The joke doing the rounds on Broadway is that J.J. Abrams – director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, two Star Trek movies and several other blockbusters- signed up to produce The Play That Goes Wrong in order to learn something about franchises.
The Play That Goes Wrong, which opens at Manhattan’s Lyceum Theater on Sunday, was dreamt up by three friends at drama school and began life in 2013 at the Old Red Lion pub in North London before transferring to the West End where it has played ever since. But the riotous comedy has also enjoyed runs in Australia, China, Mexico, Hungary, Israel, Italy and Norway. Eat your heart out Star Wars!
Even without Abrams’ involvement it would be a remarkable story. The Mischief Theatre Company, headed by Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis, at one recent point wound up having three shows in the West End. The Play That Goes Wrong, a chaotic murder mystery farce, is the show that piqued Abrams’ interest when he saw it in 2013 on a night off from filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
As a kid back in 1991 I sneaked off school to watch Taking Care of his Business, an identity swap comedy starring James Belushi and Charles Grodin, which was one of Abrams’ earliest scriptwriting credits.I put it to him that he enjoyed going back to his smaller-scale comedic roots. “I love so many different genres of storytelling,” he replied. “There’s not just one thing that I like to do but comedy to me is the most wonderful reflexive thing. You don’t have to intellectualize it.”
He added: “It’s not about comparisons to anything I’ve done, it’s more the undeniable experience and my being part of it is really an honor. I just want to help out! My offer to help, if I could, and bring it to Broadway, was deeply felt and sincere.”
John Cleese memorably said he grew tired of playing Q in the James Bond films as “the audiences in Asia are not going for the subtle British humor or the class jokes.” Is it hard for Abrams to put comedy into his blockbusters in this era of globalization? He says he tries to maintain a light touch, “especially with Star Wars but the truth is we tried to do the same approach with Star Trek as well and Super 8.
“Whatever I’ve done I try and incorporate comedy into what I do. Those are not in any way comedic films but one of the things I love about the original Star Wars is how blindingly funny it was. We tried to bring that kind of rhythm and irreverence to The Force Awakens.
It’s hard because like you say you’ve got all these moving pieces, there’s a lot of pressure, big budgets – all that stuff – but when you have actors like Harrison [Ford], Carrie [Fisher], John [Boyega], Daisy [Ridley], Oscar [Isaac], Adam [Driver] – these are people that are so funny innately that they helped elevate those comedic moments. It wouldn’t have felt like a Star Wars movie if you weren’t laughing along with the adventure.”
Would he like to ever film a stage play à la Josh Whedon and his version of Much Ado About Nothing? If so what would it be? “Tom Stoppard is one of my favorite writers. I love The Real Thing [his 1982 adultery play]. That’s what comes to mind.”
Appropriately, there’s a funny story surrounding Abrams’ introduction to the play. Director Mark Bell – who taught the Mischief trio at drama school – recalls: “There was a knock on Jonathan Sayer’s door. Jonathan had a lot of gunk in his hair – he gets covered in water in the show – so he just had a shower and he had this little towel on and this guy walks in and says, ‘Hi I’m J.J. Abrams.’ ”
But while The Play Goes Wrong has plenty of punchlines, will they be profitable? Sayer says: “The hope is there’s the correct mixture of quintessentially British things that translate to an American audience coupled with something that is quite universal- the idea of standing up in front of a big group of people and embarrassing yourself!”
Co-producer Kevin McCollum, who has backed Rent, Avenue Q and In the Heights, says,”Of the 41 shows on Broadway, why are we different? One of the things that we have in our favor is we’re the only laugh-out-loud comedy this season.” He calls the show a “kindred spirit” to another of his co-productions, raucous Shakespearian musical comedy Something Rotten that is currently on tour in the US.
Mischief Theatre’s Henry Lewis can’t help marveling at the trajectory to Broadway: “We thought initially [in 2013] after we did a tour that we might come into London for the summer and do a few weeks. Then a theatre came up that was available for 20 weeks and we thought it would be amazing if we lasted long. But every step of the way it has surprised us and hopefully it will surprise us here.”
Shields says: “There are a lot of shows opening this time of year but I’d hope the thing we have that make us stand us out is our Britishness and the underdog nature of our show. Over time, we’ve managed to achieve a lot in the UK, we were always on the bottom rung of the ladder climbing up beneath these big shows and now we’ve come here starting again at square one trying to work our way up and trying to be seen amidst the craziness of Broadway.
“But I think that will count in our favor because people will see us struggling and want to come and see it!” Mischief is developing a musical and some TV projects.
Meantime Abrams will be back in London filming Overlord and Mission Impossible: 6. Will he be checking out the West End theater scene? “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”