Review: "One Man Two Guvners", Weathervane Playhouse

      Weathervane Playhouse’s One Man, Two Guvnors” loosely based on “The Servant Of Two Masters”, a 1743 Comedia del arte-style production, probably works better for British audiences than it does for Americans.   It is a British farce.  The comedy is slapstick at times.  Many of the jokes fail with a resounding thud because American audiences in Central and Southeastern Ohio just don’t understand the British references.  In my opinion the show is about 30 minutes too long.  The pacing of the opening night performance was a tad slow.  The acting is uniformly good across the entire cast.  Ryan Metzger proves versatile, funny and full of energy as the servant. 

    I enjoyed seeing our good friend Kerbie Minor as Rachel Crabbe who pretends to be her deceased brother because her lover Stanley Stubbers (Layne Roate) killed her twin brother. Minor is confident and convincing.  

   Our dear Otterbein friend Kayla Walsh acquits herself well as Dolly. The excellent supporting cast all has great moments in their various roles. Nick McQullen’s portrayal of the slow, plodding, heart-attack-prone, 80-year-old waiter Alfie is delightful. The ensemble work is quite respectable. 

    The set didn’t work for me, though I understand it is the same kind of set used for the professional Broadway production in New York. 

    There were a couple glaringly obvious missed sound cues during the opening night performance. 

   The lighting is decent. 

   The show includes two or three songs, which are excellent and well rendered. I suspect the authors added the songs to comply with the Comedia Dell Arte format they were trying to imitate.   I recall an Actors Theatre production at Schiller Park Columbus a couple years ago that incorporated Comedia Dell Arte. Actors sang, juggled or played the lute, recorders and other early music instruments as part of the pre-show and intermission.  They also played during scene changes. The songs in “One Man, Two Guvnors” are part of the show itself and only serve to make it seem longer.  

    “One Many Two Guvnors” enjoyed a three-year run in London’s West End from 2011 to 2014. It had a very limited run on Broadway from mid-April until the end of August 2012. The New York production received award nominations for acting, scenic design, costumes and music score. James Corden won a Tony and Tom Eden won an Outer Circle Critics award for their acting in the Broadway production.

    This show is probably okay for what it is. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.   Among other things, it seems to be one of those scripts where the author is a little too enamored with his own jokes, most of which the audience didn’t seem to get. On my rating scale of from one to ten, I give the acting a seven, but overall, for me the show is only a four – mostly because of my intense dislike for the script.