Review of Laugh to Keep from Crying

If you've seen any of Tyler Perry's other plays, you've seen this one before. Nothing about the plot will surprise you, but I like the play anyway. Actually I prefer all of his plays over the movies because his plays are character driven. The cast was great, but the standout roles to me were Palmer Williams Jr. as the crazy landlord; the two white tenants played by Wess Morgan and Stephanie Ferrett; and the son played by Donny Sykes. I'd definitely like to see them in more of his work although we already see Palmer on "House of Payne" acting crazy as ever there, too. But Donny Sykes is funnier and I like it when the two of them have scenes together. The play is about a bunch of tenants living in the hood who are trying to deal with the pitfalls of prostitution, violence and unemployment. But what I like about Tyler Perry's play is that it shows that through all of these trials and tribulations, the tenants still manage to find a lighter side and have some fun, as any hood would. I definitely could've done without all the singing. I wasn't into any of the songs (although I usually like musicals) but since I wasn't impressed by the songs it just seemed like overkill.