“Women can not resist a man singing show tunes. It’s so powerful even a lot of men can’t resist a man singing show tunes.” – Andy Bernard
“Andy’s Play” is one of the best Office episodes during its latter seasons.
Centered around Andy (Ed Helms) and his quest to win Erin (Ellie Kemper) back by having her come to see a play that he’s in, the episode possesses the charisma that has been absent for some time. It’s also nice to see the writers mix it up and focus on a secondary character.
Andy has one of the lead roles in Sweeney Todd, a musical at the local community theatre. He gets everybody in the office tickets, but Erin is really the one that he wants to attend the show the most. He gets her two tickets and she informs him that she can come, but boyfriend Gabe (Zach Woods) cannot. Andy is not so delighted to hear this.
Andy finally talks Michael into going, even though Michael doesn’t want to due to not being picked to be in the show after auditioning. He then tries to push Pam and Jim into going by persuading someone else to babysit after their sitter cancels on them. When everyone shows up at the theatre, Andy is delighted to see Pam and Jim, but they give him the news that Erin is the one that agreed to babysit.
It is tough to see the build-up of the Erin/Andy romance and then have it crumble before it really got going. The pairing could be really enjoyable to watch. Erin did eventually show up at the theatre to see a little of the play and to talk to Andy, but she ended up going back to Gabe at the end of the night.
It was nice to see everyone outside of the office supporting their co-worker. Kudos to Ed Helms; he is a good performer as both comedian and musical thespian. It also helps that Sweeney Todd is a good musical. Even Michael couldn’t help but admit that the play was good. Pam found it “fun to hear Andy sing, in the appropriate setting.”
Elsewhere, Angela and Dwight continued with their contractual obligation to make a baby together. This is another couple storyline that the writers seem to toy with us about. Dwight claims that he doesn’t have feelings for Angela and she is trying to get him to fall back in love with her. They will probably be another wait and see couple.
Particular highlights from “Andy’s Play”:
- Michael doing a whole Law and Order episode for his audition
- Michael, Kevin, Darrell, and Meredith sharing a bottle of wine during the play
- Andy’s cell phone ringing in his pocket while he is onstage performing
- Andy and the cast of Sweeney Todd performing a song for the whole office
Some stats and info about The Office, “Andy’s Play”
TV SHOW – The Office
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 7, Episode 3
AIRED ON – March 25th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – NBC
GENRE – Comedy, Office Culture
CREATED BY – Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
CAST – Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenn Fischer, Rainn Wilson, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey, Kate Flannery, Phyllis Smith, Creed Bratton, Oscar Nunez, B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, Paul Lieberstein, Craig Robinson, Ellie Kemper