Luv2Go, It's a shame you missed Boeing-Boeing! It is not a superior play, but the direction (by Matthew Warchus) was inspired and both the original and replacement casts were so funny. It was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen in New York.
I think it's harder to write a good comedy that sustains laughs than to write a good drama. (Not that writing a good drama is easy by any means.)
gchris, Let me clarify that I don't think you'll be sleeping through this; it's fast-paced, reasonably engaging and sometimes funny. It was like a fully fueled plane that never rarely was able to get off the ground. The premises were set, but the payoffs weren't delivered IMO.
For example (and unfortunately a slight SPOILER example):
One of the characters is growing a strange plant he found on an expedition. He tells us that if you eat/smoke the leaves you go through several phases- giddiness, numbness, slight hallucinations, and finally, if you have too much, death. Luckily before you die you start to itch all over and that's when you know you have to stop consuming the plant.
Of course you can see it coming that everyone is going to consume the plant (he rolls the leaves into cigars and tricks them into smoking it as a distraction). The set-up is all there. The problem is other than some giggling and minor forgetting of what they were talking about the plant has very little effect. They act no differently than if they were slightly inebriated. It's a total letdown and only mildly amusing.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
