A joyous exploration of youthful rebellion, romantic mischief, and the irresistible pull of adventure.

When their employer departs for a reckless romantic escapade, two young shop assistants seize their moment. Determined “to acquire a past before it’s too late,” they abandon their provincial responsibilities and head to Vienna for a spree that quickly spirals into a whirlwind of mistaken identities, romantic misfires, elaborate lies, and breathless pursuit.

Tom Stoppard’s On the Razzle is a joyous explosion of language and farce. Wit flies as fast as doors slam. Romance is impulsive, impractical, and irresistible. Beneath the high jinks and double entendres lies something tender: the longing to live boldly, to risk embarrassment, and to seize youth before it slips away. What unfolds is a night of theatrical mayhem that builds toward a crescendo of comic precision and sheer delight.

History

On the Razzle premiered at the National Theatre in London in 1981. Stoppard’s play is an adaptation of Johann Nestroy’s 19th-century Austrian farce Einen Jux will er sich machen. Nestroy’s work later inspired Thornton Wilder’s The Merchant of Yonkers (1938), which Wilder revised into The Matchmaker (1954). That play ultimately became the basis for the beloved Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!