That’s the opening gambit for a farcical comedy set in Utah territory before statehood. It’s director Joe Hanreddy’s second location-specific adaptation of George M. Cohan’s “The Tavern,” which opens Tuesday, Sept. 19, in a Utah Shakespeare Festival regional premiere. The comedy plays through Oct. 21.
“It’s the heightened theatricality of melodrama that we’re after,” the director says of a story where the wrong person is always appearing at the door at just the right time for maximum comedic effect.
The Vagabond has the same kind of disruptive effect as the Cat in the Hat, says Andrew May, describing his character as having “complete diarrhea of the mouth.