This past weekend I took a performance of Goodman Theatre’s production of “Animal Crackers”. The original production of “Animal Crackers” opened at the 44th Street Theater in New York on October 23rd 1928 staring the Marx Brothers and was made into a film in the 1930’s. I have to admit; I’ve never seen the film. So I really knew not what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.
Does the story stand up to the test of time? Well, there isn’t much to the story so I can’t say. What there is of a story exists to string together a bunch of sight gags, one-liners, and musical numbers. The show starts slow. It seems to take a while to setup the plot – but one it’s setup things start to pick up the pace. The first act was pretty high evergy and was able to hold my attention. Especially due to the performances of Mara Davi and Jessie Mueller. They were fantastic and it took forever just to realize that they were playing duel roles!
The two numbers that stood out and entertained me the most were Three Little Words and Long Island Low Down. I’m a sucker for a high energy dance number and the choreography for these two numbers was fantastic thanks to John Carrafa, choreographer.
Even though the second act was not as good as the first, I definitely recommend taking in this performance.
Does the story stand up to the test of time? Well, there isn’t much to the story so I can’t say. What there is of a story exists to string together a bunch of sight gags, one-liners, and musical numbers. The show starts slow. It seems to take a while to setup the plot – but one it’s setup things start to pick up the pace. The first act was pretty high evergy and was able to hold my attention. Especially due to the performances of Mara Davi and Jessie Mueller. They were fantastic and it took forever just to realize that they were playing duel roles!
The two numbers that stood out and entertained me the most were Three Little Words and Long Island Low Down. I’m a sucker for a high energy dance number and the choreography for these two numbers was fantastic thanks to John Carrafa, choreographer.
Even though the second act was not as good as the first, I definitely recommend taking in this performance.
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