If you’ve already seen “Game Show” at New Theatre Restaurant, then you haven’t seen the currently-playing “Game Show.” That’s because the play continually reinvents itself every single performance, depending upon audience interaction. Because hand-picked audience members (selected during meal time) actually get up onstage and become part of the cast, the improvisations fly fast and furiously. The reactions of the audience game show players only add to the hilarity of this already-funny show.
Charles Shaughnessy (of THE NANNY, MAD MEN, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, etc.) brings a delightful sense of dry British humor to his repartee with the audience “special guest stars,” and drives the laughs home time after time, as suave game show host “Troy Richards.”
Of course, since it’s the New Theatre Restaurant, delicious food also plays a starring role in your evening. Creamy shrimp risotto is the Chef’s Choice, and award-winning Executive Chef Mark Webster really outdoes himself with this dish, combining aborio rice simmered in lobster stock with onions and sweet cream, and finishing with shrimp, Romano cheese and a hint of lemon to tantalize the taste buds. “This is a rich and savory dish and is probably not recommended in large doses by most cardiologists,” according to Webster. However, it’s superb comfort food (as is just about everything served at the New Theatre Restaurant).
Rounding out the menu, the buffet offers a fall vegetable medley (slow-roasted butternut squash and carrots tossed with zucchini, caramelized onions and red peppers), green beans (with caramelized, sweet red onions), steamed fresh broccoli (served with a creamy cheese sauce), baked ziti (pasta with a hint of basil in a light blend of white cheddar and parmesan cheeses), roasted garlic potatoes, polenta (finished with a chimichurri sauce), tilapia (very mild, yet flavorful), fried chicken (marinated in buttermilk), and beef shoulder tenderloins. As usual, the accompanying sauces show off the flavors of the entrees to their best advantage—Dijon, dill and malt vinegar aioli for the tilapia; fresh thyme-chicken veloute sauce for the chicken; and burgundy demi-glace for the beef.
Special mention must be made of the braised pork, succulent chunks of pork shoulder (slow-cooked, then charbroiled), saturated with one of the best tangy bbq sauces you will ever taste—and, since this is Kansas City, that’s saying a lot! The pork is garnished with fried sweet potatoes.
Have I made you hungry yet? Well, now I’d like to whet your appetite for the stellar performance you’ll witness between dinner and dessert!
Taking on the conceit of a “play within a play,” a favorite device of another erudite Englishman, William Shakespeare, “Game Show” makes the most of Shaughnessy’s witty ad-libs while following a script that features a televised game show (in which members of the audience are participants) that stops filming during “commercial breaks” to present the stories of the show’s producer, warm-up host, cameramen and production assistant.
All the cast members, including Jan Chapman, Craig Benton, Peter DeFaria, Tim Cormack and Todd Carlton Lanker, turn in solid performances. Jim Korinke (as Steve Fox) is as amusing and reliable as ever, and takes his selection of audience “guest stars” very seriously.
The questions posed to audience members who have volunteered (or been chosen) to be contestants can be answered fairly easily, yet they’re esoteric enough to capture interest. And they’re guaranteed to get some pretty silly answers from audience members/contestants who are too excited (or embarrassed) to think the questions through.
Competing contestants earn real prizes (from “Game Show” T-shirts to $100 gift certificates to a jewelry shop), and the anticipation of winning or losing creates even more tension and suspense.
Although the plot is a bit weak and predictable, director Richard Carrothers has a final surprise in store for theatergoers before the final curtain. I’ll let you discover that bombshell yourself—right after you lick the last crumbs off your chin from the chocolate chip cookie sundae you had for dessert.
“Game Show” runs through January 22, 2012 at the New Theatre Restaurant. Call 913-649-7469 or go to www.newtheatre.com for tickets.
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