theater review: Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Paul Bunyan Playhouse.
This is not my kind of show. I know this, you know this, we all know this. I didn't go to see it thinking I was its target audience, I went to support my peeps. I tried to look at it though the eyes of its target audience, the community of a smallish town in north central Minnesota.
It's an ensemble piece about a group of writers on a sketch comedy show in the 50's... chaos ensues. Although it took about half an act to really find its stride, once it did it clipped along nicely. There were varying levels of comedic chops (and some uneven attention to dialect), but everyone ultimately seemed like they were working together; I didn't feel like anyone was stealing the show. Eric Webster has quite possibly the best understated comedic take I've ever seen, and Ari Hoptman had a number of well played bits.
The folks around me laughed regularly, and heartily. In that, I think the show succeeded in its goal.
3 out of 5 stars.
One for the ensemble's focus on supporting each other, one for Michael Paul Levin (who deserves it for the sheer effort put forth) and one for the spilled water bit, which left me in stitches.