Original Production of Lend me a Tenor

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 7:53pm

I would really like to hear from the lucky ones who saw the original production of Lend me a Tenor. What were your thoughts on the show?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 8:00pm

With Victor Garber and Tovah Feldshuh? (I think that's who was in it anyway!)


I LOVED IT. I thought it was an absolute HOOT of a show. I don't know how many details I might remember...but ask away and I'll try.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 8:13pm

Thats the production, side bar I thought you were my age, guess not.

I heard Tovah was HILARIOUS, I would have liked to have seen Philip Bosco in it as well.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 9:07pm

Nah....I'm an old fart.

I'd forgotten about Bosco! It was quite a stellar evening for me. I went to it without knowing ANYTHING whatsoever about it. I vaguely remember being freakishly close to the stage and utterly falling in love with the very young Mr. Garber.

Tovah stole my heart and I was quite obsessed with her for some time.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 9:10pm

It was quite hilarious. The set was terrific! Who was the kid who played the singing bellhop?

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 9:45pm

Jeff Brooks, he actually played "Saunders" (Boscos Role) in Cape Cod back in 2007.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 9:55pm

I'll be honest in saying that I don't remember much about this play except that I thought it was very funny and the performances were equally wonderful. I'm kind of surprised that we haven't seen another production of this.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 11:03pm

Supposedly there was a movie version of TENOR in the works but I guess that fell through.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 11:37pm

I played the bellhop last year. Such a fun show and role.



It's not a ton of stage time, but if played right can totally steal those moments.

[harris007]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 12:57am

There was going to be a movie of lend me tenor and moon over buffalo. But it didn't work out

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 4:08am

"I vaguely remember being freakishly close to the stage and utterly falling in love with the very young Mr. Garber."

Do you mean the Mr. Garber who turned 40 a couple of weeks into the run?

Having said that, at the moment I feel like I was very young when I was 40, even though it was more recently for me than it was for Mr. Garber.

I saw it late in the run with some replacements. Garber was gone, replaced by the late Patrick Quinn (how sad it is to say that), and I probably saw Chris Callen, Wendy Makkena, and Jane Summerhays (replacing Feldshuh, J. Smith-Cameron, and Caroline Lagerfelt, respectively).

It was fun, but the play itself probably isn't one of the great farces. Bosco (who is not one of my favorite actors, though I like him pretty much) was really wonderful and he made his scenes fly. When I saw it, the rest of the cast was somewhat in and out, but good enough that it was a fair amount of fun.

Btw, the original production was in London.

[musicalman2]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 6:03am

The original production was hilarious. Fine performances all around. Tovah Feldshuh was amazingly funny. I believe she only had 7 lines in the whole script. I saw her a couple years after that and I think she said that in her book, they were the 7 funniest lines she ever had. Especially this one line "the family!"

She is the tenor's wife and shows up to find a hot woman sitting in his hotel room. Here is the interchange:

Tovah: Who are you?
Woman: A friend of the family. Who are you?
Tovah: The family!! (actually bearing her claws as I recall)

Outstanding farce.

[musicalman2]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 6:04am

I might also add that I don't think that Ken Ludwig has written anything comparable since. I hated his book for Crazy for You. In some respects, it was a recycle of the main gag in Lend Me a Tenor.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 9:32am

Really...Victor Garber is in his 60's!!! Oh, my! I'm in my mid 40's now! I thought it was a much older play...'89-90.

Bad, bad internal calendar/memory!

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 11:05am

Oh I totally agree that the Bellhop can steal the show. I have seen and been apart of productions where the Bellhop steals the production. I think it is a greatly written farce. I actually remember walking out of the Longacre after seeing "Boeing Boeing" and thinking Lend me a Tenor is a better farce.

I also agree with musicalman who thinks all his other works are just recycled work from Tenor. Especially Moon over Buffalo, there are so man similarities between the two it is scary.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 1:38pm

Now that I think of it, I directed a high school production of TENOR. It was a good production with an all-around fine cast. Yes, the Bellhop stole the show, but so did the gall who played the Dowager--the one with the dress that looked like the Crysler building.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 5:50pm

"Victor Garber is in his 60's!!!"

Well, he will be in a couple of weeks.