“Leading Ladies,” a comedic play of deception by Ken Ludwig, is the first show of the Johnson City Community Theater’s 2016 season.
Set in 1950s York, Pennsylvania, “Leading Ladies” is about two washed up, Shakespearean actors — Leo and Jack — who discover through a newspaper that an elderly woman named Florence is looking for her long lost nephews named Max and Steve to inherit some of her fortune upon her death. To the actors’ disappointment, however, the nephews are actually nieces.
Already determined to trick Florence and her family into thinking that they are her long lost nieces, Leo and Jack decide to dress up as women. But not everything goes as planned.
Leo and Jack are played by Jonathan Marin and ETSU student Shawn Landreth. The cast also includes Daniel Harr as Butch, Dick Lura as Doc, Matt Quick as Duncan, Hannah “Faith” Rader as Audrey, Angela Stanbrough as Florence and ETSU student Hannah Swayze as Meg.
The cast of “Leading Ladies” during a pivotal scene. (Photograph by: Adam Honeycutt and Michelle Newcomb)
The show is directed by Josh Cassels and Lorrie Anderson.
JCCT’s theater makes for an intimate atmosphere leaving the audience to feel like they are on stage with the actors in the middle of the play’s action. By the end of the play, many audience members were wiping tears off their face from laughter.
Meg’s fiance, Duncan, is determined to prove that Meg’s cousins, Max and Steve, are impostors. (Photograph by: Adam Honeycutt and Michelle Newcomb)
“Leading Ladies” was originally produced at The Cleveland Playhouse, in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sept. 7, 2004, and was directed by Michael Bloom and Dean Gladden.
Playwright Ken Ludwig has had six of his plays/musicals on Broadway, including “Crazy For You,” a musical, and “Lend Me a Tenor.” “Crazy For You” was also one of seven of Ludwig’s productions to be on London’s West End.
Ludwig has won two Tony Awards out of the seven nominations he’s received.
The last three opportunities to see “Leading Ladies” are Feb. 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. and an additional show on Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. Doors open 45 minutes prior to showtime.
Tickets are available online at jcct.info/tickets or at the door before showtime. The general admission price is $15, but the theater offers a student, senior and military discount of $12.
For more information on the show and tickets, visit jcct.info, call 926-2542 or email JCCT at boxoffice@jcct.info.
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