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Live (and lively) theater returns to the St. Mane stage in Lanesboro in early March — after a long pandemic-created pause — with the production of the comedy Lend Me a Tenor by the Lanesboro Community Theater. Under the direction of Kari Berg, there will be six performances of the play over the first two weekends in March, including matinees on both Sunday afternoons.
Called a “comedy of mistaken identity and elaborate subterfuge,” and written by Ken Ludwig, Lend Me a Tenor”was first presented on Broadway in 1989, produced by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Nominated for nine Tony Awards, it went on to win three. The play tells the mixed-up story of Tito Mirelli, a world-famous Italian tenor and confirmed connoisseur of wine and women, who is scheduled to star in “I, Pagliacci” at the Cleveland Grand Opera Company. After a fiery but comic kerfuffle with his wife Maria, the scheduled star gets more than a little incapacitated through a double-dose of tranquilizers, and Max, the Cleveland Company’s nervous and lowly assistant with a hidden talent, has to step in to try to save the performance.
Other key characters include Henry Saunders (the company’s stressed out general manager), Diana, the play’s female co-star with sights on the spotlight, Maggie (Max’s slightly ditzy girlfriend), and Julia, who runs the opera guild when not employing her feminine wiles amidst cast and crew. Lend Me a Tenor (the title is a pun on “lend me a tenner,” as in “lend me ten bucks”) is a fun mixture of mini- catastrophes and mixed-up identities with a few slamming doors along the way that creates a fun farce with a happy ending. The play is suggested for PG-13 audiences.
The LCT cast includes Mason Keel, Diana Lawrence, Aiden Lieb, Ayla Madland, Pam Neuenfeldt, Wyatt Seabloom, Gordon Tyndall and Val Tyndall.
“It promises to be a great show,” says director Kari Berg, who performed in “Lend Me a Tenor” during her college days. “It’s a fast-paced comedy with colorful characters, people hiding around the stage, and lots of laughter. Audiences will enjoy it, we’re sure!”
Performances at the St. Mane Theater, located at 206 Parkway Ave. North, will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5 at 7 p.m.; Sunday, March 6 at 2 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12 at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 13 at 2 p.m. The $15 tickets (with a 3% surcharge for credit card sales) are available at the Parkway Market in Lanesboro or online at universe.com. (Go to “Find Events,” enter “Lanesboro,” then “search.”)
COVID precautions and protocols require masks for all audience members and socially-distanced seating. The theater will be limited to half capacity. For more information, Kari Berg can be reached at (507) 421-9047.
Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor”is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
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