Review: Everything’s alright with Loxen’s ‘Play That Goes Wrong’

With the dour seriousness that hovers over the current world in which we exist, Loxen Entertainment’s “The Play That Goes Wrong” at the Colony Theatre is a much-needed respite.

This is Miami-based Loxen’s opening show in its three-production performance schedule at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road and the setting couldn’t be better for the hapless comedy. The premise of the gone-wrong play is that it is opening night for the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” one of those typical whodunnit Agatha Christie “Mousetrap” yarns.

Upon entering the theater, we were greeted by Mr. Chris Bean (Kalen Edean) in a white tuxedo. He’s Cornley’s director, box office manager, press secretary, and stars in the play as The Inspector. He’s just part of the action before the show begins as Trevor (Corey Vega), Cornley’s lighting and sound operator, and Annie (“Noah” Stephanny Noria), Cornley’s stage manager, are trying to get some last-minute fixes in place. Annie nabs a person from the audience to help her get a mantlepiece that won’t stay put and Trevor asks that we all keep our eyes open for a dog named Watson who has gone missing as well as his prized Celia Cruz CD that someone has swiped.

As the curtain is set to rise on Cornley’s show, Bean welcomes his audience to the drama society’s offering. As the audience is clearly regulars to the society’s shows, we’re asked to remember earlier productions by the company that were amended because of limited budgets – Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” became “Two Sisters,” and “Cats” retitled as “Cat.” There’s also the apology for the box-office mix up that led ticket buyers to believe they were seeing the blockbuster musical “Hamilton” rather than Bean’s little show.

It’s the beginning of much wordplay and absurdity that puts “The Play That Goes Wrong” on course.

The real director of Loxen’s production is Gonzalo Rodriguez who has his hands full with this one. The moment that “Murder at Haversham Manor” begins, it is destined to fail – the foreshadowing of Annie unable to get the mantlepiece in place cues impending disasters. But how to make it all believable? For one, he has his ensemble cast invested as ever in ensuring the laughs come naturally.

Pedro Balmaseda and Jorge Noa, the team of NOBARTE, have created the set, which is, indeed, the star of the show. Set pieces fall, a tall grandfather clock becomes a hideout, a bookcase wall spins to reveal another area, a beam that holds up the second level becomes displaced leaving two actors (Ryan Crout and Edean) trying to keep the furniture and themselves afloat and safe from a perilous fall. Props are misplaced or disappear – allowing the audience at one point to help locate a ledger. The placement of the lighting and sound designer’s work area at stage left gives the audience a bird’s eye view of Trevor’s workspace including the Cecila Cruz wallpaper on his computer screen. Nice touch.

It’s not just the set that’s falling apart around the cast – these amateur thespians have their own bungling that adds to the mayhem. The ensemble and the director of Loxen’s production hold true to the authors’ production notes ensuring the play’s parody and farce doesn’t turn exceedingly silly: “The actors of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are not bad actors, but the victims of unfortunate circumstances . . . Everything must of course be played for truth and not for laughs or parody.”

Charles Haversham (Samuel Krogh) is late for his engagement party only to be found dead in his study. But Cornley’s deceased character is terrible at playing a corpse – it doesn’t help that the other actors are stepping on his hands and hitting him in his privates. And that the stretcher they are to take him out on breaks, leaving the corpse-actor to figure out how to leave the set himself.

There’s the bumbling butler, Perkins (Giorgio Volpe is a standout) – obviously unable to remember his lines, he’s written notes on his arms leading to frequent mispronunciations. Charles’ flapper-esque fiancée, Florence, (Hannah Hayley) gets knocked out cold accidentally and must be replaced by the stage manager who clumsily reads her part from the script. So taken by the spotlight, she refuses to give up the role when the fiancée-actress comes to, which leads to an all-out hair-pulling (or wig-pulling) brawl.

Charles’ duplicitous brother, Cecil, is played by Benjamin Leon IV, the real-life founder of Loxen. His character constantly flashes a cheeky smile or a wink at the audience breaking character and the fourth wall, but Leon does it with panache so that it is in keeping with the play and never a distraction.

Crout, as the dedicated best friend Thomas Collymore and brother to Florence, has much of the stage business to wrestle with – especially in a scene where he’s to take a phone call but is in the midst of holding set pieces in place. He’s also one of those called on the most for hefty doses of physical comedy (but the writers have tasked everyone with plenty of physical business), which Crout aces (see the aforementioned failing second level).

Ernesto Pinto’s lighting design successfully toggles between the 1920s murder mystery and the real world of the drama society’s announcements and pre-show antics.

Costumes by Vega, Florence’s colorful flapper sparkles, Thomas’ rugged marksman, and Cecil’s “Sloane Ranger” style – the British Preppy Look, all work exceptionally well.

The show that became “The Play That Goes Wrong” was first performed in 2012 at the Old Red Lion Theater, a classic London pub theater, later moved to London’s West End, then to Broadway and, in 2019, began its run off-Broadway. Written by Britain’s Mischief Theatre (specifically by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Layer, and Henry Shields), the writers were weaned on improvisational theater, which can so handily be seen in their farcical play.

Now Loxen has found its production a home at the Colony Theatre – a perfect fit where the 1935 Art Deco venue adds another layer to the play within a play.

By the looks of audience count, Loxen at the Colony hasn’t yet caught on. But this production should surely cement the company’s place on Lincoln Road. Its next run there is “Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” opening Dec. 13 and then another farce, “The Drowsy Chaperone” opening on Feb. 28.

But catch “The Play That Goes Wrong” before it goes away. Disappear from despair for two hours (not including an intermission), and enjoy a spectacular production that gets it all right.

If you go:

WHAT: Loxen Entertainment’s “The Play That Goes Wrong”

WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Through Sept. 22.

WHERE: The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

COST: $81.50 includes $6.50 service charge; $69.50 includes $6.50 service charge and $46.50 includes $6.50.

INFORMATION: 305.674.1040; miaminewdrama.org or loxen.org.

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