THE PLAY THAT DIDN’T GO WRONG

ONE SUNDAY afternoon, producer Kenny Wax saw a play at the Trafalgar Studios. The production had been mounted on a shoestring budget, but the audience was laughing so much that Wax suspected he’d seen a potential hit.

BQN [N\] R\ QR\]X[ā :K\] ÿNNT The Play That Goes Wrong opened on Broadway, to positive reviews. It’s still running at the Duchess Theatre in the West End and the current UK tour of 30 venues is virtually sold out, so Wax has decided to tour it again next year.

He’d dreamed of being a theatre producer since he was a teenager at òK[VNU òXUUNPN \YNWMRWP ÿNNTNWM\ in London watching mega-musicals such as Phantom Of The Opera, Les Misérables Miss Saigon.

BQNK][N R\W´] RW QR\ LUXXM* ±;ā dad had a hire purchase company OX[ M[RþN[\ XO LUKûT ûKL\ ²

But the family did go to the theatre in Manchester. “I remember travelling in from Hale with my YK[NW]\ ]X ]QN\N VKPRûKU YUKûN\ URTN the Royal Exchange or the Library Theatre.”

He’s the youngest of three sibURWP\ KWM QR\ NUMN[ L[X]QN[ 3N[NT R\ a multi BAFTA and Emmy winning television producer.

Kenny Wax began his theatrical career as an usher for the Cameron ;KûTRW]X\Q P[X^Y 6N ÿ[X]N ]X ;KûTRW]X\Q K\TRWP ]X ÿX[T XW ]QN production side. “But he told me that I needed to get more experience in the business. He said that if QN PKþN VN K SXL 7´M LN K ]RWā YKYN[ clip in a huge pencil case, and I wouldn’t learn anything.”

öKĀ YN[\NþN[NM ]KTRWP XW KUU sorts of roles in theatre companies, including one conducting LKûT\]KPN ]X^[\ K] ]QN <Nÿ :XWMXW Theatre. His first West End opening in 1997 — a play, Maddie — was