Allergist's Wife, Revised by Charles Busch, Will Play La Mirada; Marilu Henner Stars

By Kenneth Jones
03 Sep 2010

Marilu Henner
Marilu Henner
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in California will premiere a revised version of Charles Busch's hit Broadway comedy The Tale of the Allergist's Wife beginning Oct. 1. Caroline Aaron and Marilu Henner star as the title character, Marjorie Taub, and a mysterious old friend, Lee, respectively. Henner reprises her Broadway performance.

The cast also features Rachid Sabitri, Eileen T'Kaye and Geoffrey Wade. Jana Robbins (of the Broadway and touring shows) will step into the role of Lee for both performances on Oct. 9.

Jeff Maynard directs the staging produced by La Mirada and resident producer McCoy Rigby Entertainment. No details about the script revision were announced.

Performances continue to Oct. 17. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts is at 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada, CA.

According to La Mirada, "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife concerns the wife of a philanthropic allergist, who is engulfed in a life crisis of Medea like proportions. Her children are grown, her beloved therapist died recently and her mother grates on her nerves. She tries to lose herself in a world of art galleries, foreign films and avant-garde theatre, but finds she is barely able to rouse herself from her sofa. Marjorie's spirits suddenly soar when Lee Green, a fascinating and somewhat mysterious friend from her childhood, appears on her doorstep."

The production team includes set designer Bruce Goodrich, lighting designer Craig Pierce, costume designer Julie Keen, sound designer Josh Bessom and prop designer Terry Hanrahan.

Busch is the author and star of such plays as The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which ran five years and is one of the longest-running plays in Off-Broadway history. His play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway and won Busch the Outer Circle Critics John Gassner Award and received a Tony nomination for Best Play. He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

For information, visit www.lamiradatheatre.com.