News & Events 2004-2005
Blair Academy Players Dazzle with Stoppard’s “On the Razzle”
The Blair Academy Players performed “On the Razzle” by Tom Stoppard on November 4, 5 and 6, 2004, in the DuBois Theatre of the Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts.
Based on “Einen Jux will er sich machen by Johann Nestroy,” this farce follows the same outline of Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” and “Hello, Dolly,” only much wackier as only theatre’s most verbally-gifted playwright could make it. Two shop assistants, played by seniors Hudson Taylor and Mollie McAdoo, decide to have some fun and “go on the razzle” while their boss, portrayed by senior Jonathan Slawson, is away. Dodging their employer through Vienna, plots and subplots reach full speed in this zany play. One of the plots concerns the boss’ niece, played by senior Katherine Miller, who is sneaking away to meet her paramour, portrayed by junior Jordy Liebowitz. The assistants manage to evade their boss, only to find themselves in the shop of their boss’ fiance, played by senior Faith Evans. Taking her and her friend, portrayed by senior Melissa Clark, out to dinner only draws them closer to their boss and his hapless new assistant, played by junior Chris Jones.
“Apart from ‘Jumpers’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ there may be no script in English funnier than ‘On the Razzle,’ ” raved Robert Cushman in the Observer. Irving Wardle of The Sunday Times said, “Verbally, Stoppard’s best sustained fireworks to date.” “On the Razzle” stands up well in the list of Stoppard’s works, which include “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”, “Arcadia,” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
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