A winning triple bill

Dominic Maxwell|Metro10 April 2012

Here's chutzpah. Coming from nowhere - well, Minneapolis - this American triple act have booked themselves a three-month run in the West End to peddle their vaudevillian mix of comedy, song and magic.

Let's hope they get away with it, because this is light entertainment as it oughta be - slick, silly and joyful.

The premise - 1970s act Maxwell, Butternut and Bean reunite for laughs and recriminations - is an excuse for three guys to do their shtick. Fine by me, since all three have acts good enough to survive without much narrative.

Hugh Butternut (Michael Pearce Donley) sings comedy songs and leads an audience-participation version of Le Freak. (It's the kind of show where you don't mind this sort of thing.) Bobby Bean (Bob Stromberg) is the goofball.

His mugging is tireless but his shadow puppetry is stunning. No, honestly. Best of all, there's Buzz Maxwell (Bill Arnold), a Bill Murray-dry tonic to the others' occasional overplaying. He's also the funniest comedy magician I have ever seen.

Despite game references to Ken Dodd and Jeffrey Archer, this is a particularly American show: daft but disciplined. The silliest moments - the Chariots Of Fire dream sequence; Bobby's attempt to impress Roddy McDowall at a piano recital by acting like an ape - are hilarious because they are so tightly controlled.

It's showbizzy stuff - those with a phobia for the Marx Brothers, say, may find its pointlessness a problem. Triple Espresso is a very stupid night out. Take that as a recommendation.

Until April 5, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street WC2, Mon to Fri 7.30pm, Sat 4pm and 8pm, Tue mat 3pm, £17.50 to £32.50. Tel: 020 7836 3334. www.tripleesspresso.com Tube: Covent Garden

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