MCT's LEND ME A TENOR Opens Tonight

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) presents Ken Ludwig's classic farce LEND ME A TENOR, April 10-27, 2014. This production is a collaboration with the Marquette University Theatre Department with several students, alumni and faculty filling roles both onstage and on the creative team. Ken Ludwig's LEND ME A TENOR performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

Set in 1934, LEND ME A TENOR is an extremely funny behind-the-scenes look at one day in the life of the "Cleveland Grand Opera Company." When world famous Italian tenor Tito Merelli is hired to play Otello, little do these unsuspecting Ohioans realize how many things can go wrong in one brief, but action-packed evening!

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre Producing Artistic Director C. Michael Wright directs a cast of eight including new and past MCT artists. Returning to the MCT stage are Alexandra Bonesho (THE LION IN WINTER), Drew Brhel (MAURITIUS, CRIME & PUNISHMENT), Steve Koehler (RABBIT HOLE, THREE DAYS OF RAIN) and Rick Pendzich (JEEVES INTERVENES, THE FOURTH WALL). Making their MCT mainstage debuts are Linda C. Loving and Rána Roman and Marquette University students Hannah Klapperich-Mueller and Peter Sisto.

In 2009, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre began a three-year "University Collaboration Series" as part of our mission to nurture young artists. Marquette University was part of the series in the Spring of 2011 with THE LION IN WINTER. Today, the series has continued to evolve into a wide variety of partnerships with local university theatre departments. The current collaboration with Marquette University on Ken Ludwig's LEND ME A TENOR is a perfect example of MCT's commitment to working with and mentoring the next generation of theatre artists with several MU students, alumni and faculty appearing on stage and serving on the creative team. In addition, several Marquette students who were involved with THE LION IN WINTER are now returning to MCT serving more prominent roles in LEND ME A TENOR.

Marquette University personnel working on LEND ME A TENOR include current students, Dylan Elhai (Stage Management Intern), Hannah Klapperich-Mueller (Actor), Peter Sisto (Actor) and Nic Trapani (Lighting Designer); alumni Alexandra Bonesho (Actor), Rachel Finn (Scenic Designer) and Kimberly O'Callaghan (Draper); and faculty member Debra Krajec (Costume Designer).

Ken Ludwig's LEND ME A TENOR was produced in London's West End in 1986 and then on Broadway in 1989. The New York Times called it "one of the two great farces by a living writer," and the original Broadway production won three Tony Awards and was nominated for nine. The 2010 Broadway revival featured Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Shalhoub. LEND ME A TENOR has been translated into 16 languages and produced in 25 countries.

Ken Ludwig's plays have been performed in more than 30 countries in over 20 languages. He has had six shows on Broadway and six in the West End. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, the Edgar Award, the SETC Distinguished Career Award and the Edwin Forrest Award for Services to the Theatre. His other best-known Broadway and West End shows include CRAZY FOR YOU, MOON OVER BUFFALO, LEADING LADIES, TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, THE GAME'S AFOOT, THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY, MIDSUMMER/JERSEY, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, TREASURE ISLAND and THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM. His plays have starred Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Lynn Redgrave, Mickey Rooney, Hal Holbrook, Dixie Carter, Tony Shalhoub, Anne Heche, Joan Collins, and Kristin Bell. He is a McCarter Theatre/Sallie B. Goodman Fellow, and he has degrees from Harvard, where he studied music with Leonard Bernstein, Haverford College and Cambridge University.

Photo by Mark Frohna