Game Show – A Stage West Review

The new comedy/drama that’s currently playing at Stage West is billed as the Comedy YOU Play and whiles it’s true, there is so much more too it!
The premise of the play is we get to see the “behind the scenes” activity that takes place during the recording of a successful TV game show called, wait for it, Game Show. The behind the scenes antics are a huge highlight of the show and the scheming, manipulation and banter are truly entertaining.
Most of the scheming involves the career of the host of the game show, Richard Karn who will be familiar to many of you from the hit TV series Home Improvement as the loveable Al. It was great seeing Mr. Karn in person and he did a great job of playing the over the top game show host, but the great work didn’t end there.
We see much of the show play out through scenes with the staff of the show itself and are drawn into the agendas of the people in charge of the show. Of course, since this is a game show, the real highlights come into play when the audience members get a chance to be involved as contestants. If you missed the opportunity of getting on Wheel of Fortune or other game shows, attending this play may be your chance.
Throughout the night, multiple audience members are given the chance to answer questions during the live taping of the show and through the three rounds on the stage, nine audience members are brought on stage to compete in the show and to compete for some real prizes.
This led to many numerous unscripted sequences that Richard Karn handled wonderfully and led to much hilarity. You simply never know how the audience will answer some questions and several of the contestants took the opportunity to be what can only be termed, creative with their answers.
From the moment the show starts, you really do feel like you may be at the taping of a real game show and this really helped create a great environment and mood for the play itself. Both my wife and I quite enjoyed the entire production and it kept us entertained throughout.
Of note with this particular production, there is no intermission. So if you’re attending be prepared to watch straight through. This allowed for great continuity between the in game scenes and the behind the scenes moments and allowed everything to build up to the conclusion of the show.
If you’re looking for some fun comedy with background drama and as always an incredible meal, I’d highly recommend you check out Game Show.