“THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG” IS DELICIOUSLY RIGHT

The old adage the “The play must go on,” meaning despite disasters and unforeseen catastrophes, must have had the

new comedy “The Play That Goes Wrong” clearly in mind. Here is slapstick at its best, and worst, with calamities making a mountain of mishaps and it only gets funnier as each predicament occurs.

Hartford’s Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts will be airing this series of seriously hysterical scenes in this Olivier Award for Best Comedy show written by Jonathan Sayer, Henry Lewis and Henry Shields from Tuesday, September 25 to Sunday, September 30.

Turn your clocks back to the 1920’s and watch in disbelief as the Cornley Drama Society attempts to stage a production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Attempt is the operative word as the unpredictable and unanticipated keep occurring. What do you do when your leading lady suffers a concussion? How do you handle a corpse who refuses to stay dead? Why do the sets keep malfunctioning and are in danger of total collapse? Where do the fortifying drinks go as they disappear from sight?

Think what might happen if the stars of “Spamalot" and The Three Stooges conceived a troupe of children. While patently and biologically unthinkable, the end result might be this fall-over funny laugh riot. Mischief is in every one of the delectable details as they go deliciously down the tube.

For tickets ($23-90), call the Bushnell, 166 Capital Avenue, Hartford, at 860-987-5900 or online atwww.bushnell.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

While murder is serious business, “The Play That Goes Wrong” definitely is not. Come discover the magic mania for yourself.