On the Razzle

Synopsis

When a rich merchant jaunts off to Vienna to woo his new mistress, his beautiful young ward elopes with her penniless suitor and his two assistants cut loose for a night on the town. Where are they all headed? To the same place, of course - in haste, in heat and in cognito.

Our Review:

31 May 2001

Chichester's much anticipated Festival Summer Season opens with an ineffective sparkler rather than a rocket. The revival of Tom Stoppard's 1981 farce is prettily set but also pretty dull and irredeemably slow.

On the Razzle is a take on a couple of 19th-century plays which culminated, a hundred years later, in Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker and (with music) Hello Dolly. Wilder first added the character of Dolly Levi, and judging by this production, a good thing too, since Stoppard reverts to the original texts.

The play concerns a pompous provincial merchant, Zangler, who plans to take a jaunt to Vienna to meet his fiancée. This gives his underlings the opportunity to go 'on the razzle'. The merchant has forbidden his niece to associate with her unsuitable sweetheart. They all end up in a posh Viennese restaurant, giving rise to pandemonium, hiding under tables and much running around. Unfortunately, in this production, they do not run ...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 24 June 2001:

Good perfomances from Desmond Barrit, Daisy Donovan, David Bamber, and Alan Cox, but spoilt by the theatre style not suitable for such a type of show. ...

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