Dan's Papers - October 31, 2008 - Review: Enter Laughing

The hottest ticket in Manhattan this autumn has been the musical comedy, Enter Laughing, the Musical. It opened at the beginning of August for a limited eight-week run at the York Theatre in St. Peter's Church on Lex and East 54 St. Through a friend, I finally landed some tickets.

It is not often that I review an off-Broadway show in Dan's Papers. It is not often that I review a show that has been sold out every night for its entire limited eight-week run. And it is also not often that I review any show that is just about to close. But this is different. Enter Laughing is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Apparently, it is one of the funniest things that anybody has ever seen. And so, after rave reviews in all the dailies and after a word of mouth that has only in recent years been rivaled by The Producers, the show, after a one-month hiatus, will come back. It will, after that, probably go on just about forever.

The show is a ridiculous farce about a nebbishy, sex-obsessed, mother-dominated, Jewish teenager growing up in the 1930s in the Bronx, and his pathetic attempts to become an actor. The show's songs have titles such as "I Touched Her Breast," "Whoever You Are I Love You," "My Son the Druggist," and "I'm Undressing Girls With My Eyes." It tells the truth about everything. One of the funniest songs in the play is "The Butler," in which a butler, played by George S. Irving, tells Greta Garbo over the phone that no, she cannot come see our young hero for a sexual encounter because he is totally booked to have sex with famous movie stars, one to a customer, every three hours for the next six months and there is absolutely no way he can fit her in. In a bored, offhanded manner, he sings the names these movie stars using words such as humping, banging, shtupping and screwing - a different one for each. He reads off the times and dates to Greta. It's a tiresome job taking care of this young movie star's schedule. She asks if he'd tell him she called. It's hilarious.There is a play within the play that is a masterpiece of poor timing, pratfalls and bad acting. Our young hero participates.

The show stars Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, Ray DeMattis and a rising star named Josh Grisetti as the lead, David Kolowitz. Janine LaManna almost steals the show as the lead actress in the play within the play. She's a great comedic actor. The book is by Joseph Stein, the music and lyrics are by Stan Daniels and the director is Stuart Ross. It is based on a best selling auto-biographical book called Enter Laughing, written by Carl Reiner in 1958 about his growing up in the Bronx in the 1930s.

Reiner's book, a best seller, was made into a non-musical comedy Broadway show by dramatist Joseph Stein. (He and his wife live in downtown East Hampton.) Stein and Reiner knew one another from working together on "The Sid Caesar Show." The play unexpectedly ran for 413 performances. The Broadway show was then made into a serious drama, the serious drama was made into a movie, and then, in 1972, a musical comedy version of the play, renamed So Long 174th Street, was put together. It had a short run, then got put on a shelf.

Two years ago, the York Theatre dusted off this show, renamed it Enter Laughing, the Musical, and produced it with a series of other musical comedies that it felt ought to see the light of day a bit more often. This particular one was sold out every night. And so, the following year when they did this festival again, they showcased new plays, but reprised this one since it had starred the year before. And again it sold out every performance. The York, not surprisingly, thought maybe it was on to something. And so this year, they mounted the eight-week run and the rest is history. It seems to have been particularly made for these times in some strange way.

In its various incarnations, it has served as a vehicle for Alan Arkin, Alan Mowbray, Michael J. Pollard, Shelley Winters, Jose Ferrer, Elaine May, Don Rickles, Rita Rudner and tons of others. When this show is remounted in January, go see it.