Thursday (May 29) is opening night at Rome Community Theater for the final production of the current season. Noel Coward’s classic Private Lives runs for four performances Thursday through Sunday at the playhouse on upper Turin Road. Curtain is at 7:30 Thursday through Saturday. The Sunday matinee begins at 2:30pm. The cast features John Murphy, Marilee Ensign, Jennifer Brown, Benjamin Gelfuso and Kirstin Walker. Murphy and Ensign are “real life” husband and wife who portray the leading couple in the stage production. Noel Coward’s plot revolves around two couples (previously married to each other) who accidently honeymoon with their new spouses at the same hotel at the same time.
The roles played by Murphy and Ensign in the RCT production were famously played by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in a 1983 Broadway revival of the Coward script. Long time RCT ticket holder Carla Till attended a performance of the Broadway revival production. After the performance, she wrote a fan letter to Taylor and was surprised to receive a reply. While Taylor’s signature, famously penned in red ink, has faded over time, the letter remains a unique connection between Broadway history and Rome’s own theater community.
RCT producer Pat Stone says “Carla gifted Taylor’s response to RCT wanting the piece to go somewhere meaningful, and we’re thrilled she thought of RCT. It’s a beautiful reminder of how the arts create personal connections, and we’re honored to preserve that story.”
The RCT production is directed by Marisa Barnard. Private Lives is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com Tickets for the Rome Community Theater production will be available at the door and in advance from the group’s website www.romecommunitytheater.org
