University of Virginia Library

The Broadway Beat

Art Buchwald's Opening Night On Broadway

Review Of
'Sheep On The Runway'

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

NEW YORK - As you all know,
Art Buchwald is a funny fellow
who has built a handsome reputation
and profitable career through
his syndicated newspaper columns.
Not long ago, he decided - or
rather, as I understand it, was
prompted - to write a Broadway
play. So, the chubby, cigar-smoking
journalist sat down at his typewriter,
filled each key with a strong
concentration of satirical venom,
wrote and re-wrote extensively, and
wound up with a comedy called
"Sheep On The Runway."

Mr. Buchwald's first playwriting
effort shows considerable
promise although it does not rise to
the standards of a well-made play.
Its structure is as flimsy as cardboard
and the fire of theatricality is
missing in the writing. Yet "Sheep
On The Runway" contains a lion's
share of the brightest gag lines to be
heard this season and it comes
across as the most pointed political
satire' in a long while as the author
takes pot-shots at just about all
aspects of American foreign policy.

Mr. Buchwald's comedy takes
place in the fictitious kingdom of
Nonomura, an isolated country
somewhere in the Himalayas. The
American ambassador there thinks
they've forgotten about him back
in the States, for Nonomura is a
peaceful - indeed, dull - place.
Nothing ever happens there, that is
until a hawkish columnist who likes
to invent rumors of Communist
threats convinces the country's
prince that his kingdom is in
danger. Then it's America to the
rescue: an Army general trying to
offer the prince combat artillery and
a civilian aid expert suggesting ways
of rebuilding the country.

Nixon And Agnew

The tone of the piece is
established when the curtain rises
on Peter Larkin's attractive U.S.
Embassy set and we see on the wall
a picture of President Nixon and, to
the right and a few inches below it,
one of Vice-President Agnew, the
latter hanging crooked. The
characters are, as they must be,
inflated - at times it seems helium
has been used - beyond realistic
proportions. Likewise, the situation,
with its vivid underlying truth,
is all but outlandish, a gigantic
bubble which is kept from bursting
by the stream of pertinent one liners.

"Sheep On The Runway" is very
much akin to Woody Allen's first
play, "Don't Drink The Water" (a
comparison which has been made
by at least two other critics, but
which I made previously to my
friends upon leaving the theatre
opening night), not because both
have Embassy settings, but because
both rely upon their authors'
knowledge of humor to compensate
for their inexperience as playwrights.
There is more depth of
purpose to Mr. Buchwald's play and
this is the little something extra
that perhaps pushes it into the
winner's circle.

Brisk Staging

Whenever Mr. Buchwald falters,
director Gene Saks is usually on the
spot to ball him out and keep his
play moving with some brilliant
directorial touches. Unfortunately,
there is not much Mr. Saks could
do to make the many twists at the
play's end humorous instead of
confusing. Nevertheless, his staging
is brisk and adroit, and his cast is
just fine.

David Burns is splendid as the
ambassador who has little control
over the goings-on in his Embassy
while Martin Gabel gives a conventionally
competent performance as
the Commie-hunting columnist responsible
for all the havoc. Richard
Castellano gets about the biggest
laughs of the evening as the fat
prince who succumbs to America's
goodwill efforts. There are also two
perfectly keyed character bits by
Barnard Hughes as the general with
the armaments catalogue and
Remak Ramsay as the lanky civilian
aid man hell bent on making
Nonomura a better place to live.

Will Mackenzie does well by his
role of the ambassador's outspoken
assistant and Elizabeth Wilson injects
womanly charm into the
ambassador's wife. The part of the
ambassador's daughter has been
poorly written by the author and is
poorly played by Margaret Ladd.

In all, a fun evening with an
undercurrent of seriousness, an
evening in which Art Buchwald the
wicked Jokester Jousts with Art
Buchwald the stumbling playwright.
The laughs are present even
though there exists a virtual stylistic
void. And, maybe above all,
"Sheep On The Runway" provides
us with some much needed lethal
topicality.

Upon leaving Sardi's, where the
opening night festivities were being
held, I asked Mr. Buchwald if, after
the apparent success of his initial
play, he intended to write another
one. The question was prematurely
asked and the author did not
commit himself. Still, I feel confident
that he'll be back soon. He has
too much left to say, too much of
The American Way to satirize, and
too much theatrical promise to
fulfill.