Lend Me a Tenor

Lend Me a Tenor (1989), a farce by Ken Ludwig. [Royale Theatre, 481 perf.] World‐renowned opera tenor Tito Merelli ( Ron Holgate) has agreed to perform Otello for the Cleveland Grand Opera as their 1934 season gala opening, but when he accidentally takes too many tranquilizers before the performance and passes out cold, the high‐strung general manager Saunders ( Philip Bosco) and his assistant Max ( Victor Garber) try to keep it quiet and set off a string of shenanigans that include Max donning blackface and playing the Moor in his place. Jerry Zaks directed the old‐fashioned, door‐slamming farce with precision, and the play was a hit on Broadway and in theatres across the country. Although it was an American work, the comedy was originally presented in London and Paris before Martin Starger and the Really Useful Theatre Company produced it in New York. Ken LUDWIG (b. 1950) was born in York, Pennsylvania, and educated at Haverford College, Cambridge, and Harvard for a law career. His first scripts were produced Off Off Broadway in the early 1980s and he had his first success with Lend Me a Tenor. Ludwig also wrote the comedies Moon over Buffalo (1995) and Shakespeare in Hollywood (2003), and the librettos for the Broadway musicals Crazy for You (1992) and Tom Sawyer (2001).