BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: November 8, 2001

NOISES OFF

“This is getting farcical,” shouts Tim Allgood, the frazzled stage manager of a second-rate theatre company touring the British provinces in a haggard sexual romp called “Nothing On,” the play-within-the-play in Michael Frayn’s adorably zany NOISES OFF. With a largely American cast, this Royal National Theatre revival comes to us from Britain where it is still slaying audiences in London’s West End.

That Tim comes to this sudden insight long after all control has been lost points up how far behind in the script this put-upon young man has fallen. When you consider the troupe of oddballs he has to handle, this should come as no surprise. Wrangling a vengeful diva, a jealous leading man, an astigmatic ingenue, a besotted bit-player, a knocked-up assistant and a philandering director, Tim is drawn to his tether’s end.

NOISES OFF—an inside-theatre term for off-stage sound effects generally made by actors—brilliantly packages ten tons of laughter in a five ounce bag of plot. Measure for measure, there is about as much story-line to NOISES OFF as there is to “Nothing On.” Here, character drives the story and these frenzied farceurs take it right off a cliff. As to what makes them tick, who cares? What’s important is the explosion. After all, these are not real human beings, they’re actors.

The frantic pace of NOISES OFF begins early in the first act. It’s the final dress rehearsal for “Nothing On” and merely getting through the opening scene of this dim-witted clunker raises more dust than the Battle of Britain. Even the simple task of carrying a prop on stage proves chaotic. “Getting the sardines on. Getting the sardines off. That’s farce,” barks the director, Lloyd Dallas. His frustrations reach a fevered-pitch in the (literally) behind-the-scene second act when he admits, “I think this show is beyond the help of a director.”

NOISES OFF director Jeremy Sams need not shy away from taking credit for his handiwork. With precise timing and kaleidoscopic staging, his results are nothing short of masterful. As the captain of a hilariously sinking ship, Sams proves himself a veritable Lord Nelson.

Like all ships, this one would be stuck at port without a stalwart crew. Headliners Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher join Tony winners Richard Easton (last season’s THE INVENTION OF LOVE) and Faith Prince (GUYS AND DOLLS) along with Katie Finneran, T. R. Knight, Thomas McCarthy , Robin Weigert and Edward Hibbert.

Patti Lupone’s coarse-but-precious Mrs. Clackett in “Nothing On” is nothing like the real-life Dotty Otley, a grand, yet waning TV star. A Tony-winner for her legendary portrayal of Eva Peron in EVITA, Lupone broadly animates both personae by heaping caricature on top caricature. By the third act, closing night of the tour, her Dotty’s wearied rage seeps into her onstage Mrs. Clackett with delicious malevolence.

Peter Gallagher’s Lloyd Dallas offers a dynamic, dreamy-eyed lothario, almost a comic turn on his AMERICAN BEAUTY character. Easton is adorable as the hearing impaired drunkard. Thomas McCarthy makes a powerful Broadway debut as square-jawed Garry Lejeune, Dotty’s insanely jealous lover. Hibbert, Weigert and Knight keep the tempo at a tingle. And, Katie Finneran nearly steals the show as the terminally blonde Brooke Ashton.

Faith Prince has the rather thankless role of Belinda Blair, one of more sane members of the group. Unfortunately, this does not allow for a full display of her comic gift. Still, Prince manages to hold her own amidst the bedlam. With her priceless reactions, she makes us pity Blair for being too well balanced.

The original Broadway launching of Michael Frayn’s NOISES OFF ran over 500 performances and garnered four Tony nominations in 1984, including a nod to the playwright. He won that honor sixteen year later for COPENHAGEN, a sobering drama concerning a clash of personalities during the earliest days of the nuclear age. His list of credits includes nine novels and the translations of four full-length Chekov plays.

Clearly, Frayn is a writer of many talents and one of his best is humor. If it’s side-splitting laughs you’re looking—a diversion from these trying times—then, stroll on by the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and press your ear to the wall. The noise on stage at NOISES OFF is deafening.