Classic Screwball Comedies?
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Topic: Classic Screwball Comedies?
Posted By: bernster74
Subject: Classic Screwball Comedies?
Date Posted: 6/27/06 at 7:23pm
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Hello all - Looking for suggestions for the funniest classic screwball comedies - examples like You Can't Take it With You, The Front Page, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Hay Fever, etc. Any ideas would be most helpful. Regards from beautiful Colorado. Bernie |
Replies:
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 6/28/06 at 8:07am
| I don't know if this counts, but "The Nerd" can be hilarious. |
Posted By: Dough Boy
Date Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:10am
| Noises Off? |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:21pm
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classic? "Arsenic and Old Lace," "Harvey," "The Awful Truth," "Boy Meets Girl,"
"Light Up the Sky," and "George Washington Slept Here." |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 6/28/06 at 1:50pm
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"Once In a Lifetime" "My Sister Eileen" "Don't Drink the Water" "Born Yesterday" ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 6/28/06 at 5:24pm
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Drop Dead Amateurs Greater Tuna any Farndale Avenue play Fools ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: Cogsworth
Date Posted: 7/05/06 at 9:38pm
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The Odd Couple, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Any Neil Simon Have you done The Man Who Came to Dinner? |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 7/06/06 at 9:44am
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There's an excellent description of the genre (from a film perspective) here: http://www.moderntimes.com/screwball/define.html - http://www.moderntimes.com/screwball/define.html When I saw Cogsworth's list, I thought "The Odd Couple, a screwball comedy? No way." But after reading that, it actually fits pretty well, except for the "rich vs poor" part, which of course in the 1930s was a HUGE issue. To expand on a couple of suggestions above, you can't go wrong with anything that has George S. Kaufman's or Moss Hart's name on it. Stage Door fits too, although it's more serious, especially in the second half. ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 7/11/06 at 4:38pm
| I must agree about Noises Off. As a theatre person I don't think there is a funnier play out there. Of course you have to do a lot of work to stage it. So funny! I mean like wet your pants funny! |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/12/06 at 9:31am
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I agree - "Noises Off" is hysterical...though, I think that "Lend Me a Tenor,"
"Moon Over Buffalo" and "I Hate Hamlet" are just as funny. |
Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 8/31/06 at 1:19am
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I agree that "Moon Over Buffalo" is great, we did that show recently and it was a big hit, not to mention EVERY role is fit for a ham. Big time fun to perform. ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: DnoMan
Date Posted: 9/05/06 at 12:21am
| "It Runs in the Family" is a very funny Ray Cooney farce. We had 'em in stitches-play is set in a hospital! |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 9/26/06 at 11:12am
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There's an old chestnut called "The Male Animal", I believe by Lindsey and Crouse. It's set on a college campus, and revolves around the campus homecoming celebration and a mild-mannered professor's conflict with the college administration over his reading of the famous letter by Sacco and Venzetti in his classroom. So, there's a message, but a lot of laughs while getting to it. ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: Juror #3
Date Posted: 9/29/06 at 4:38pm
Consider "Once in a Lifetime" by Kaufman and Hart (I think). It is set in Hollywood just as the sound era is coming in. Some out-of-work and modestly talented actors decide to open an elocution academy. Excellent satire of Hollywood as it moves into its Golden Age. Has nothing in it that would turn away audiences, if that matters. In the hands of actors who know how to do a fast paced brand of humor, it would be hysterical. One caution: It has an enormous cast, as shows produced in the 30s tended to do (Kaufman's in particular, since he tried to give as many actors work as he could) but many parts can be doubled, even tripled. ------------- Juror #3 |
Posted By: kiwiholly
Date Posted: 10/04/06 at 4:25am
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"The Sex Fiend", by Stephen Sinclair. It's a New Zealand play, and one of the funniest ones I've ever seen, a bit rude though, in case you didn't guess already, so it'd depend on where you were performing. Other than that, I agree with "Noises Off"! |
Posted By: suzecue1
Date Posted: 10/04/06 at 9:05am
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"Accommodations", the female version of the "Odd Couple", "Fools", "Foreigner". All funny shows that were fun bring to the stage. ------------- Sue ***** So many hats.....so few heads! |
Posted By: tcpmatt
Date Posted: 10/04/06 at 12:44pm
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Over the River and Tru the Woods |
Posted By: Sister Bob
Date Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:40pm
| Anything by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Millmore: "What the Bellhop Saw" and "Lie, Cheat, and Genuflect" are two of the zaniest shows I've ever done. |
Posted By: Sister Bob
Date Posted: 10/19/06 at 6:49pm
| How could I forget? How about "Over the Tavern" ? |
Posted By: falstaff29
Date Posted: 10/25/06 at 12:30am
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Not technically screwball, but two hilarious, "clean" comedies, both underrated: Steve Martin- The Underpants Thornton Wilder- The Matchmaker |