Ha Ha scored a big hit with its send-up of Hamlet but whether this new show - admittedly only in its infancy - will match that success is doubtful.
Spoof musical comedies are a real treat when they’re actually funny - think of anything by the majestic Spymonkey or indeed the Warehouse’s own staggeringly successful Dick Barton series.
Ha Ha Hitler! pales by comparison as it simply tries too hard to force laughs by being zany. The cast of four busts a gut in this puerile story of three British airmen trying to escape from the Colditz-style Chateau Plonke in German-occupied France. They are aided by zee French maid Sophie Ce Soir, confidently played by the attractive Lizzie Frances.
Of the men, Paul Taylor stands out as the camp airman Dick Ashton and the camp komandant Von Schnitzershitz. Writer/director Ben Langley, who surprises with some nifty juggling skills, plays the personable Tommy Bristol and Andrew Fettes doubles as the ecclesiastical Hilary Luton and a rather lame Hitler. For a truly funny Fuhrer, rather seek out Frank Sanazi’s brilliant Hitler/Sinatra hybrid.
Sadly, there are few real laughs here - the reconstruction of Steve McQueen’s famous motorbike leap over barbed wire from The Great Escape film is one - and there is too much unnecessary and embarrassing audience participation, pretend corpsing and general time-wasting.
Ha Ha Hitler! aims pretty low and amazingly finds a target. Many people laughed uproariously at its schoolboy smut, vaguely risque double entendres and contrived nonsense.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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