stage robin hood
much:Arms and the Man, The Devil’s Disciple and Pygmalion, then in about the same time period, is The Importance of Being Earnestby Wilde. I dearly love the big four by Chekhov, can we call them comedies? Well, Chekhov does. I love some of the shorter burlesques as well, especiallyThe Bear and The Marriage Proposal.” Going further into the 20th Century, Ludwig
notes, “I particularly love Noel Coward’s Private Lives, Hay Fever and Blithe Spirit. Then there’s Terence Rattigan’s Harlequinade; Wilder’sThe Matchmaker, JB Priestley’sWhen We Are Married and I’m a huge Stoppard fan. I love especially, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead andOn The Razzle. I’d say that every single one of these plays embodies the true spirit of comedy. I reread them and about 25 other comedies, all the time.” At this time in his career, Ludwig tends to write
one new project per year, “It usually takes me a month to come down from the last project. Then I lock myself in a room and just think for about three months. During this time, I doodle on a legal pad, then start writing bits of dialogue and ideas for plots and themes. Usually, after three or so months, I’m ready to write something that vaguely looks like a play or a libretto and that takes about a month or two from beginning to end. After that, it’s a matter of rewriting. The rest of my year is taken up with meeting colleagues about new projects and of course, getting involved in new productions around the country and abroad.” What was Ludwig’s big break? “I had written a number of plays that were being performed little by little, Off-Off-Broadway and at small regional theatres, when I met a wonderful English director named David Gilmore. He was interested in direct- ing Sullivan & Gilbert and one day, when he was about to fly home to England, he asked what I had written lately so that he could get a better feel for my style of writing. I gave him a copy ofLend Me A Tenor, which I had recently finished writing and had just been produced at a small summer theatre in New Hampshire, called The American Stage Festival.” (At the time the play was entitledOpera Buffa, which is Italian for “comic opera.”) “A few days later, David [Gilmore] called me
from England and said that he really liked the new play and would like to direct it…And that he would like to show it to a producer-friend of his. Being a compete jerk, I wanted to sound important so I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know if you should. I do have some interest from some good producers here in
70 RAGE monthly | JULY 2017
Then I lock myself in a room and just think for about three months.
During this time, I doodle on a legal
pad, then start writ- ing bits of dialogue and ideas for plots and themes. Usu-
ally, after three or so months, I’m ready
to write something that vaguely looks like a play or a libretto.”
ken ludwig photo by leslie cashen
the States.’ Then, rather absently, I added, ‘What’s your producer-friend’s name?’ And he answered, ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber.’ When I got off the floor I said, ‘Yeah. Go ahead and show him the play.’” Ludwig recalls it was two days later that the
phone rang, “It was Andrew Lloyd Webber—hon- estly—he said he wanted to produce my play in the West End. Two weeks later I was on a plane for London. Six months later the play opened at the Globe (now the Gielgud) Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, directed by David Gilmore. Andrew then went on to produce the play in New York, with coproducer Marty Starger. I’m proud of the fact that Andrew took such an interest in one of my early
works. I’m equally proud of the fact that I paid my dues, by working my tail off and writing a number of plays before that,” recalls Ludwig.
Robin Hood! runsSaturday, July 22 through Sunday, August 27at the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre.
Richard IIrunsthrough Saturday, July
15.Guys and Dolls runsSunday, July 2 through Sunday, August 13.Hamletis Saturday, August 12 through Sunday, September 10.
For tickets and more information, call 619.234.5623 or go
totheoldglobe.org.
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