Full Length Play
Comedy
Farce, Period
120 minutes (2 hours)
Time Period - 1950s
Settings Of Play - 1950s York, PA. Various locations.
FEATURES / CONTAINS
Physical Comedy
UIL Approved, Competition or audition material
Interior Set, Unit Set/Multiple Settings
Period Costumes
CAUTIONS
No Special Cautions
THEMES
Betrayal, Friendship, Love, Marriage,
TARGET AUDIENCE
Appropriate for all audiences, Adult, Senior, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)
PERFORMANCE GROUP
High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Dinner Theatre, Professional Theatre, Reader's Theatre, Large Stage, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups
In this hilarious comedy by the author of Lend Me A Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo,
two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down
on their luck that they are performing "Scenes from Shakespeare" on the
Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they
hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune
to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves
off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they
get to York, they find out that the relatives aren't nephews, but
nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls
head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady's vivacious niece, Meg,
who's engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there's a wide world
out there, but it's not until she meets "Maxine and Stephanie" that she
finally gets a taste of it.
"Ken Ludwig is a national treasure. He has almost single-handedly kept alive the sense of humor of Philip Barry, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturgis, George S. Kaufman, and the Marx Brothers. With Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo, Ludwig established himself as the American playwright to look to for the fast and furious comedic stylings of those masters... Slapstick goofiness, scrambled Shakespeare, and good-natured laughs make Leading Ladies an irresistible treat." - Montana Reperatory Theatre
"Ludwig's newest farce is so funny, it will make sophisticated and reasonable men and women of the 21st century cackle till their faces hurt." - Houston Press
"Leading Ladies is consistently funny-indeed, increasingly hilarious as it progresses." - Houston Chronicle
"Look for Leading Ladies to become a staple of summer stock and community theatres. And, mind you, I mean that as a compliment." - Variety
"Ken Ludwig gives the audience something powerful and potent: laughter and a guiltless evening of Theatre-going." - Village News
"Leading Ladies is a highly combustible and continuously hilarious new comedy by Ken Ludwig, Broadway's reigning gagmeister." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
Leading Ladies had its world premiere at the Alley Theatre, Gregory Boyd Artistic Director, in association with the Cleveland Playhouse, Michael Bloom, Artistic Director, Dean R. Gladden, Managing Director, on October 15, 2004. It was directed by Ken Ludwig.
