Bacon, Murtaugh, Darlow Revive Sidney Howard's Late Christopher Bean Off-Broadway

By Kenneth Jones
01 Nov 2009

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre revives Sidney Howard's rarely produced The Late Christopher Bean at Off-Broadway's Beckett Theatre in Theatre Row Nov. 1-Dec. 5.

The 1930s comedy — about the Manhattan art world invading a country home in search of art treasures — is directed by Jenn Thompson (TACT's The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, NYMF's Seeing Stars). Howard is perhaps best known for winning the Pulitzer Prize for They Knew What They Wanted. Opening is Nov. 11.

The cast of The Late Christopher Bean includes TACT company members Mary Bacon, Cynthia Darlow, Greg McFadden, James Murtaugh, James Prendergast and guest artists Bob Ari, Hunter Canning, Jessiee Datino and Kate Middleton.

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According to TACT, "In The Late Christopher Bean, Yankee practicality collides with New York's sophisticated Art World as all hell breaks loose when a celebrated painter's early works are traced to the humble home of a country doctor. Both a biting satire on the destructive power of greed and a touching view of a family in turmoil, this feisty comedy will have you cheering for the most unlikely heroines."

TACT is "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit."

First published in 1932 under the title Muse of All Work, The Late Christopher Bean had its world premiere at the Ford's Opera House in Baltimore on Oct. 24, 1932, and opened in New York a week later at the Henry Miller's Theatre on Broadway with a cast that included Walter Connolly and Beulah Bondi. Playwright Sidney Howard won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for They Knew What They Wanted, later adapted into the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella. He died at the age of 48 in a farming accident. He was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of "Gone with the Wind."

The Christopher Bean creative team includes Charlie Corcoran (sets), Martha Hally (costumes), Ben Stanton (lights), Stephen Kunken (sound), Mark Berman (original music) and Taline Alexander (properties). Meredith Dixon is production stage manager and Jane Clausen is assistant stage manager.

The Late Christopher Bean will have the following performance schedule: Monday, Wednesday–Friday at 7:30 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM.

There will be an additional performance on Nov. 24 at 7:30 PM. There will be no performance on Thanksgiving Day, Nove. 26.

Tickets are $27.50-$55 and are available 24/7 through Ticket Central www.ticketcentral.com or noon-8 PM daily at (212) 279-4200.

They may also be obtained at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between noon and 8 PM daily.

For more information, visit tactnyc.org.