Review Roundup: 39 STEPS Opens Off-Broadway

The two-time Tony Award winning hilarious hit comedy 39 Steps opens tonight, April 13th at the Union Square Theatre (100 East 17th Street).

The cast of 39 Steps features original Broadway cast member Arnie Burton as Clown #2, as well as Billy Carter as Clown #1, Broadway vet Robert Petkoff as the dashing hero Richard Hannay, and Brittany Vicars as Pamela/Annabella/Margaret in her New York City stage debut.

39 Steps is a comedic spoof of the classic 1935 film, with only 4 "insanely talented" actors portraying more than 150 characters, sometimes changing roles in the blink of an eye. The brilliantly madcap story follows our dashing hero Richard Hannay (Robert Petkoff) as he races to solve the mystery of The 39 Steps, all the while trying to clear his name.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Like a proper British acquaintance who finally feels you've known him long enough to call him by an abbreviated form of his full name, "39 Steps" has shed even its "the" for this reincarnation. If it has also shed a little of the freshness of its first youth, it remains indomitably funny...The show has retained an impression of seat-of-the-pants, frantic improvisation...But under the guidance of its original London director, Maria Aitken, this bare-bones production is as disciplined and as precise in its footwork as a "Firebird" from the Bolshoi Ballet..."39 Steps" remains a gallant and giggly ode to make-do resourcefulness, to the air of spinning illusions out of nothing but a clown's talents...The cast members are as crude and as refined as they need to be, though a few bits of physical comedy are stretched past the breaking point. And they definitely earn their paychecks, with their sustained gymnastic performance.

Mark Kennedy, Associated Press: A hit across the world but criminally absent from New York for four years, a new production, with original clown Arnie Burton along for the ride, opened Monday at the Union Square Theater with good cheer and manic energy...the evening belongs to Burton and fellow clown Billy Carter, who each tackle 50 or so characters, from cackling salesmen of ladies' underwear to assorted police officers to various women to inanimate objects including rocks. They're part Marx brothers and part Monty Python...Director Maria Aitken makes miracles with the minimal scenery and few props, propelling her actors with astonishing fluidity. That old saying that timing is everything really is here...The actors play it straight, which makes the whole thing funnier...It's good to have the looney clowns back and a special treat to have the plastic-faced Burton return, part of the hardest-working actor duo in the city.

Sandy MacDonald, Time Out NY: No disrespect to the romantic leads, but it's a supporting actor -- Arnie Burton, reprising his 2008 Broadway role -- who really carries this welcome revival...Shedding and switching secondary roles faster than they can doff or trade their cloaks and caps, Burton and sidekick Billy Carter really put their backs into it. Burton throws in a finely honed ear for dialect and his chiseled yet protean face. Robert Petkoff's sangfroid suits the stalwart hero...As a Dietrichy femme fatale, Brittany Vicars chews her consonants with gusto.

Maya Stanton, Entertainment Weekly: With four actors wearing -- literally, at times -- multiple hats, this loving sendup is part madcap romance, part mistaken-identity thriller, and pure absurdity. Displaying more than a touch of Monty Python-esque élan, the willing cast embraces the play's inherent silliness with good humor and impeccable physicality. Newcomer Brittany Vicars (playing a trio of different females) shows off keen comedic timing as she switches from femme fatale to wide-eyed innocent with comely aplomb, while Petkoff (All the Way) anchors the proceedings with a winking nod to leading-man gravitas -- his Hannay echoes the film version's unjustly accused man-on-the-run, with the addition of a near-perfect Cary Elwes-style posh accent for good measure. Billy Carter earns plenty of laughs as Clown #2, but Arnie Burton, reprising the role he originated in the play's Broadway run, steals the show. In the guise of Clown #1, he bounces from newsboy to traveling salesman to pantomime villain, to name a few, gleefully breaking the fourth wall with contagious enthusiasm.

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Photo Credit: Joan Marcus