Last week we were invited to the reading of a new play or, more accurately, a reworked play.
It was given at the Mulitz-Guelsky Theatre Lab at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland. I hadn’t been to a reading before. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The play was Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Soprano. It is a gender-reversal of his earlier award-winning play, Lend Me A Tenor. Ken Ludwig is America’s leading comedy playwright and has received many awards. If you’re not familiar with the original play, here is a description of the new play from the casting call for Lend Me A Soprano on Backstage:
Synopsis: The play is set in 1934, when the clever and combustible Lucille Wiley, Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is ready to welcome world-class soprano Elena Firenzi for her one-night-only starring role in Carmen. Alas, Elena arrives late, her impassioned husband Pasquale has a fit of jealousy, and it remains to be seen whether Mrs. Wiley’s mousy but determined assistant Jo can save the day. Based on Ludwig’s Tony Award-winning Lend Me A Tenor, the roles are reversed, and the ladies take the lead in this madcap screwball comedy.
The cast members were for the reading were:
Dani Stoller - Jo, the mousy assistant/gopher for Lucille, who dreams of singing
John Austin - Jerry, Jo’s love interest, who needs a little coaxing to appreciate her
Naomi Jacobson - Julia, Grande Dame of the opera guild
Holly Twyford - Lucille Wiley, manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company
Dylan Arredondo - Pasquale, Elena’s jealous husband
Rachel Felstein - Elena Firenzi, the world-famous opera singer
Kimberly Gilbert - Beverly the bellhop, who is a great fan of Elena
Michael Sweeney Hammond - Leo, a handsome, Dutch opera singer
As mentioned before, I wasn’t sure how a reading worked. It was requested by Mr. Ludwig so he could hear the play before it goes live in Houston at the Alley Theatre in September. The Olney Theatre and the Vanguard Art Fund made it happen for him. He and the director (Eleanor Holdridge) are both DC-area residents. Doing this here was more convenient than travelling to Houston for one day’s work.
This also meant the actors in Houston would not be available for the reading. Olney regulars came through to fill in. They were given the script—and they had two whole days to go over it before the reading.
Two days.
What they did in those two days was amazing. They came out and sat in chairs arranged in a line with stands in front of them to hold their copies of the scripts. Some of the actors brought props or dressed to match the character. As their parts came up, they would come forward with their script stand, often interacting with the other actors. I wasn’t expecting this much action during a reading! They actually acted as much as they could (even running around the room during one part) and, with only two days with the script, it was quite impressive. They weren’t merely sitting and reading. Dani Stoller barely looked at her script during the first act.
Ken Ludwig sat right behind me during the reading. I could hear him laughing at the actor’s antics. That was interesting. Even the actors had trouble, squealing and bursting out in laughter, sometimes covering their faces. It is a comedy and it is funny, at least in my opinion. I felt it worked even better than Lend Me A Tenor.
After the play was over, Mr. Ludwig came out to talk to the audience. He asked what worked and what didn’t and took questions from the audience. He said he always does a reading (only one) before each play is presented publicly. In this case, he wanted to make sure the reworked lines sound natural with the gender reversal of the new play. He wanted to get more women in lead roles in what is traditionally a male-dominated artform. They told us he would talk to us for about ten minutes, but I think he stayed for about a half hour.
In all, the evening was a surprise. I would go to additional readings if Olney Theatre presents them. And I think Lend Me A Soprano will become a popular play. Watching this was more interesting than some finished works I’ve seen on stage.
As a disclaimer, I have to tell you we were paid to attend—technically. We received the two champagne flutes shown in the picture above for our troubles. Now, all I need is the champagne!