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From NorwalkPlus.com Entertainment
The romantic comedy, playing in The Dressing Room Theatre through Halloween weekend, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8PM and Sunday afternoons at 2PM. “It’s light-hearted and fun – a perfect fall frolic” said Lou Ursone, Curtain Call executive director and producer. “I picked up the script for this show about 25 years ago, and have wanted to work on it ever since, so I’m thrilled to be presenting it here and now, in time for the “witching season,” he added. Before there was Bewitched, there was this stylish and funny romantic comedy. Veteran director Frank Gaffney heads the creative team working on this John Van Druten classic. In this story, it’s the 1950s and Gillian Holroyd is a beautiful, smart, independent woman who just happens to be a bonafide witch! She is living in the hip Murray Hill district of New York City when she decides to amuse herself by casting a love spell on her handsome young neighbor, Shep Henderson. The spell, obliging him to dump his fiancée and rush to her side, causes hilarious consequences and her life is turned upside-down. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love, which leads to a number of hilarious difficulties, where Gillian loses her witch's powers, her cat, Pywacket, deserts her, and her eccentric aunt and beatnik-warlock brother don’t quite know how to relate to Gillian as a human. Alas, the course of true love – with or without supernatural assistance – does not run smoothly in this timeless and funny classic. Bell, Book and Candle is an enchantingly funny romantic comedy that asks the question, “How much are you willing to change for the one you love?” “It’s your classic ‘boy meets witch’ love story” joked Ursone. “I’ve been a huge van Druten fan since my college days. His plays are among the best-known works of the 1940s and 1950s and I’m thrilled to be presenting this one now, just in time for the Halloween season,” he added. “Seating in The Dressing Room Theatre is cabaret-style with a BYOEverything format” so this is a great way to have a fun, and reasonably priced night out,” Ursone noted. Doors open one hour before showtime.
English-born playwright van Druten originally set Bell, Book and Candle in his native London and wrote it as a straight play, but when audiences laughed during the tryouts he changed it to a light comedy. The play opened for a successful run on Broadway in 1950, starring the married acting team of Lilli Palmer and Rex Harrison as Gillian and Shep. Famed film producer David O. Selznick acquired the film rights and cast his wife, Jennifer Jones, as Gillian, but Jones became pregnant and was replaced by Kim Novak. Novak was fresh from working with Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo and convinced him to join her on the 1958 film version of Bell, Book and Candle. Comedy writer Sol Saks drew inspiration from the story’s idea of a witch in love with a mortal when he created the aforementioned 1960s hit television show Bewitched.
Before becoming a writer, Van Druten studied law at the University of London. His plays have been produced numerous times in the UK and the U.S. His works include Old Acquaintance (1940), Leave Her to Heaven (1940), The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remember Mama (1944), Bell, Book and Candle (1950) and I Am a Camera (1951). Several of his plays have been made into films and television series (including “Bewitched,” which is based upon Bell, Book and Candle), and I Am a Camera was the basis for the musical Cabaret. His work also includes two autobiographies: The Way to the Present (1938) and The Widening Circle (1957). The rest of Curtain Call’s season includes The Producers, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Nunsense, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Mulberry Street and many more. Details on all productions are available online at www.curtaincallinc.com. Discounted subscription passes offer great flexibility and savings up to 25% off regular prices and are available all season. “Our subscription sales are almost three times ahead of where they were at this time last year,” Ursone said, noting that some dates are already close to selling out. Tickets are available through the Curtain Call Box Office at 203-461-6358 x33, or online at www.curtaincallinc.com. Tickets are $26 for adults, $18 for Senior Citizens and $13 for children. Curtain Call is the non-profit community-based theatre company in residence at The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue in Stamford. Year-round productions and workshops are presented by and for area residents in The Kweskin Theatre and The Dressing Room Theatre. Voted BEST LOCAL THEATRE GROUP 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the Annual Readers' Poll of The Fairfield County Weekly and most recently, BEST LOCAL THEATRE by StamfordPlus magazine. © Copyright by NorwalkPlus.com © Copyright by NorwalkPlus.com. Some articles and pictures posted on our website, as indicated by their bylines, were submitted as press releases and do not necessarily reflect the position and opinion of NorwalkPlus.com, Norwalk Plus magazine, Canaiden LLC or any of its associated entities. Articles may have been edited for brevity and grammar. |
