Theater Review: 'The Play That Goes Wrong' at Legacy Theatre

By Nancy Sasso Janis

The Legacy Theatre in the Stony Creek section of Branford has fearlessly decided to launch a hysterical production of “The Play That Goes Wrong” and it would be wrong to miss it.

The hilarious play within a play was written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer can be described as a farce of epic proportions that is part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes. The three playwrights appeared onstage in both the London and Broadway productions.

This stellar cast works together flawlessly under the direction of Keely Basiden Knudsen, making all of the missteps look right with spot-on comic timing. Some of the actors interact with the audience before the show begins, with one unsuspecting patron drafted into helping to fix the fireplace mantelpiece, and there is some silliness by two actors during the intermission.The script is full of theater jokes and the stuff that makes for actors’ nightmares, like dialogue that is out of synch, mispronounced words, lines repeated on a loop, missed cues, missed props, and tons of set malfunctions.

Ultimately, the actors demonstrate that even when the scenery is falling down around them, the show must continue.

Jimmy Johansmeyer leads the cast as Chris Cumberbatch Hemsworth Bean, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the director (and just about everything else) for this doomed Cornley Drama Society production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor. He also steps into the cast of the murder mystery as Inspector Carter, with hilarious results. It was the first time that I had seen this talented actor in a play, although I have enjoyed his performance in many musical comedies with Pantochino Productions.

Thomas Beebe returns to The Legacy to portray the underprepared actor who plays the butler Perkins. Nick Fetherston, the Legacy box office manager by day, covers the role of Charles Haversham, who is clearly never an actual murder victim.

Dan Frye returns to this stage (at times) to play Trevor Watson, the lighting and sound operator from a station at the front of the balcony.

Hartt School graduate Isaac Kueber (“Into the Woods” at Playhouse on Park) gives an appropriately over the top performance as both Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardener.
Equity actor Chris Lemieux tackles the role of Thomas Colleymoore, as well as the slipping floor of the study, all while over-pronouncing his lines. This talented actor takes a crack at his all-time favorite play and definitely does well.

Mary Mannix (“Just Desserts”) is a comedic delight in the role of Florence Colleymoore, the fiancé of Charles and sister of Thomas. Mannix gets to show off her physical comedy talents as the sometimes unconscious character.

Equity member Mariah Sage, who teaches acting at Quinnipiac University, shines in the role of Annie Butler, the completely overwhelmed stage manager. Winston, Arthur’s guard dog, is suggested by an empty leash.

The actual production stage manager is Sarah Pero assisted by Gillian Leblanc.

Kudos to swing and Branford native Emmett Cassidy for the excellent fight stunt choreography that is woven throughout the two acts. Jamie Burnett is credited with both the scenic and lighting design. The all-important elements of the set, dubbed a “death trap” by Trevor Watson, are nicely shoehorned into the tight Legacy stage and (mis)function perfectly. Congratulations to Master Carpenter Rich Burkam and Scenic Artist Laurie Flaherty on their fine work.

Costumes designed by Elizabeth Bolster are very proper for the engagement party in the winter of 1922 and there are a slew of hilariously mixed up props designed by West Conn. graduate Colleen Callahan, another swing.

Don’t miss the inserted program for the murder mystery that is cheeky and fun to read after you have stopped laughing (and on opening night, we did plenty of laughing.) The running time is “a stretched two hours with a 15-minute (much needed) intermission.” “The Play That Goes Wrong” appeals to all ages and continues through Oct. 1. The run is almost sold out, so grab your tickets before they’re gone.

Photos by T. Charles Erickson

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She is also a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column IN THE WINGS and theater reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.
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