Lots Of Uncomplicated Laughter In “Misery Ii”
Play Review
“Misery II: McManus in Love,” Thursday, June 22, The Met
Watching this sequel, I experienced the same sense of alarm I experienced in the original: Will people in the audience hurt themselves? Snap ligaments? Will they laugh so hard hospitalization will be required?
Actually, it’s wonderful to hear such unrestrained laughter. One little girl, who couldn’t have been much more than 7, was absolutely shrieking with glee, especially when Tim Behrens impersonated a bear.
That’s right. In addition to portraying the usual Patrick F. McManus characters (Rancid Crabtree, Crazy Eddie Muldoon, Pat himself) Behrens wraps himself in a big black fur coat and does a pretty good bear impression.
In the course of this two-hour-plus, Behrens also demonstrates how to ride a bicycle with a seat shaped like a hatchet (very gingerly) and how a baby complains about a dirty diaper (very loudly).
Clearly, not all of this sequel is about young love, as suggested in the title. However, the overall theme is about how the young Pat discovered girls, in all of its embarrassments and humiliations.
As in the original, Behrens demonstrates a remarkable versatility. He plays an excellent Pat, but the character I was most impressed with was Goombah, Crazy Eddie’s constantly crabby, canewielding grandma. Pretty soon I was able to ignore the fact that Goombah has a beard.
Behrens also does a great Rancid Crabtree, who has a voice like Pat Buttram. Actually, many of these characters sound like they came right out of “Hee Haw.” Subtle, this ain’t.
Neither is McManus’ script, which relies largely on stock comedy situations, such as the encounter with a skunk, or the fly that isn’t zipped. These get big laughs, because they’re set up so well. But the beauty of McManus’ writing lies more in his ability to take an image beyond the cliche. Thus we hear about a startled dog who leaps six feet straight in the air and paws the air wildly. Pat points out that all of this activity does the dog no good, “because he couldn’t get any traction up there.”
The show could still use some honing. The opening, with Pat being born and going through infanthood, is frankly a bit strange. The hilarious bear story could use a better ending; it ends weakly with another skunk gag.
Nor are McManus’ observations on young love terribly original. The summation of the philosophy here is: Men shall remain forever ignorant of women.
But McManus and Behrens give us something more valuable than philosophy. They give us unrestrained, uncomplicated laughter, skillfully delivered. Consider this sequel a second dose of McManus stress therapy.
, DataTimes