Who can knock a gentle, good-natured little musical with a droll sense of humor and a couple of pretty songs? I can, when said musical is more than two and a half hours long, visually boring, drearily inconsequential, and often dull as a dishrag. Certainly dozens of chuckles (though nary a guffaw) pop up in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn's tribute to the P.G. Wodehouse canon, as do three catchy songs ("Travel Hopefully," "Half a Moment" and "That Was Nearly Us") and a game try by John Scherer and Martin Jarvis to make Wooster and Jeeves' verbal byplay work in a Broadway house. But the sheer hermetic nothingness of the enterprise is very quickly evident, and by the time the cast, dressed in "Wizard of Oz" garb (don't ask), offers a final curtain mega-medley, we're angry and eager to wave "Bye Jeeves."
Images:
Previews:
October 16, 2001
Opened:
October 28, 2001
Ended:
December 30, 2001
Country:
USA
State:
New York
City:
New York
Theater Type:
Broadway
Theater:
Helen Hayes Theater
Theater Address:
240 West 44th Street
Phone:
(212) 239-6200
Running Time:
2 hrs, 30 min
Genre:
Musical
Director:
Alan Ayckbourn
Review:
Cast:
Martin Jarvis, John Scherer, Emily Loesser
Other Critics:
TOTALTHEATER Jason Clark X
Critic:
David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
November 2001