Present Laughter
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Cititour.com Review
Poor Garry Essendine. The stage star and leading man of Noel Coward's delightful 1939 comedy can't stop the aging process by refusing to grow up. And in this amusing but uneven revival, Victor Garber ably captures his charming vanity, but never pushes it to the comic limits he's capable of and that this play demands. Instead of booming vibrantly to life, Nicholas Martin's production, imported from Boston's Huntington Theatre with much of its cast intact, putters along as a pleasurable, if not especially memorable, comical diversion.
As Garry prepares to embark on an African tour, he's besieged by a gaggle of women who run and have the potential to ruin his life: tart-tongued secretary Monica (Harriet Harris), loyal ex-wife Liz (Lisa Banes), star-struck aspiring actress Daphne (Holley Fain) and devious married acquaintance Joanna (Pamela Jane Gray). They unleash havoc as they converge on his posh London apartment (beautifully designed by Alexander Dodge), pushing Garry to do a minimal amount of soul-searching and a maximal amount of people dodging.
If only it were carried off in the deliciously lighter-than-air manner that most of Coward's work requires. Harris delights with her razor-sharp quips, and Nancy E. Carroll shines as a wobbly wreck of a housekeeper. But it's Brooks Ashmanskas' comic rampage as an aspiring playwright enraptured by Garry that brings the show to its most hilarious heights. One can't help wondering what might have been if only Garber had taken similar risks with his performance.
By DIANE SNYDER
Visit the Site
http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/aat/index2.htm
Cast
Victor Garber, Harriet Harris, Brooks Ashmanskas, Lisa Banes, Nancy E. Carroll, Alice Duffy, Holley Fain, Pamela Jane Gray, James Joseph O'Neil, Richard Poe, Marc Vietor
Open/Close Dates
Opening 1/2/2010
Closing 3/21/2010
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
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