Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Acting Up

Times may be tough, but they’re not quite as stressful as those depicted in Neil Simon’s dramatic comedy Laughter on the 23rd Floor. In it, six witty writers prop up “Max Prince,” the host of a comedy-variety TV show. It’s 1953, and Prince’s problems multiply when the network’s red-baiting big cheeses call his act obsolete. Faced with falling ratings, his staff desperately try to keep their jobs by wisecracking their way through the crisis. The semi-autobiographical action recalls Simon’s stint as a junior jokesmith on Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows,” offering a fictionalized look at the backstage chaos that produced a landmark of TV’s golden age. High-rise high jinks and humorous invective lighten the pop-historical load in a Northern Stage production that runs through March 15.