The Great Vacation Staff
“Making Vacations Great in 2008!”

Cape May Stage presents reading of
Cyrano by candlelight on September 22nd

   At 8PM on Monday September 22nd, Cape May Stage will present the third installation of the Equity theatre’s Monday night candlelight reading series with a one-night only presentation of Edmond Rostand’s classic swashbuckling romance “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
   Cyrano de Bergerac, soldier, swordsman, and poet, is cursed with an enormous, bulbous, blossoming beak of a nose. To compensate for his fixed belief that no woman can ever love him on account of this affliction, he has made himself renowned in Paris for his personal bravery and the charm of his verse.
   The story unfolds like this: Cyrano (played by Cape May Stage favorite Jim Fitzgerald) is in love with his beautiful and wealthy cousin Roxane.  After winning a spectacular duel with a man who has been annoying Roxane, Cyrano receives an urgent message from her. He is encouraged to believe she may actually love him in return! He finds, however, that Lady Roxane is in love with the dashing cadet Christian de Neuvillette and she wants Cyrano to bring them together. Christian, however, can neither read nor write and begs Cyrano to read Roxane’s letter and reply for him. Cursed by his big nose, Cyrano lacks the confidence to declare his love for Roxane and offers his powers of expression to assist Christian in winning Roxane. 
   Soon Cyrano is penning love letters of such amorous and intellectual brilliance they bewitch the unsuspecting Roxane. When Christian sees the power that another's letters have over Roxane, he suddenly wonders: will Roxane realize that Cyrano was the writer and that it is he whom she loves?  Will the truth be revealed? Who will she choose?
Rostand wrote this 5-act “historical comedy” in 1898 and it was an enormous success.  With the character of Cyrano: the blustering gallant soldier, the finest swordsman in France, tragic poet and lover with the face of a clown-- Rostand created one of the most enduring heroes of all time. It is one of the most popular plays in the French language and has been translated and performed many times. It has been the subject of several films, including a 1950 film starring José Ferrer, a 1990 French-language version starring Gérard Depardieu, and a 1987 comedic Hollywood version, “Roxanne,” starring Steve Martin.
   Directed by Paul Bernardo (currently starring as Father Flynn in “Doubt”), this staged reading presentation of “Cyrano” has been shortened and adapted by Cape May Stage favorite Jim Fitzgerald.  “Usually produced as a grand epic with huge casts, glorious sets, lavish costumes, and sweeping vistas, this staged reading will draw the audience’s focus on the elements of the story without all of the excess,” comments Fitzgerald.  “The pain of unrequited love is a story that we can all recognize.  Human folly is universal and immediately recognizable.  Our own ability to be blind to what lies just under our noses is a chronic condition.  There is always a hint of laughter behind pain and there are tears in joy.”
   Cape May Stage’s candlelight reading of “Cyrano” will be presented on Monday September 22nd at 8PM at the Robert Shackleton Playhouse on the corner of Bank and Lafayette Streets. Tickets for this performance are $10.  Call (609) 884-1341 for reservations and information. For more information (click here)

