot of the characters rely on the familiar archetypes in a murder mystery and film/theater as a whole, so having them fit into familiar roles with the audience does the show a lot of favors.

All in all, it’s a good time. I’m glad we didn’t pay a ton of money for it, especially the full ticket price. That was $100 without fees, and would have been way too steep for us commoners. It’s a fun outing, but it’s not something you could see twice. I’m glad to check it out of my Broadway and theater to-do list and leave it in the past. The acting was great, though, and the set design as well. Just wasn’t my cup of tea when it comes to theatre.

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