RZR

Just saw the first hour of this travesty in Philadelphia before walking out (before intermission, even). It was just too painful to endure any more of this inane, juvenile, witless, pathetic excuse for a farce. As other reviewers have noted, it was more like watching a bunch of clowns on stage - except that the clowns aren't funny in the least. Rather, they're just hyper-manic the whole time - constantly shouting at each other, but with no redeeming punch lines. The jokes, if you want to call them that, aren't funny. As someone who adores great comedy, I was hoping this would be of a high caliber. Instead, it was like watching a really bad high-school theater production, aimed at 5-year-olds who find manic, non-stop shouting to be funny. It's not the fault of the actors, who acquit themselves admirably (one of them is particularly good). It's the fault of the writers (and, I suppose, of those members of the public who find this tripe to be amusing) for making the proceedings so shrill, without any modulation or character development. It all becomes very dull, very quickly. Chaos can certainly be very funny - if it's intelligently written and staged (think "Fawlty Towers", "Three's Company", and even Jim Carrey in his prime). This was just a lot of noise signifying nothing. Absolutely dreadful. If you're curious, watch this (or part of it) on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. I wish I'd done that instead of wasting my time and money.