On the Razzle (play)

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On the Razzle is Tom Stoppard's 1981 adaptation of Johann Nestroy's Viennese play Einen Jux will er sich machen (roughly, "He Will Have His Way"). Nestroy's play already had been adapted by Thornton Wilder twice: the first version, entitled The Merchant of Yonkers (1938), was far more faithful to the original material, but the second version, renamed The Matchmaker, added the crucial character of Dolly Gallagher Levi, who later became the heroine of the Jerry Herman musical hit, Hello, Dolly!.

Stoppard's farce consists of two hours of slapstick shenanigans, mistaken identities, misdirected orders, malapropisms, double entendres, and romance. Zangler, the twisted-tongued proprietor of an upscale grocery store in a small Austrian village, plans to marry Mme. Knorr, the proprietor of a women's clothing shop in Vienna. In preparation for new life in the big city, he orders a new wardrobe and hires Melchior as a personal assistant. He arranges to send his niece Marie to his sister-in-law in Vienna, Miss Blumenblatt, to protect her from the deadbeat Sonders who is dating her. As he departs for Vienna, Zangler entrusts the operation of his business to his head clerk, Weinberl, and an apprentice, Christopher, two country hicks who decide to go "on the razzle" to Vienna.

Almost immediately, Weinberl and Christopher catch sight of Zangler and disguise themselves as mannequins in the window of Mme. Knorr's House of Fashion. Circumstances propel the two into a fancy restaurant in the company of Mme. Knorr and her customer, Frau Fischer, the same restaurant to which Zangler intends to take Mme. Knorr. Several waiters, a constable, a coachman, and a carefully-positioned screen come into play, and things finally seem to be settling down when the eloping Sonders and Marie enter the scene and the chaos starts anew. Eventually all is sorted out and everyone is paired with the proper partner.

On the Razzle opened on September 18, 1981 at the National Theatre in London, with Felicity Kendal switching genders to star as Christopher. The production won a Laurence Olivier Award for Peter Wood as Best Director.

The play frequently is performed in regional theaters and high schools in the United States. A successfull off-Broadway production was mounted at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre in 1999.