Jack the Ticket Ripper

Remaining performances: July 18 6:00, 19 2:30
They say: Jack the ticket-taker has never missed a performance in 25 years.  When his job is threatened Jack refuses to be downsized.  A hilarious revenge comedy that will have you asking “Who will Jack off next?”

Joan says: Living is easy, comedy is hard, comedy about slaughtering your coworkers is magnificent.

I have a theory that playwright John Morogiello went to see Sweeney Todd and said to himself afterwards, “What this show really needs is some laughs”.  How right he was!  Jack (delightfully played by Jim Gagne) is a pompous usher.  You don’t like him, but you have to love his boyish enthusiasm for murdering his equally pretentious coworkers.  Each slaying has a surreal sort of  Hannibal Lecter-meets-Elmer Fudd quality to it.  You scream both in horror and delight—and you laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Jack the Ticket-Ripper is filled with hilarious theater stereotypes, physical comedy, and brilliant one liners.  Julie’s (Charlene Smith) very clever rendition of “He Slays Me” is a particular highlight.   The supporting cast (Stefan Aleksander, Erik Morrison, Ian Blackwell Rogers, Thierry Barston, Shari Lewis and Jacida Bronaugh) all displayed excellent comic timing, and made their characters real and memorable in the brief time they had before Jack exacted his revenge.

I haven’t seen such outrageous fun since Debbie Does Dallas: the Musical.  Jack should be on everyone’s Must See list.

See it if: You thought what Noises Off! needed was some serious blood.

Skip it if: Even Johnny Depp wasn’t enough to entice you to see Sweeney Todd.  But seriously, don’t skip it.  You’ll hate yourself in the morning.