Hijinks are the order of the day at Paper Mill Playhouse, and Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors” is eager to deliver. Identities are mistaken; romantic trysts are interrupted; goofy props are tossed about; plot twists fan the flames of chaos; ridiculous accents are affected; doors are of course slammed aplenty; and everybody lives comically ever after.
It is a play with no pretenses of depth or aspirations for complexity. Rather, it dedicates itself entirely to the gods of the gag, and in that devotion proves deft. This show may only ever be a farce chasing laughs, but with the support of agile performances from a talented cast, “A Comedy of Tenors” provokes those laughs consistently and skillfully.
The play is a sequel to Ludwig’s Tony-winning “Lend Me a Tenor,” which premiered in 1986 with a similar all-out dedication to comic hijinks. Enjoying the sequel requires no knowledge of its predecessor, but Paper Mill regulars will recognize nearly the entire ensemble, as the theater reunites the cast from its 2013 “Lend Me a Tenor.” The familiarity of cast members with their characters and the chemistry between performers — as well as between cast and director Don Stephenson, who also returns from 2013 — is a clear boon to the show, which relies so fundamentally on timing and teamwork.
As happened in its predecessor, “A Comedy of Tenors” opens as producer Henry Saunders (Michael Kostroff) waits impatiently for the arrival of star opera singer Tito Morelli (John Treacy Egan) before a major performance. This time we are in Paris rather than Cleveland, but the conditions are the same: Henry harried, Tito bombastic, and the singer’s wife Maria (Judy Blazer) quickly running out of patience. The comic mishaps begin almost immediately, and work themselves into only tighter knots with each passing moment before finding resolution only moments before the conclusion.
Fresh off a recent scene-stealing turn in the Paper Mill’s production of “The Producers,” Egan shines at the center of this play. His role is by far the most demanding, but Egan shows no signs of fatigue as the play asks him to swing widely through a vast range of moods. Everybody takes their cue from Egan, who leads the cast with a steady presence. The team of Kostroff and David Josefsberg skillfully reprise their master-apprentice roles from both “Lend me a Tenor” and “The Producers.” The roles may be type, but the pair exploit their familiarity and comfort to the fullest effect.
Certainly the only goal here is an evening of laughs at outrageous circumstances. And nobody does that better than Ludwig, a master of farcical mayhem. “A Comedy of Tenors” hits all the high notes of the genre, having a lot of fun with itself along the way.
A Comedy of Tenors
Paper Mill Playhouse
22 Brookside Drive, Millburn. Through Feb. 26
Tickets: $32-$98; available online at papermill.org.
Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
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