Stephen Schnetzer Joins Mint Theater's YOURS UNFAITHFULLY World Premiere

The Mint Theater has begun performances for the World Premiere of Yours Unfaithfully by Miles Malleson, an "un-Romantic Comedy" about the price of free love.

Mint Artistic Director Jonathan Bank today announced that Stephen Schnetzer will join Todd Cerveris (South Pacific, Twentieth Century - Broadway), Mikaela Izquierdo (Cyrano de Bergerac­ - Broadway; The New York Idea, Gabriel - Atlantic Theater), Elisabeth Gray ("Understudies," Breakfast at Tiffany's - Broadway), and 2015 Tony & Drama Desk Award nominee, Max von Essen (An American In Paris). Schnetzer replaces John Hutton who developed a schedule conflict.

Stephen Schnetzer's Broadway credits include Wit,The Goat, Filumena, and A Talent For Murder. At the Mint, he has been seen in Mr. Pim Passes By andThe Truth about Blayds. Other theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet (Theatre 91), Miss Julie and Fallen Angels (Roundabout), Timon Of Athens and Cymbeline (NY Shakespeare Festival), Broken Glass (Westport Country Playhouse), Awake and Sing (Huntington Theatre Co.), Tribes (Barrow Street), Quality of Life (Arena Stage), Next Fall (Playwrights Horizons), Marriage Minuet (Studio Theatre Florida), As You Like It and St. Joan (McCarter Theatre), Anthony & Cleopatra and Julius Caesar (American Shakespeare Theatre), The Tempest (Mark Taper Forum). TV: "Blue Bloods," "The Path," "The Blacklist," "The Affair," "Flesh & Bone," "Forever," "Homeland," "Rubicon," "The Good Wife," "Damages," "Fringe," "The Wire," "New Amsterdam," "Law and Order," "Law & Order: SVU," and "Another World."

Performances began December 27th at The Beckett Theater at Theatre Row, and continue through February 18th. Opening Night is set for January 26th. Yours Unfaithfully was published in 1933 but never produced, making Mint's production a very belated World Premiere.

Yours Unfaithfully is an insightful, intelligent and exceptionally intimate peek behind the closed doors of an open marriage. Stephen and Anne, blissfully happy for eight years, are committed to living up to their ideals. When Stephen, a writer who isn't writing, begins to sink into a funk of unproductive moodiness, Anne encourages him to seek out a fresh spark. Can their marriage survive uncompromising generosity, sacrifice and love?

A handful of newspapers reviewed Yours Unfaithfully in its printed form in 1933. The Spectator described it as "vivacious and intelligent, as you would expect from Mr. Malleson." Bertrand Russell (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1950) critiqued the play for The Observer, calling it "the best play that Mr. Malleson has hitherto produced, both because it is well constructed and moves with great sureness, and also because it is quite free from all taint of propaganda...The subject is treated delightfully, with humor and kindliness and without any dogmatic conclusion. The characters behave as real people do behave, and not according to some convention of the theatre." Russell neglects to mention that the play seems to borrow from his own marriage. It's no surprise that the critic is slightly grudging about the play's humor: "It has some very good comic situations, and I suppose the troubles of the principal characters might be regarded as amusing, although from their own point of view they are very uncomfortable."

Miles Malleson's most successful play was The Fanatics, which played in both London and New York in 1927. The Fanatics was also an outspoken play on the subject of sex, in this case, before marriage. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times wrote, "The Fanatics of the title are those who have the courage to live their lives as they think proper. Rightly or wrongly, Mr. Malleson offers the rebellious young people as the products of the war. Whatever the reason may be for their intellectual ruthlessness, you must respect their courage and sincerity."

Performances are at The Beckett Theatre at Theater Row (410 West 42nd Street between 9th and Dyer Avenues).

To post a comment, you must register and login.