THE PLAY'S THE THING to Open in May at Theatre 40

In The Play's the Thing, a playwright named Sandor Turai comes up with a plan to save the engagement between his nephew Albert and an actress named Ilona after Albert overhears a flirtatious conversation between Ilona and Almady, an obnoxious actor (and Ilona's former lover).

Sandor has only hours to rescue Ilona and Albert's romance from utter devastation. Sandor goes to work and hilarity ensues. P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) is the playwright. Best known for his Jeeves and Wooster stories which have been the basis for multiple motion pictures and television shows, he was a prolific lyricist and wrote the books for the musicals Anything Goes and Oh, Kay! He wrote a total of 43 produced plays. The Play's the Thing was first produced on Broadway in 1926 and received three subsequent Broadway productions. It was adapted from a 1924 Hungarian play by Ferenc Molnar, Play at the Castle.

Melanie MacQueen directs. Her directing credits at Theatre 40 include Taming the Lion, Engaging Shaw, The Drawer Boy, Months on End, On Borrowed Time, Separate Beds and Roses in December. Her directing career spans several decades, and includes the award-wining musical that she also wrote and produced, In the Name of God, or Honk If You Love Satire, which moved from the Valley to Off-Broadway. Also an actor, Theatre 40 audiences might know her best from her appearances in the perennial cast of The Manor.

Her cast for The Play's the Thing includes Todd Andrew Ball, Milda Dacys, Eric Keitel, Dan Leslie, Michael Robb, Kristin Towers-Rowles and David Hunt Stafford.

Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Stage Manager: Don Solosan. Nearly 100 years after it was first produced, The Play's the Thing will still make you laugh and laugh and laugh.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

WHAT: The Play's the Thing. A comedy.

WHO: Written by P.G. Wodehouse. Adapted from a play by Ferenc Molnar. Directed by Melanie MacQueen. Produced by David Hunt Stafford for Theatre 40.

WHERE: Theatre 40, in the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. The venue is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. Free parking is available in the parking lot beneath the theatre. To access parking, enter through the driveway at the intersection of Durant and Moreno Drives.

WHEN: May 12- June 12, 2022. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. ADMISSION: $35. RESERVATIONS: (310) 364-0535.

ONLINE TICKETING: www.theatre40.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.