Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Understudy at the Laura Pels

The Understudy at Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre is a very clever, very funny, high energy 90 minutes of fun. Theresa Rebeck's dialogue is sarcastic and witty and never lags for a moment, even finding some poignant moments only to turn around and punch you with high irony. Scott Ellis' direction moves at a fast clip. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (omg, Zach from Saved by the Bell! He is cute!) as the "star" and Justin Kirk as the "understudy" are very funny and appear to be enjoying themselves immensely. Tony winner Julie White might have the most energy I've ever seen in a performance. Oh, she is FUNNY. She plays the "stage manager" and spends a good deal of time running to the back of the theatre (yes, the real theatre, as in the house)to her podium in the back. There's even an unseen, unheard character - "Laura" - one of my favorite gags in any show. I went in groggy from too much sleep and perhaps a bit grumpy too...by the end of the performance, I was all smiles.

The Understudy is scheduled to run until January 3rd, opening on November 3rd. Don't miss this blast of a good time. Discounts are available via HipTix or BroadwayBox.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh love Julie White. Thanks for the head's up Sarah! I'll have to catch this asap!

Linda said...

I totally agree with you. I hadn't been hearing good things about it, but it was such a fun show. I was entertained the whole time.