Time can do funny things to a play, which isn't the same as saying time makes a play funnier. Such is the case with Joe Mantello's revival of Terrence McNally's 1975 farce The Ritz, now being presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54.

When McNally's slyly political statement about gay liberation opened 30-plus years ago, audiences were ready to laugh at a naughty if sanitized glimpse of gay bathhouse shenanigans. More importantly, they were perhaps also prepared to overlook the strain the playwright evidenced in scenes constructed of traditional farce conceits like mistaken identity and people hiding in tight spaces -- including a steam room that blasts steam out its swingi[...]