THE RICHEST DEAD MAN ALIVE!
The implausible plot, which was developed by the ensemble, is a pretext for the company’s initially innocent but finally ugly buffoonery. William Walden (David Salowich), a dweebish asthma sufferer and bird fancier, is injured by Dan (Ken Colburn), a clumsy refrigerator deliverer, then accidentally buried alive. After he’s rescued, he decides to fake his death to collect on his life-insurance policy. But this time he fakes too well.
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The opening-night audience found all this remarkably unfunny, and many took off at intermission. They simply had nothing to care about. Grottescos’ hybrid makes a treacherous comedy–as it proceeds it dries up what little laughter it gets, until finally it turns so sinister that we wonder if the joke’s on us. It’s not at all clear, for instance, that they find the killing of the homeless repellent.
