Here comes a hit — “One Man, Two Guvnors,” another winner from the National Theatre in London that’s headed to Broadway in the spring.
Under the leadership of Nicholas Hytner, the National’s minting hits the way David Merrick did back in the ’60s.
The theater picked up the Tony this year for the stunning “War Horse,” still selling out at the Vivian Beaumont. It also gave Broadway Alan Bennett‘s “The History Boys,” which won the Tony in 2006, as well as the excellent “The Seafarer.”
I wish we had a New York version of Hytner. Maybe then our nonprofit theaters wouldn’t be so dull — “Master Class” — or empty (Studio 54).
“One Man, Two Guvnors,” which Hytner directed, is an adaptation of that 18th century commedia dell’arte “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni.
But don’t worry. This is not some precious piece of theater history, with Arlecchino, Pantalone and Colombina flouncing around onstage singing madrigals.
Goldoni’s play — about a servant in Venice who can’t stop eating — is genuinely funny. The servant will do anything to fill his belly, including working two banquets at the same time while scarfing down as much food as he can when no one’s looking.
The play’s been adapted by Richard Bean, whose “England People Very Nice,” also produced by the National, was an entertaining and perceptive look at immigration and assimilation.
It’s about time Bean’s work gets produced in New York.
He’s set “One Man, Two Guvnors” in the seedy seaside town of Brighton in 1963. Many of the characters are mobsters.
The star turn is delivered by James Corden, who was the funny fat kid in “The History Boys.” Corden has since emerged as a TV star in Britain with a show he created called “Gavin and Stacey.”
“With a face like an enormous potato and a physical dexterity that is astonishing in one so corpulent, [he] brings a winningly warm and harassed humanity to the role,” Charles Spencer wrote in the Telegraph.
Corden is just as funny offstage as on. He emerged as the ringleader of Broadway’s young cast of “The History Boys,” merrily rounding up everyone for pints at Angus McIndoe after each performance.
Sometimes you’d run into a couple of those “History Boys” stumbling home along West 44th Street after toasting their Broadway success.
“They certainly had a lot of fun while they were here,” says a person who worked on the show.
Hytner, who also directed “The History Boys,” has a flair for farce. I caught his production of “London Assurance” starring Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw last year at the National, and still chuckle at the memory of Beale camping it up in a green dressing gown as a fat dandy. It’s a shame that production never got to New York.
From the reviews and buzz from theater insiders, “One Man, Two Guvnors” sounds just as delightful.
You’ll have an easier time getting a ticket to “The Book of Mormon” on Broadway than you will to “One Man” at the National. The show wraps up its run there next month and will play a 16-week stint in the West End.
Producer Bob Boyett is laying the groundwork for a Broadway transfer in time for the Tony cutoff date in April. He has to strike some sort of deal with Actors Equity so he can bring Corden and the rest of the British cast — Jemima Rooper, Oliver Chris, Daniel Rigby, Tom Edden — with the production.
In the meantime, you can see live broadcasts of “One Man, Two Guvnors” next week at the Skirball Center at NYU and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Check with the theaters for dates and times.