The folks at Cape Fear Regional Theatre know a good hit when it happens. For The Play That Goes Wrong, however, it was in the people on social media asking them to extend the multiple sold-out shows and the general community’s question about more showtimes for the play that made them know they had a hit on their hands. So, naturally, they decided that the show had to return — The Play That Goes Wrong, again.
“It was our highest attended play in the history of the theatre,” Ashley Owen, the Marketing Director for Cape Fear Regional Theatre, said.
The members of Cape Fear Regional Theatre are gearing up for a large renovation and Owen said the fly system that The Play That Goes Wrong requires wouldn’t be possible for another two years. They knew, she said, it had to be brought back before the renovations, which explains the closeness of the return of the production to its original run.
“There is no way we can do this show not in our own setting,” she said.
The Play That Goes Wrong is about a play, The Murder of Haversham Manor, going from “bad to utterly disastrous” and gives the comedic vibes of Gene Wilder with accident-prone actors and a corpse that has a hard time remembering to play dead. The show will hinge on comedic timing.
As far as actors are concerned, most of the original cast was able to return for the second run of the play. Just two actors had conflicts and had to be recast. And although this is the second run, Director Laura Josepher said the show will include plenty of subtle changes the cast and crew have been fine-tuning.
“They are still finding new things,” she said. “It is different. It feels a little bit different.”
The theatre admins had to apply for the rights to do the production the first time around and had to place new applications in to get the rights for this second run. Thankfully, Owen said, they were approved. They hope the community will come back and experience new laughs and maybe some of the magic from the first run as well.
“I would encourage people who saw it before to come again and bring people,” Josepher said.
For Josepher, she feels like comedy shows like this one get influenced by people coming together and being able to laugh together.
“It’s really cathartic. I see it every day and it still makes me laugh,” she said. Josepher has previously admitted that farce is hard. “It’s such specific timing. The world is a tough place that [it’s nice to have] an evening of just laughing.”
Tickets are on sale at CFRT.org, or call the box office at 910-323-4234. The show will run until April 7th. It will include military and teacher appreciation nights.