REVIEW: ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ delivers laughter

A new Benny Hill style British comedy strikes plenty of funny bones on Broadway

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BROADWAY REVIEW

Much as I stick to the cardinal rule of reviewers in that you should leave your troubles on the sidewalk when assessing a show, let’s confess that the other day I sat down in the Music Box in a mighty cranky mood.

Ugh. Career, finances, taxes, waistline – none of them as good as they should be, and I was stewing in a foul temper and feeling unlikely to be amused by “One Man, Two Guvnors,” a new comedy from the National Theatre of Great Britain hailed in London as a laugh riot. Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that.

So shame on me, but from personal experience, let me state that “One Man, Two Guvnors” proves to be an extremely funny entertainment likely to banish (temporarily) whatever problems irk you. Expect to laugh helplessly – as I sure did -- at the silly Benny Hill-like business going on at the Music Box, where “One Man, Two Guvnors” opened on Wednesday.

Playwright Richard Bean takes Goldoni’s commedia dell’arte classic, “The Servant of Two Masters” and very cleverly translates its 1740s Venetian particulars to the English seaside resort of Brighton in the early 1960s.

The plot exists merely as a frame for farce so essentially all you need to know is this: Rachel (Jemima Rooper) is masquerading as her dead gangster brother Roscoe to collect a payoff. Stanley (Oliver Chris) arrives to rendezvous with his fiancée Rachel, unaware that she is in male disguise. Somehow Francis (James Corden), an amiable simpleton, slyly hires himself out as a personal assistant to both of them.

Then all sorts of humorous hell busts loose.

Led by the roly-poly and irresistibly droll Corden – an ebullient performer clad in mismatched checks as the modern-day Harlequin figure –a skilled 16-member ensemble whips through a wacky progression of pratfalls, slapstick nonsense, cheeky doings and assorted other low-comedy capers. It’s all too ridiculous for words so let’s take a pass on detailing the madness that erupts constantly for more than two hours.

Corden’s bit when Francis beats himself up, his seemingly spontaneous exploits with a clueless member of the audience and a shamefully hilarious encounter with an elderly waiter (a wild-eyed Tom Edden) are among the most memorably funny sequences in director Nicholas Hytner’s expertly staged romp. Playing Stanley as an unflappable twit, Chris urbanely backstops Corden’s antics, while Rooper scowls appealingly in her gangster mode as Roscoe. Suzie Toase is properly saucy as an all-knowing Columbine figure in a beehive ‘do. Daniel Rigby literally beats his breast as one very actor-y thespian.

A lively four-member band known as The Craze sporadically pumps out Grant Olding’s early 60’s-style pop songs that reflect upon the gluttony, lust and greed motivating the story’s characters. It’s a nice touch; and equally nice is production designer Mark Thompson’s superb restraint with his theatrical sets and period costumes that assist but never outshine the actors.

If you believe that laughter is the greatest medicine then “One Man, Two Guvnors” is a prescription you need to get filled right away. It certainly made me feel better.

“One Man, Two Guvnors” continues at the Music Box, 239 W. 45th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.onemantwoguvnorsbroadway.com.