Review: Urbanite's Ahoy-Hoy

Urbanite Theatre in downtown Sarasota recently presented the world premiere of Jenny Stafford's Ahoy-Hoy. Winner of Urbanite's 2025 Modern Works Festival "Audience Favorite" award, Ahoy-Hoy began at Urbanite as a staged reading.

Foremost, Ahoy-Hoy is downright hysterical. Set in 1876, as Elisha Gray races arch-nemesis Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone, Stafford examines ego, ambition, what makes a legacy, and how fickle a mistress the annals of history can be.

Manic to the nines, and blinded by a desire to be remembered throughout time, Amber McNew gives a show-stopping performance as Gray. Ben Williamson perfectly matches McNew's energy as Gray's assistant, Cornelius, and the chemistry between them couldn't be more effective.

Urbanite veteran Casey Murphy brings a bit of vaudevillian villainy to his portrayal of Bell, but while Bell might show fewer outward scruples, Gray proves every bit as willing to cross moral and legal lines to claim credit for the invention.

Ariel Blue, another frequent Urbanite performer, is brilliant as Wilbur, a patent office clerk who serves as chief storyteller in a surreal third act that plays out like a hilarious fever dream. Part history lesson, part philosophical debate, part game show, and wholly hilarious, Ahoy-Hoy is a rip-roaring good time you do not want to miss.

Ahoy-Hoy runs through AAA. Visit the Urbanite website for schedule and ticket information.