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Ken Ludwig's Lend Me A Tenor

  • Ken Ludwig
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, 1930s
  • 4M, 4F
  • ISBN: 9780573691218

A sensation on Broadway and in London's West End, this madcap, screwball comedy is guaranteed to leave audiences teary-eyed with laughter.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: 1930s
  • Target Audience: Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set
  • Cautions: No Special Cautions

  • Performance Group:
  • Large Stage, Dinner Theatre, Community Theatre, High School/Secondary, Professional Theatre, Reader's Theatre, College Theatre / Student

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 3 Tony Awards and 4 Drama Desk Awards
    Nominee! 2010 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
Winner of 3 Tony Awards and 4 Drama Desk Awards, Lend Me A Tenor is set in September 1934. Saunders, the general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is primed to welcome world-famous singer Tito Merelli, known as Il Stupendo, the greatest tenor of his generation, to appear for one night only as the star of the opera. Tito arrives late, and through a hilarious series of mishaps, he is given a double dose of tranquilizers and passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he’s dead - and in a frantic attempt to salvage the evening, Saunders persuades Max to get into Merelli's costume and fool the audience into thinking he's Il Stupendo. Max succeeds and lives up to his idol, but Merelli regains consciousness and gets into the identical costume, ready to perform. Now two opera singers are running around in the same costume and two women are running around in lingerie, each thinking she is with Il Stupendo.

A sensation on Broadway and in London's West End, this madcap, screwball comedy is guaranteed to leave audiences teary-eyed with laughter.
REVIEWS:

"A remarkable piece of theatre... a masterpiece... Author Ken Ludwig has verve, a sound grasp of plot mechanics and a rare ability to couple high art with low comedy."

 The London Times

"One of two great farces by a living writer."

 The New York Times

"Ken Ludwig's 1989 Tony-winning comedy is one of only two classic farces by a living playwright, the other being Michael Frayn's frenetic Noises Off."

 New York Daily News

"The most inventive, original farce in a long time..."

 Punch

"A furiously paced comedy with more than a touch of the Marx brothers... A marvelous combination of wonderful farcical moments and funny lines."

 Time Out New York

"Hilariously over the top."

 The Manchester Guardian

"Fills the theatre with the sound of laughter."

 The Sunday Express, London

"Free flowing honest-to-goodness unforced farce."

 New York Magazine

"Non stop laughter."

 Variety

"An accelerating snowball of laughter, Lend Me a Tenor has the class and charm of a Kaufman and Hart comedy plus all the door-slamming hilarity of a Marx Brothers' classic like Room Service."

 Jim Helsinger, PA Shakespeare Festival

Premiere Production:

Lend Me a Tenor was first presented at the American Stage Festival, Milford, New Hampshire on August 1, 1985. It was directed by Larry Carpenter. The play was subsequently presented by Andrew Lloyd Webber for The Really Useful Company at the Globe Theatre, London on March 6, 1986. It was directed by David Gilmore.

The play was first presented in New York City on March 2, 1989 at the Royale Theater by Martin Starger and The Really Useful Theater Company, directed by Jerry Zaks.

Characters

  • Casting: 4M, 4F
  • Casting Attributes: Ensemble cast, Minority casting, Non-Traditional casting, Parts for Senior Actors, Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)

MAX - assistant to Saunders
MAGGIE - Max's girlfriend
SAUNDERS - Maggie's father, General Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company
TITO MERELLI - a world-famous tenor, known also to his fans as Il Stupendo
MARIA - Tito's wife
BELLHOP - a bellhop
DIANA - a soprano
JULIA - Chairman of the Opera Guild

Available Material

Name Price
Lend Me A Tenor Script This is optional. Order Now

A concert in Ohio in 1934 is jeopardized when the lead Italian tenor falls into a drunken'stupor. So the impresario's diminutive assistant blacks up and goes on as Otello. The tenor awakens, dons his costume, and thence follows an hilarious comedy involving two Otellos, a volatile Italian wife, an outrageous bellhop and a cynical impresario.

$24.95

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