LOOPED Featured In Today's New York Times

Valerie Harper returns to Broadway in Matthew Lombardo's new comedy LOOPED, directed by Rob Ruggiero. It will play the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) beginning this Friday, February 19th; opening night is Sunday, March 14th. Today's New York Times features an article about Ms. Bankhead's outrageous legacy and enduring popularity.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Tallulah's Back in Town, Still Famous for Her Infamy
By David Belcher

Tallulah Bankhead, the sandpaper-voiced actress who pronounced darling "dahling" and threw in a few extra syllables to boot, made only about a dozen movies, a number of them silent. Though she triumphed onstage, at least two generations have been born since her name last graced a marquee. And her appearances on television, mostly as herself, can be found on YouTube but have never inspired so much as a DVD package.

Yet Bankhead has been the subject of no fewer than six stage shows, the latest of which, "Looped," begins previews on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater on Friday. What is it about the star that makes her such an enduring object of fascination, despite the skimpy electronic record? Certainly traces of her celebrity remain. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore named a daughter Tallulah. Bankhead was partly the inspiration for Cruella De Vil in "101 Dalmatians." And fans of dozens of drag queens, including Jim Bailey and the Dueling Tallulahs, are well aware of her. But unless they caught her only hit film, Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" from 1944, few people under 50 are familiar with her work.

Bankhead's infamy offstage and off screen is one reason for her staying power. Even in a business used to excess, she could be considered a true theater rebel: uninterested in a movie career, she was a hodgepodge of thrilling talent, ego, drunkenness, bisexuality and drug use. And she spoke openly about her life at a time when every misstep or extra pound wasn't emblazoned on television and the Internet as it was happening.

"Daddy warned me about men and alcohol," she once said. "But he never warned me about women and cocaine."

TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE: CLICK: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/theater/16tallulah.html

LOOPED tells the story of Tallulah Bankhead, the internationally celebrated actress, being called into a sound studio in 1965 to re-record (or "loop") one line of dialogue for what would be her last film -- the dreadful "Die, Die My Darling." Southern, but by no means a belle, Ms. Bankhead was known for her wild partying and convention-defying exploits that surpassed even today's celebrity bad girls. Given her inebriated state and inability to loop the line properly, what ensues is an uproarious showdown between an uptight film editor and the outrageous legend.

Brian Hutchison and Michael Mulheren complete the company.

www.LoopedOnBroadway.com

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