Bomb-itty of Errors


United States Entertainment Weekly MTV The New Yorker The Wall Street Journal The New York Times The Chicago Tribune The Village Voice The New York Observer LGNY	Europe Edinburgh Evening News The Telegraph The Times The Independent The Guardian The Scotsman Metro

"The cast spins comic gold. This energetic twist on Shakespeare's THE COMEDY OF ERRORS is a thrill, due primarily to the jaw-dropping performances of the cast. Inspired silliness - they're da bomb! GRADE: A!" (For the complete EW review, go to EW.COM)
- Entertainment Weekly

This fantastic show is one of the most entertaining, slick and inventive you'll see on the Fringe this year—and it has some clever insights to shed on the Bard's classic farce too. . .All expert rappers and natural physical comics. . .Does what so many productions fail to do—it makes Shakespeare funny. Not just chuckling, yes-I-see-this-part-is-meant-to-be-comical funny, but laugh out loud, hollering and cheering funny. . .The language is as clever, sharp and twisty as Shakespeare's. Do yourself a favour and see this show: it's da bomb.
- Edinburgh Evening News

"Nothing short of brilliant. Clever writing, rhythmic flow, witty musical allusions and intelligent humor. The actors are completely endearing and the show is thoroughly entertaining."
- MTV

A rap version of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors from America that pulses with wit, savvy and a sublime sense of its own ridiculousness. . .You'll be enchanted.
- The Telegraph

"Bomb-itty is witty, lewd and altogether new. Think 'The Beastie Boys from Syracuse'."
- The New Yorker

Whatever it was that inspired New York University students to come up with The Bomb-itty of Errors, an "ad-rap-ation" of The Comedy of Errors (if you call something The Bomb in hip-hop speak it means something really good) it was a stroke of genius. . .the language fizzes with new life, it's irreverent and yet in tune with Shakespeare's original, it's clever and witty and fast. And the performances are staggeringly high-octane.
- The Times

"Bomb-itty of Errors' young cast gives the bard's slapstick farce a Generation-Y rejuvination...scores very high on sexy-party index...You're carried along by the energetic tumble of words."
- The Wall Street Journal

The only painful thing about this unexpectedly stonking show. . .is that pretty soon you're not going to be able to get a ticket for it. . .British bookings agents with any sense will have this show signed for a West End run sharpish. . .Plainly preternaturally gifted performers. . .The dialogue is rich with cross-cultural references that manage simultaneously to reveal an intimate knowledge of the set text, yet never lose their sharp, trainer-clad footing. . .Forget standing ovations,this show has a dancing one.
- The Independent

"WORD UP!"
- The New York Times

Not all of it is Shakespeare quite as we know it, but this hilarious rap version of the story of lost identical twins and mistaken identity follows in a list of honourable attempts to take the Bard into the clubs and on to the street. This show is so full of rude life and so exuberantly gleeful and raucous that it should be available as a tonic from your tonic. . .the result is like a glorious mucky pantomime.
- The Guardian

"The Bomb-itty of Errors" is advertised as a hip-hop version of "Willy Shakespeare's 'The Comedy of Errors.'" But never fear. If you don't know hip-hop from boogie-woogie, you're still likely to have a good time with the infectious fun generated by this engaging new show.

Originally created as a senior project in theater at New York University, the 90-minute romp has already had an off-Broadway run and a winning stand at the recent HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo.

Directed by Andy Goldberg and now neatly tucked into the Royal George Cabaret Theater, it presents such a lively group of ingratiating zanies spieling out such an ingenious reworking of Shakespeare's plot and poetry that for most of its 90 minutes it dazzles its audience with the energy and invention of its creation.

About two-thirds of the way through, the imagination momentarily flags and some of the jokes fall flat, but that does not stop its quartet of inexhaustible young players from winding up the evening with a renewed flurry of good humor.

The show, though given a funky update and decorated with the graffiti of designer Geoffrey M. Curley's inner-city scenery, sticks to Shakespeare's story, in which two sets of twins, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus and Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, are forever being mistaken in their identities until everything is unscrambled for a happy ending.

Gregory J. Qaiyum, boundlessly animated, portrays the Ephesian Antipholus and Charles Anthony Burks is his servant Dromio-or, as they say in hip-hop rhythm, Droh-mee-oh, oh-oh-ee-oh, ee-oh, ee-oh. Jordan-Allen Dutton is the Antipholus of Syracuse and Erik Weiner is his Dromio. They also play wives, sisters, physicians, jewelers, nuns, prostitutes, policemen and various other supporting characters.

They do this at a breakneck pace, singing songs, telling dumb jokes and rattling off the tongue twisting rhymes and the loads of pop culture references without a missed beat.

At one side, composer J.A.Q. (Jeffrey Qaiyum, Gregory's brother), acts as deejay, turntablist, sound effects man and cheerleader for their high jinks. Through it all, they appear to be having a very good time. And who can blame them? They've come up with a fresh and happy entertainment.
- The Chicago Tribune

Shakespeare. Hip-hop. . .The Bomb-itty boys make the two sound as though they were made for each other. . .Twice as fresh and twice as clever as Return to the Forbidden Planet. . .It's the rappers that steal the show, moving with an energy and a grace that is a spectacle in itself. . .The exuberance that sells from the stage creates a hugely positive atmosphere and the crowd are soon clapping, waving their hands in the air and whooping.
- The Scotsman

"The four writers-performers rap their take on Willy's comedy with enviable wit and panache...It's mad catchy."
- The Village Voice

"Bomb-itty of Errors is the most joyfully hilarious Shakespeare I've seen. What makes it more than a hipster's lark is its heady joy in language that's alive and changing. The pulse of the production's energy bounces off the beat of its verbal ingenuity - as Shakespeare enjoyed the musical richness of words, spontaneous punning, rhyme, alliteration, linguistic invention. You must see it!"
- The New York Observer

"It's part farce, part parody, a bit musical, and a bit of a drag show. But don't bother trying to classify it - The Bomb-itty of Errors is a witty and irresistible hit. Billed as an "add-RAP-tation" of Willy Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, the show has entered its fourth month of a highly successful New York City run. It's intelligently written and hysterically performed by five young men who effortlessly shift roles, rapping through every major character in the play, with a few new ones thrown in. Producer Daryl Roth, a champion of young audiences, ushered the piece into its current home at a new Off-Broadway theatre, 45 Bleecker, after discovering it at New York University. You may wonder what rap has to do with Shakespeare but if the bard were alive today he might well be a rapper. Rap's fast and furious wordplay, commanding rhythms, and social reflectivity yield some of the most relevant poetry of our time. And Shakespeare was a master of the collision of forms. The ancient, the political, the historical, and the bawdy - everything was incorporated into his storytelling. Bomb-itty is rap at its best, theatre at its most compelling." From Julie Taymor's article about The Bomb-itty in Vogue Magazine (May 2000)
- Julie Taymor (Director of The Lion King and Titus)

"One of the most innovative and sexiest pieces of theatre I've seen in years...an insanely talented cast...pure theatrical magic...the future of the American theatre"
- LGNY (Lesbian and Gay New York)

The Bomb-itty of Errors, already an off-Broadway hit, pulls it off faultlessly. . .breathtaking to watch: their overwhelming exuberance is completely infectious. . .It's a joy from start to finish and a definite Festival highlight.
- Metro