The Royal Family (play)
The Royal Family is a play written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Its premiere on Broadway was at the Selwyn Theatre on 28 December 1927, where it ran for 345 performances to close in October 1928. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1927–1928.
| The Royal Family | |
|---|---|
 First edition (1928) | |
| Written by | George S. Kaufman Edna Ferber |
| Date premiered | 28 December 1927 |
| Place premiered | Selwyn Theatre New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | a New York City duplex apartment in 1927 |
Plot summary
- Characters
- Fanny Cavendish – Cavendish Family Matriarch
- Julie Cavendish – Fanny's daughter
- Tony Cavendish – Fanny's son
- Gwen Cavendish – Fanny's granddaughter
- Herbert Dean – Fanny's brother
- Kitty Dean – Fanny's sister-in-law
- Oscar Wolfe – Cavendish Family's Long-time Agent
- Gilbert Marshall – Julie's Love Interest
- Perry Stewart – Gwen's Fiancee
Productions
The 1977 Great Performances presentation of the 1975 all star Broadway revival starring Rosemary Harris, Eva Le Gallienne, Sam Levene & Ellis Raab was released on DVD.
- In England, Noël Coward directed the West End version of the play in 1934, with a cast that included Marie Tempest as Fanny Cavendish, Madge Titheradge as Julie Cavendish and Laurence Olivier as Tony Cavendish. The play was retitled "Theatre Royal".[1]
- The play was revived in the 1975–76 season on Broadway. Directed by Ellis Rabb, it starred Rosemary Harris as Julie Cavendish, George Grizzard as Tony, and Eva Le Gallienne as the theatrical matriarch, Fanny and Sam Levene as Oscar Wolfe. Rabb received the 1976 Tony Award for best director. The production was telecast on the PBS series Great Performances on November 9, 1977,[2] with Rabb replacing Grizzard as Tony. This version was released on DVD.
- In 2001 Peter Hall directed a West End revival of the play (under its original title) with Judi Dench as Fanny, Harriet Walter as Julie and Toby Stephens as Tony; also in the cast were Peter Bowles, Julia McKenzie and Emily Blunt.[3]
Adaptations
Lobby card for The Royal Family of Broadway (1930)
The play was adapted in 1930 by Herman Mankiewicz for the film The Royal Family of Broadway, released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner, and stars Ina Claire and Fredric March.
Several live television adaptions were produced, including one in 1952, a BBC film for television, starring Morton Lowry as Tony Cavendish and Charmion King as Julia, re-named as "Theatre Royal".[4]
Awards and nominations
- Awards
- 1975 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play
- 2010 Nominated for Best Revival of a Play
References
- "Lyric Theatre", The Times, October 24, 1934, p. 12
- "Television This Week: Of Special Interest". The New York Times. November 6, 1977. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
- Nightingale, Benedict. "Revival that celebrates the lure of greasepaint", The Times, November 2, 2001, p. 15
- "BFI | Film & TV Database | THEATRE ROYAL (1952)". web.archive.org. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
Further reading
- Kaufman, George S.; Ferber, Edna (1928). The Royal Family; A Comedy in Three Acts (First ed.). Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. OCLC 1490010.
External links
- The Royal Family at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Royal Family (1977 revival) at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Royal Family (2009 revival) at the Internet Broadway Database
- 1945 Theatre Guild on the Air radio adaptation at Internet Archive
| Plays |
|  | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novels |
| ||||||||||||||
| Other works |
| ||||||||||||||
| Adaptations |
| ||||||||||||||
| Family | |||||||||||||||
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.