Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG IS OH SO RIGHT AT THE KAUFFMAN CENTER

I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard as I did on opening night of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts, my jaws still ached twelve hours later. Presented by The American Theatre Guild as part of the 2018-2019 Broadway Series the play runs through Sunday, April 7. I don't know that I have ever seen a play that kept a smile on my face from several minutes before the production started on stage, until the final curtain.

Doors that won't stay shut, fireplace mantels that continually fall off, a hammer that flies apart, and a stagehand who continually tries to hide her face from the audience and all this happens before the audience realizes the show has begun. The cast is superb and the scenery beautiful, that is until it all begins to fall apart.

The timing and reactions of this wonderful cast are so natural, I almost felt like it was a small community theater rather than a Broadway Series production. Angela Grovey is splendid as the stagehand who tries not to be noticed on stage. Only after she is forced to fill in for an injured actor does she finally begin to bask in the limelight, and bask she does. Max Bennet who stars as Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardner bears close attention throughout the play. His antics may keep you in stitches the whole evening long. When possible watch the stagehand, played by Trevor Watson, who is sitting to the left of the stage, he is hilarious.

The play was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields and depicts a play within a play as everything imaginable goes wrong during a live performance. In THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG the cast portrays members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society which are trying to present THE MURDER AT HAVERSHAM MANOR.

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG premiered in London at The Old Red Lion Theatre in 2012 and on Broadway in 2017 at the Lyceum Theatre, featuring the original London cast. It has won the What's on Stage Award, Broadway World UK Award, and Laurence Oliver Award for Best New Play. In 2017 it received a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play and The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play.

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG continues at the Kauffman Center through April 7. For tickets online go to www.americanheatreguild/kansascity/playthatgoeswrong.

Photo by Jeremy Daniel