Noises Off at the Grand Theatre

Noises Off is one of my very favorite plays and I have seen it many times, including productions at PTC and the Utah Shakespeare Festival, so I was thrilled when I found out that the Grand Theatre was performing it this season.  I saw it last night and it wasn't quite up to par with those other productions but I definitely enjoyed it.  Lloyd Dallas (David Hanson), a temperamental and sarcastic director, is staging a play called Nothing's On starring Dotty Otley (JJ Neward), an aging television star, as Mrs. Clackett, Gary Lejeune (Nick Dunn), a scatterbrained actor incapable of improvising, as Roger Tramplemain, Brooke Ashton (Taylor McKay Barnes), a young and inexperienced actress involved with Lloyd, as Vicki, Frederick Fellowes (Michael Scott Johnson), an insecure and accident prone actor, as Philip Brent, Belinda Blair (Amy Williams), a reliable actress who knows all of the gossip about the cast, as Flavia Brent, and Selsdon Mowbray (Richard Scott), an accomplished actor who has a drinking problem and a tendency to miss his cues, as the Burglar.  Poppy Norton-Taylor (Anne Louise Brings) is the put-upon assistant stage manager who is also involved with Lloyd and Tim Allgood (Alvaro Cortez) is the overworked stage manager tasked with fixing every problem.  Act I involves a disastrous dress rehearsal before opening night involving missing props, a malfunctioning set, an actor questioning his character’s motivation, and a missing contact lens.  Act II takes place backstage while the show is on tour and features the deterioration of a relationship between Dotty and Gary where they do everything to sabotage each other's performance and Lloyd's ill-fated attempts to keep both Poppy and Brooke happy (and multiple attempts to have Tim buy them flowers).  Act III takes place at the end of the run and features a complete breakdown with the actors ad-libbing the entire scene.  I thought the performances were a bit uneven and the pace was sometimes sluggish (especially in the first act) but the physical comedy throughout had me laughing out loud.  I especially enjoyed it when Gary has a spectacular fall down the stairs (the audience spontaneously applauded after this), when two different understudies play the Burglar after Selsdon misses his cue and then finally enters, and when Frederick tries to perform with a head injury and a broken arm.  The elaborate set, especially backstage, and the costumes work really well for a play-within-in-play that fails so dramatically.  It has flaws but it is a lot of fun!  It runs at the Grand Theatre on the south campus of Salt Lake Community College through April 16 and tickets may be purchased here.