East Lynne Theater

   This time of year, East Lynne Theater Company's artistic director, Gayle Stahlhuth, begins thinking about the mainstage production season for the following year, so it was around this time last year, that she decided to produce and direct George S. Kaufman's and Marc Connelly's "To the Ladies!"  A friend, Omar Lerman, called to say that he knows George S. Kaufman's daughter, Anne, and did Gayle want to talk to her?
     Of course she did!  The mission of this Equity professional twenty-eight-year-old company is to produce American classics, which means that most plays have not been seen in seventy-five years, and there is no one to talk to who would have been connected to these earlier productions. To actually have the opportunity to talk to the daughter of one of the most famous playwrights in theater history was unbelievably exciting. 
     Before talking to Stahlhuth, Ms. Kaufman called Samuel French to find out why the renowned play licensing company had not informed her about this upcoming production, only to be told that "To the Ladies!" is in public domain.  She asked for a copy of the script, and they didn't have one. Although extremely familiar with her father’s works, she had never seen or read "To the Ladies!"
     But then not many have seen or read the play. It was produced on Broadway in 1922, starring Helen Hayes, and Stahlhuth can't find another production since 1926. She discovered the script in a volume of American plays published in 1924 that is owned by Ken Glickfeld. Ken was in ELTC's production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Why Marry?" and this volume had a different version than the one ELTC produced in 2006. Stahlhuth not only read this other version of "Why Marry?" – and did incorporate some of this version into ELTC's original version when she remounted the production in 2007 – but she also read the other plays. Among them was "To the Ladies!"
     Stahlhuth met Ms. Kaufman at Omar Lerman's home in New York, and they've had lunch together twice in the city, at each others apartments.  Stahlhuth finds her witty, smart, and oh, so knowledgeable about theatre: not just about her father's work, but the work of others, both in the past and in the present.
     Ms. Kaufman was planning to be in Cape May for opening night, but other obligations prevented her from doing so. However, she will be in town during the second week of production, and will be featured in an after-show Q&A on Friday, September 26.    
     Last December, this date was chosen to share one-half of the box office proceeds with the Donald L. Perry Foundation for Cancer Research.
     George S. Kaufman (1889-1961) and Marc Connelly (1890-1980) wrote eight plays together. The theme in "To the Ladies!" is typical of several of their comedies in which women prove they can stand toe-to-toe with men. Leonard Beebe of Nutley, NJ just wants to get ahead in the world.  With the help of his young bride, Elsie, he might just do it. 
     Kaufman became America's most successful playwright in the 1920's and '30's. He collaborated with Dorothy Parker ("Business is Business"); Edna Ferber ("Dinner at Eight," "The Royal Family," "Stage Door"); Ring Lardner ("June Moon"); Morrie Ryskind ("Animal Crackers"); Moss Hart ("Once in a Lifetime," "The Man Who Came to Dinner"); and Howard Teichmann ("The Solid Gold Cadillac").  He directed many of his plays, as well as the works of others, including the original "The Front Page" and "Guys and Dolls."  Kaufman received two Pulitzer Prizes. In 1931, it was for "Of Thee I Sing," with Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin, the first musical to be so honored, and with Moss Hart in 1937 for "You Can't Take It With You."  In 2004, The Library of America, an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1979, published "Kaufman and Co.: Broadway Comedies," the most comprehensive collection of his plays ever assembled.   
     East Lynne Theater Company's production of "To the Ladies!" has received the honor of being selected by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to be part of the American Masterpieces Series in New Jersey. American Masterpieces is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts.
     "To the Ladies!" runs from September 17 through October 18, every Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00p.m., where the company is in residence at The First Presbyterian Church, 500 Hughes St., Cape May. 
      The talented cast includes two ELTC favorites, Ken Glickfeld and Robert LeMaire, with ELTC newcomers Tiffany-Leigh Moskow, John Morton, Suzanne Dawson, Morgan Nichols, and Terry Harris, under the direction of Gayle Stahlhuth, who is also in the play.
       Tickets are $25 general admission; $20 for seniors and those with disabilities and their
support companions; and $10 for full-time students. Children ages 12 and under are always
free. There is an opening night party after the show on September 17 at Aleathea's Restaurant at the Inn of Cape May; an after-show discussion with the cast on Friday, September 19; and an American Sign Language Interpretation on Friday, October 10.
     The production of "To the Ladies!" would not be possible without season sponsors Curran
Investment Management, Aleathea's Restaurant, La Mer Beachfront Inn, and funding received
through a grant from the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism, as well as this show's sponsor, The Cliveden Inn, and the generosity of many patrons.
For information and reservations, contact ELTC at 884-5898, or (click here).


Ken Glickfeld, John Morton, Tiffany-Leigh Moskow, and Morgan Nichols in East Lynne Theater Company's production of "To the Ladies!" running from Sept. 17-Oct. 18.

Great Vacation Things To Do

Tim Kerr's Power Play Realty 
2821 Dune Drive
Avalon, NJ 08202
Phone 1-609-967-7950 
Toll Free 1-800-682-5940
   
  "Dedicated to Excellence" They have built their professional real estate office based upon the principles of, Honesty, Integrity, and Determination to serve all the needs of their clients. Their "Team" of agents believe in the very same honest and fair business principles. (click here)