"Wonder of the World"
Amy with Bill Raymond and Alan Tudyk (aka SWC's Father)
Amy with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristine Nielsen
"WONDER OF THE WORLD"
By David Lindsay Abaire
At the Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage I at City Center
131 West 55th Street, New York
Sarah Jessica Parker played Cass, a wife who leaves her husband after making a shocking discovery in his sweater drawer. In search of something better, Cass flees to the honeymoon capital of the world, Niagara Falls. Armed with a "to-do list" that includes "learn Swedish, eat venison, witness an execution, wear a large wig," Cass meets Lois (a suicidal alcoholic with a pickle barrel perfect for the falls), a romantic boat captain, a psychotic helicopter pilot, and a bickering couple disguised as detectives. Alan Tudyk, Marylouise Burke, Bill Raymond, Kevin Chamberlin, and Kristine Nielsen rounded out the cast.
Amy Sedaris, Marylouise Burke, Kristine Nielsen
and Sarah Jessica Parker
immortalized by the late great Al Hirschfeld
REVIEWS
Associated Press: "...the supporting cast ...particularly Amy Sedaris in a variety of loony roles - is exemplary"
Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "Ms. Sedaris, herself an author of subversive comedies (with her brother David), knows how to deliver shtick with inflections that kick the obvious into a state of surrealistic twistedness"
Donald Lyons of The New York Post: "Specimens of local life include a helicopter pilot who's afraid of heights; three sarcastic waitresses got up as, respectively, a Shakespearean slut, a vampire and an American Indian; and a therapist who turns up wearing a clown costume - all played by the same actress. Amy Sedaris has fun with the pilot/waitresses/clown; as the clown-judge she shows the comic hilarity of Groucho Marx, simultaneously bringing sense and lunacy to troubled proceedings. Sedaris is a true clown who merits better material. "
David Finkle of TheaterMania: "The final member of the merry cast is Amy Sedaris, who plays six roles in six wigs, all of them indelible. During one sequence, she has to appear and reappear as waitresses at three different theme restaurants and she serves tickled ribs in each incarnation. Her no-nonsense Janie the clown therapist also brightens the proceedings."
Elyse Sommer of CurtainUp: "Swelling the cast of weirdos is the amazingly versatile Amy Sedaris. She plays a helicoptor pilot, all the waitresses in three uproariously funny scenes alternating between three different theme restaurants; and, finally and funniest, a marriage counsellor who, aptly dressed in her moonlighting career's clown costume, conducts a group marital session that convulses the audience in laughter."
Linda Winder of Newsday: "Christopher Ashley has put together a cast of A-list eccentrics, including Alan Tudyk as Cass' adoring husband with the alienating erotic secret and downtown star Amy Sedaris, whose cornucopia of marginal weirdos here includes all the waitresses in three theme-park restaurants and a marriage counselor who's also a clown."
Jacques Le Sourd of The Journal News: "...the quirky Amy Sedaris... could get serious laughs reading the telephone directory."
