Word: humorously
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dialogue is spiced with occasional shots of black humor, all based on our exclusive knowledge that behind the smiling stepdad exterior lurks a raging psycho. Family Number Two is struggling for a reconciliation, and the Stepfather suggests, "C'mon, honey let's bury the hatchet." Gulp. But all you slasher-thrasher fans out there be warned. The Stepfather would rank low on Joe-Bob Briggs boobs'n'blood scale; this is suspense you bozos: protracted anticipation laced with adrenaline, not gory gratification every six and a half minutes, Friday the 13th-style...
...play's main strength is its fast-paced verbal virtuosity, then its drawback is the lack of substance beneath the glibness. The Day Room wants to be a serious play done humorously, but it is the humor that ultimately dominates weakest moments occur when the characters are forced to face the logical ramifications of their illogical world. Had DeLillo taken his own contrivances less seriously, the audience would be spared monologues on such silly questions as: what if the world is just a figment of one's imagination? It is a child's question, as DeLillo admits; but then...
Everyone enjoys a fast-paced role in the intellectual mud of double-entendres, ridiculous costumes and lyrics, but the humor last night was only occasional and uneven, relying on kielbasa jokes and references to T.V. sitcoms that failed to ignite the well-soused audience...
...patented Pudding kickline at the end should serve as a capper to the evening's hilarity, a time to consider the humor that has come before. Last night, it was just a confirmation that this edition hasn't lived up to the Theatricals standard...
Establishing a strong narrative line for this Pennsylvania death trip is not easy. Old Pro Wambaugh chooses the cop's-eye view, telling much of the story as developed by the state police investigation and dispensing considerable amounts of macabre station-house humor. He is also fond of old-fashioned hard- boiled detective prose: "Bill Bradfield avoided that man like a vampire avoids sunburn," and "as predictable as a Tijuana dog race." At times his tone grows weary, as if he were thinking, "How the hell did I ever get mixed up with these wackos and patsies?" Schwartz-Nobel...