Whose Life Is It Anyway?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 11:56am

In 1979, Whose Life Is It Anyway? opened with Tom Conti playing Ken Harrison. A few months later, it re-opened as a revival with a gender reassignment and Mary Tyler Moore playing Claire Harrison.

Does anyone remember the history of this production? What was the general feeling of why this was being done? Changing the role to a woman seems like a huge risk only four months after the show debuted on Broadway. Wouldn't this have caused problems with Tony nominations?

All I remember about it was that one critic didn't like Mary Tyler Moore in the role. (It was probably Stewart Klein being his usually snarky self, but I can't exactly remember.)

Updated On: 5/3/13 at 11:56 AM

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 12:15pm

The original production was quite successful, Tom Conti won a Tony and the play was nominated for Best Play. MTM was probably at her popularity post-MTM Show peak at this moment (same year as "Ordinary People" on screen) , and with the author's approval, the gender was changed and the show had a limited run.
Just read that there was a national tour with Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill, where they switched leading roles during the tour. And I saw a Williamstown production in early 80s with Richard Dreyfuss, sort of a tryout to making the film (which was not nearly as good on screen).

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 12:56pm

I saw the Luci/Luckinbill production in San Francisco. There was even more to the ethos of the show. Not only were Luci and Luckinbill married but I recall that Luci was pregnant, in real life. Her pregnancy made the doctor and the patient into different characters - either the poignancy of a pregnant doctor waiting for a life to begin while dealing with a patient wanting to die OR how a pregnant woman would want to die. I saw it with Luci as the doctor, so don't know how it played with the pregnant patient.