The Heritage Center Theatre Presents MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, 3/1-3/24
Two questions: How hard would it be to write the screenplay to Gone with the Wind if you'd never read the Margaret Mitchell book? And how hard would it be to direct Gone with the Wind if you were pulled away from directing The Wizard of Oz to direct this Civil War era epic?
That predicament was faced by writer Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming in early 1939. Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick stopped film production shortly after it began in order to obtain a new screenplay and director. Playwright Ron Hutchinson's brilliant comedy Moonlight and Magnolias addresses this dilemma, and performs weekends March 1 - 24 at the Heritage Center Theatre in Morrisville. It recreates five insane days and nights in Selznick's office, where Selznick, writer Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming worked around the clock to rewrite the movie.
"There was one other problem with Hecht writing the screenplay," Actors' NET Co-Founder Joe Doyle explained. "He had never read Gone with the Wind! Hecht knew nothing of the storyline or the characters. Selznick locked his new writer and director in his office, so they could hammer out the new shooting script: Hecht typing away as Selznick and Fleming acted out the entire book -- the two burly men playing all the roles, from Scarlett O'Hara to Rhett Butler, from Mammy to Prissy!"
Joe Doyle directs Steve Lobis of Morrisville as Selznick, who risked his by bringing Ms. Mitchell's sweeping epic novel onto the silver screen - a feat many thought impossible back in 1939. David Newhouse of Middletown plays Hecht, an idealistic Chicago newspaperman who became an acerbic Hollywood screenwriter. David Swartz of Ambler portrays Fleming, the gruff no-nonsense director who claimed to be so manly that he "taught Clark Gable to be Gable."
Margaret DeAngelis of New Hope rounds out the cast as Miss Poppenghul, Selznick's secretary, who was slavishly overworked by the memo-mad producer. James Cordingley of Lawrenceville, NJ assistant directs and designed the set. Vicky Czarnik of Langhorne stage manages.
"This show is a comic romp," Doyle said. "Its larger than life characters wield rapier wits, replete with scandalous comments about many of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1930s. One minute, the comedy is clever; the next, it's slap-happy and zany. I truly believe if you like Gone with the Wind, you'll love Moonlight and Magnolias."
Moonlight and Magnolias runs weekends March 1 - 24 at the Heritage Center, 635 N. Delmorr Avenue (Route 32), Morrisville, PA - near the Calhoun Street Bridge. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $10 forchildren age 12 and under. The NET has rated this production PG. For reservations, call the nonprofit Actors' NET at 215-295-3694 3694 or email actorsnet@aol.com. On-line tickets can be purchased via www.brownpapertickets.com. The company's website is www.actorsnetbucks.org.
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