IT'S ONLY A PLAY, FISH, or YOU CAN'T

Friend coming into town next weekend and want to see a Broadway comedy. The only three I see playing are "It's Only a Play", "A Fish in the Dark" and "You Can't Take It With You." Enjoyed them all in varying degrees...which would you recommend?

I haven't seen any of them, but most of the posters say that You Can't Take It With You is great and It's Only a Play has its moments but is overall pretty bad, especially one particular performance (cough, Broderick). Fish in the Dark looks like it should be funny since Larry David is always hilarious, but it's gotten some mixed buzz on here, and is a VERY tough ticket to get into right now.

You Can't Take it With You is brilliant. Particularly amazing that they took an 80 year old script and, with phenomenal directing and acting, made it seem entirely contemporary, timely, and hilarious.

It's Only a Play is one joke repeated throughout, and will be particularly unsatisfying to someone who doesn't have knowledge of and appreciation for theater.

Fish in the Dark is weak. Larry David is Larry David, so there are some decent lines and humorous moments interspersed throughout, but overall it is not a good play. It elicits chuckles, not hilarity.

You Can't Take it With You, hands down. Not even close.

I have seen You Can't Take It With You and It's Only A Play. I liked them both. I laughed my butt off in It's Only A Play, but my wife thought it sucked donkey b-lls.

I think your decision is simple. If your friend is a big theatre buff, maybe someone who spends way too much time online on Broadway - based message boards (I don't know anyone like that), they will probably appreciate all of the theatre-centric humor in It's Only A Play. If they are not a huge theatre fan, then I would definitely not pick It's Only A Play.

If your friend is a huge Larry David / Seinfeld / Curb fan, maybe someone who's online message board Name is a fictional character from Seinfeld (I don't know anyone like that), I would pick Fish In The Dark. If your friend is not a huge Larry David fan, they will probably not like it too much, based on what we have all heard about it so far.

So, to summarize, I think that if your friend is not a huge theatre buff or a huge Larry David fan, pick You Can't Take It With You.

Updated On: 2/16/15 at 10:55 PM

Donkey Balls?

Fish to me sounds like one extended Curb episode. If your wife is not a fan, I would stay away. This is especially true as those who have seen it on the board have not been kind in their reviews

YCTIWY looks & sounds good but I have not seen it

Saw It is only a play & enjoyed it. To me it is between the last 2 mentioned. YCTIWY is a classic. Play is basically an ode to the theater . Hard to choose

Good luck

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