Play #33 -- One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theater at Home, April 4

So we almost made it through two-thirds of our play-going goal before the option of attending any plays in person became an impossibility.  I guess we shouldn't have slowed down so much during the winter.  We even skipped some available local shows because we thought we had plenty of time.  Oh well. 

We ended up seeing 64% of our goal (32 of 50) in 53% of our allotted time (284 of 537 days), so we definitely would have made it, especially with three Broadway shows in July (including Hamilton and Hadestown), and nine OSF shows in August and October.

Those first few weeks and months of the shutdown were full of plenty of grief over missed opportunities and canceled plans, even if much of it was due to classic “first-world problems.”

Then NT Live pivoted to National Theatre at Home and came to our (and many others') rescue, providing super high-quality theater in the comfort of our own home, for free!  A new show was made available every week, but that also meant we had to get it watched right away!  Along with NT at Home, the Globe (London) and Stratford Festival (Canada) were also showing free plays on film.  At first we were very excited, but it eventually became a little overwhelming.

First up was One Man, Two Guvnors, featuring The Late, Late Show host James Corden.  This was the show that launched Corden’s starry career of Carpool Karaoke and hosting the Tony Awards.

I loved it.  Didn’t expect to, but I did.  I even wrote to my family and friends, encouraging them to see it!

“C and I watched this last night. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but it was totally hilarious and farcical, in the best possible way, especially at this time. As the review below points out (which I didn't realize before watching it), it's based on the classic 18th century farce, The Servant of Two Masters. It's also the play that launched James Corden to his present success, back in 2011.”

https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Review-ONE-MAN-TWO-GUVNORS-National-Theatre-At-Home-20200403

We weren't sure we were going to count these plays (on film), but given that we had no option to watch live plays, many of our friends thought it was entirely legit.  So we're going for it!