L-R: Michael Glenn as Zangler, Matthew McGloin as Christopher and Ashley Ivey as Weinberl in the Constellation Theatre Company’s production of ‘On The Razzle.”

“Hijinx!” “Zaniness!” “The hilarity that ensues!”

All of these hackneyed descriptions are 100 percent applicable to the Constellation Theatre Company‘s charming production of On The Razzle, a relentlessly witty play by Tom Stoppard that is currently running at the Source Theatre. In fact, it is near impossible not to rest on such clichés with regards to this piece, because they are all so true.

There are so many twists and turns in On The Razzle‘s byzantine plot that summarizing it in detail would be a fool’s errand. Based on Einen Jux will er sich machen, an 1842 play by Johann Nestroy, the story revolves around Weinberl, played by Ashley Ivey, and Christopher, played by Matthew McGloin. They are clerks in a rural high-end grocery store owned by Zangler, a boastful, vain and self-righteous man who considers himself royalty among the merchant class. Zangler is trying to juggle his day between holding a place of honor in the town parade, keeping his niece/ward, Marie, apart from her suitor, Sonders, and making a dinner appointment with his fiancé in Vienna. Realizing their boss will be gone for the day, the two clerks decide to paint the town red. Misunderstandings and mistaken identities go on to create situations that are absolutely ridiculous and at times almost unbelievable, if only the farcical characters didn’t embrace them so wholeheartedly.