Takes place entirely in a single room, that being the office of producer David O Selznick in 1939, needing a rewrite of the screenplay of Gone With the Wind from scratch as a matter of urgency; Selznick, so the story goes, locked new screenwriter Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming (fresh recruited from The Wizard of Oz) into a room for five days, feeding them only bananas and peanuts - and, as the screenwriter hadn't read the book, acted out its scenes with Fleming to show Hecht how they should play. The scenes in which those enactments take place (done by two men in suits, natch) are the funniest - like tears rolling down cheeks funny - in a play which is frequently very funny indeed, though less screwball than I'd expected. Peppy and bright, this was a good one.
[part of an MTC subscription with Steph, Sunny & co]
[part of an MTC subscription with Steph, Sunny & co]
