Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
HOLLAND TAYLOR
Little Rock connection: Appeared at the Clinton School speaking about the process of researching and writing her play about Ann Richards. A link to her speech can be found here.
Tony Awards connection: Nominated for the 2013 Actress in a Play Tony for her performance in Ann.
(Photo by Joseph Harris for the AP)
Hal Holbrook
Little Rock connection: In the 1950s, appeared at Little Rock Central High School during an educational theatre tour. Later appeared in Mark Twain Tonight! in Little Rock, most recently at Wildwood Park. Made visits to Little Rock in the 1980s and 1990s in conjunction with “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade” TV shows.
Tony Awards connection: Won the 1966 Tony for Actor in a Play for his performance in Mark Twain Tonight! That year was the only year the ceremony was held in the afternoon so he accepted his award in a blazer and necktie instead of a tuxedo. Holbrook has been a presenter at various Tony ceremonies over the years.
Steve Lawrence
Little Rock connection: Has appeared in concert in Little Rock over the years.
Tony Awards connection: Served as a host of the 1964 ceremony. Nominated for Actor in a Musical in 1964 for What Makes Sammy Run?
Lynn Fontanne & Alfred Lunt
Little Rock connection: Appeared at Robinson Auditorium in 1941. The couple often toured the country in their Broadway plays. This appearance was probably in the Pulitzer Prize winning There Shall Be No Night which had been their 1940 Broadway success.
Tony Awards connection: The couple received a special mounted dual Tony Award in 1970.
Lunt received a 1954 Tony for directing Audrey Hepburn in Ondine. The next year he received a Tony for acting in the play Quadrille. In 1959, he received a Tony nomination for his performance in the play The Visit, his final Broadway appearance as an actor.
Fontanne was nominated for her performance in The Visit, which was her final Broadway appearance.
Most of this couple’s career predated the Tony Awards. Tony nominations weren’t announced until 1956, so it is unknown whether Fontanne received a nomination for Quadrille.
Marvin Hamlisch
Little Rock connection: Appeared with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra at Robinson Center Music Hall. One of his appearances was conducting a concert version of the Tony nominated musical They’re Playing Our Song.
Tony Awards connection: Won a Tony Award for composing A Chorus Line. Also nominated for Sweet Smell of Success. Appeared as a presenter at the 1982, 1993, 2002 and 2007 Tony ceremonies.
Brian Lane Green
Little Rock connection: Starred as Joseph in the 2000 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Arkansas Repertory Theatre.
Tony Awards connection: Nominated for Actor in a Musical in 1989 for his performance in Starmites. (The show opened on Broadway 25 years ago today.)
Horton Foote’s Tony winning play The Trip to Bountiful is the next offering of the Community Theatre of Little Rock.
This is the poignant story of Mrs. Watts, an aging widow living with her son and daughter-in-law in a three-room flat in Houston, Texas. Fearing that her presence may be an imposition on others, and chafing under the watchful eye of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Watts imagines that if she can get away and return to her old home in the town of Bountiful, she is sure to regain her strength, dignity and peace of mind.
She attempts to run away, and when she reaches a bus station on the last part of her short journey, she falls into the hands of a sheriff whom her son and daughter-in-law have put on her trail. The sheriff, a kindly fellow, allows her to complete the final stage of her journey, so she proceeds to Bountiful and makes a lonely pilgrimage to the scene of her old home.
Only too soon she learns that the friends of her youth have all died or scattered, and her home is no longer the spacious mansion of her memories but a crumbling wreck. But she has the supreme satisfaction of plunging her hands into the strength-giving earth, and this leaves her with a sense of that strength and dignity that will give her the courage to survive. When her son and daughter-in-law appear on the scene to take her back to Houston, she consents to return quietly, secure in the knowledge that the remainder of her existence will be enriched as a result of her last contact with Bountiful.
The cast is led by Jane Morgan Balgavy as Carrie with Chuck Massey as her son, Ludie and Susan Troillet as her daughter-in-law Jessie Mae. Others in the cast include Kate Lauck, Chris Boggs, Mark Troillett, Jerry Woods and Tim Sopel.
The production is directed by Harold Dean with Jerry Woods as Stage Manager. Chris Boggs is Executive Producer with Liz Turner as producer.
The production opens tonight at 7:30. Performances are April 25 & 26, May 2 & 3, and May 9 & 10 at 7:30. Matinees at 2pm are offered on April 27 and May 4.
The Trip to Bountiful will be presented in the Mini-Auditorium of NLR High School Freshman Campus (2400 Lakewood Rd) behind Target.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 