Review Roundup: Did The Critics Think THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Went Right Off-Broadway?

By: Feb. 21, 2019
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The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong officially opened its off-Broadway transfer engagement last night at New World Stages - Stage 4!

The new production of The Play That Goes Wrong features Ryan Vincent Anderson as Trevor, Brent Bateman as Robert, Bartley Booz as Dennis, Matt Harrington as Chris, Bianca Horn as Annie, Chris Lanceley as Jonathan, Ashley Reyes as Sandra, and Matt Walker as Max. The cast will also include Damien Brett, Adam Daveline, Simone Policano, and Maggie Weston.

Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong is a riotous comedy about the theatre. The play introduces The 'Cornley University Drama Society' who are attempting to put on a 1920s' murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong...does, as the accident prone thespians battle on against all odds to get to their final curtain call.

Did the critics think this play went right? Read the reviews below.


Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld: Its Broadway and West End success proves The Play That Goes Wrong to be a genuine audience pleaser, and the excellent company should keep 'em laughing for a healthy run in their new home, but once again, this reviewer found his enjoyment coming primarily from an appreciation of the comedic skills on display, rather than from the piece itself. A bit of empathy-inducing playwriting might elevate the show to something beyond a long, albeit amusing, skit.

Deb Miller, DC Metro: Absolutely everything is right about the transfer of Mischief Theatre's award-winning Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong to its new Off-Broadway home at New World Stages. While "non-stop laughs" has become something of a hackneyed soundbite, here it's a 100% accurate appraisal of this hysterically-funny British farce of the highest order; literally not a minute goes by in which the audience - myself included - isn't howling, from before the show officially begins until the final bows. So be sure to be in your seat early, and don't forget to read the program, so you won't miss the clever pre-show set-up of what's to come.

David Finkle, New York Stage Review: Certainly, there's more that can be said about The Play That Goes Wrong, but why take time saying it? Better to encourage all potential ticket buyers to do so right now. That pertains to patrons who have already attended. This reviewer has now seen the farrago three times and has guffawed every time, maybe even more so this time around.

Stanford Friedman, New York Theatre Guide: If it is cliché to say that a show has non-stop laughs, then this show is cliché in the extreme. If it is pat to say that this play lives up to its title, rarely have a talented crew of actors and technicians so seamlessly joined forces to make a ridiculously wrong piece of theater feel so very right.




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