On the Razzle

This review will run in the April 3 print edition and also online here after April 3.

Pic of Herr Zangler (Michael Walker) and Melchior (Michael Watkins) by John Bauguess.

Wild Yawps, Whinnies and Props
On the Razzle dazzles the eyes and ears
By Suzi Steffen

Sheer, unadulterated fun: That’s the point, and the experience, of Tom Stoppard’s fantastic farce On the Razzle, now playing at the Very Little Theatre.

And a joyful experience the show definitely is — except for the part where audience laughter blows eardrums and overrides some of Stoppard’s trademark language. OK, the show’s not perfect (I’ll elaborate in a minute), but for a volunteer-run organization, the VLT has scored a coup in this arch but warm laugh-a-minute production. More than the successful staging of a nine-door, several-staircase, ridiculously pun-filled romp, this show gives the VLT’s community theater status a chance to shine.

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