One Man, Two Guvnors: Belly Laughs in Brighton on Broadway

One Man, Two Guvnors started out in the National Theatre in London, moved to the West End, then came over to New York, where it ends its Broadway run on September 2. So if you're reading this and will be in New York before the 2nd, stop reading right now and run to the Music Box Theater. You need to see this show before it's gone.

I've wanted to see this show for ages, and after James Corden won the Tony for Best Actor in a Play, I was further convinced it would be well worth it. And now that I've seen it, I can tell you that Tony might be the most well-deserved award given out this year. Corden is an absolute dynamo on stage, sweating through his waistcoat and delivering a comic performance that will amaze you with its sheer audacity. The play is an adaptation of the Comedia dell'arte play Servant of Two Masters, and this production fully embraces the music, slapstick, and improvisation that are inherent in Comedia delle'arte. This is fully evident when Corden pulls unsuspecting audience members up on stage or blithely breaks the fourth wall and cracks elaborate jokes, corpses, and basically lets his boundless enthusiasm and delight infect the entire theater.

The play is set in the seaside town of Brighton in 1963 and the plot is as follows: Francis Henshall (Corden) is a slightly dim-witted and perpetually hungry man who finds himself employed by two men. One is Roscoe Crabbe, a gangster who was presumed dead, and the other is Stanley Stubbers, a criminal responsible for Roscoe's death. Francis does not want either of his "guvnors" to find out about the other one, which results in the requisite hilarity and elaborate deceptions that keep crashing about his ears. Things are complicated by the fact that Roscoe Crabbe really is dead, and it is his twin sister Rachel (played by the marvelous Jemima Rooper) who has dressed herself up as Roscoe. She also happens to be in love with her brother's murderer, Stanley Stubbers, and the two of them are planning to run away to Australia, but neither knows the other has come down to Brighton.

Francis is incapable of remembering what tasks he is supposed to do for which guvnor, and a significant portion of the play is dedicated to his attempts to covertly serve lunch to both of them at the same time with the help of Alfie, the world's most incompetent waiter (played by Tom Edden, who received a Tony nomination for his hysterical performance). Oliver Chris (from my beloved Green Wing) ordinarily plays Stanley Stubbers, but when I saw the play, Eli James was standing in for him instead and did a magnificent job. I'm sure Chris is wonderful, but clearly the understudies are more than capable. The rest of the supporting cast also do an excellent job, but special mention has to be given to The Craze, the band that plays music in between act changes, and help to keep the audience amped up with some 1960's British skiffle.

From start to finish, One Man, Two Guvnors is a laugh riot, and because of the improvisational beats and sheer exuberance of the cast, it's a show that you could watch a dozen times without getting bored. No two performances can be the same, but they must all be equally magnificent. This play is a showcase of how witty wordplay, music, and slapstick can be combined in perfect proportions to serve up a comedy masterpiece. My only gripe is that at two and half hours, the show still felt too short. By the end, I wanted nothing more than to just stay in my seat and await the evening performance. If all plays made me this happy, I would never leave Broadway.