Animal Crackers
Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2012
Written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Adapted by Henry Wishcamper
Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby
Scenery by Richard Hay
Lighting by Geoff Korf
Costumes by Shigeru Yaji
Sound by Matt Callahan
As it turns out, sincere flattery seldom is as hilarious as Bedard’s inspired impersonation, which nails Groucho’s slippery sense of timing and finds a credible (if differently pitched) approximation of his simultaneously caustic and winking vocal tone. Bedard’s Captain is leader of a legion of comic delights deployed here by director Allison Narver -- highlighted by a dash of uproarious puppetry and another marvelous performance by the versatile Jonathan Haugen, quick-changing his way between the roles of a butler and a financier
Who would have thought this 80-year-old stage and film vehicle for the Marx Brothers would be such a treat, and such a hit this season? Vintage vaudeville high jinks among the rich, unleashed by a trio of zany con men crashing a Long Island party, fly fast and furious in Seattle director Allison Narver’s nimble and frisky OSF mounting.
All the right crackers are in this box: a live band on stage playing the chipper Harry Ruby-Bert Kalmar score. Swell costumes and sets. The pun-encrusted, mock-the-1 percent George S. Kaufman-Morrie Ryskind script (smartly adapted by Henry Wishcamper).
But it’s the faux-Marx frères who keep up the comic mayhem, with the clowning and impromptu quipping the Marxes perfected. Mop-wigged Brent Hinkley romps, leers and honks a great Harpo. In the Chico Marx role, Daisuke Tsuji (who alternates in the part with John Tufts) not only aces the poker-faced wiseguy guise and cheesy Italian accent, but he can really plunk a piano, too. But there’s no Marx madness without a Groucho, and Mark Bedard is a smashing one. As the leering prince of anarchy and irrepressible huckster Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, he’s a ringer for the real article and a scampering hoot.
Timing is paramount in comedy, and despite minor lapses, OSF’s helter-skelter antics proceed apace. But take heed of Groucho’s ode “Hello, I Must Be Going,” intoned by a shifty-browed Bedard: If you must be going to “Animal Crackers,” order tickets in advance.
