So there’s this play about a rich, eccentric Brit who takes over a struggling New York media company, cleans house, and starts taking on rich slum lords (with a side hustle in sports promotion). Sounds pretty relevant, right? This play must be brand spanking new!
Except it’s not. This play is based P.G. Wodehouse’s comic novel Psmith, Journalist—written in 1910, over a century ago—and adapted for this production by City Lit artistic director Terry McCabe, who also directs.
The play begins with the eponymous Psmith (Richard Eisloeffel) taking a leave from his studies at Cambridge and popping across the pond to New York for a vacation—only to then, on a whim, take over a struggling newspaper. Like so many carpetbaggers before him, Psmith promptly fires all the terrible writers and sets the paper on a new course to widen its readership: hard-hitting investigative journalism. (Okay, so not everything translates to 2016.) Alongside acting editor William Windsor (John Blick), Psmith quickly makes a powerful enemy as the two expose a series of hellish tenement slums where poor immigrants live in appalling conditions. Hijinks ensue.
Of course, people don’t come to P.G. Wodehouse, author of the Jeeves and Wooster stories, for incisive social commentary. They come for the wit, something that Psmith has in ever-flowing abundance. Seriously, the guy never shuts up.
And unfortunately, this is where McCabe’s production falls flat. Eisloeffel’s performance is charming at first, but becomes terribly rote soon after: His lines always feel like a schoolboy’s memorized recitation. And since Psmith carries the lion’s share of the dialogue, the play itself feels a bit like a recital. It is all too happy to amble along with all the narrative dynamism of a Sunday morning stroll, aiming for breeziness but landing on listlessness instead.
While Psmith, Journalist has its moments—a wonderfully ill-timed poetry reading for one—the play never comes to life. Forget the story’s surprising timeliness; the whole thing feels about as up-to-date as a daguerreotype. And even those who want to see something quaint and old-fashioned—a City Lit specialty—will likely leave disappointed.
City Lit Theater. Based on the novel by P.G. Wodehouse. Adapted and directed by Terry McCabe. With ensemble cast. Running time: 2hrs; one intermission.