Stage legend Uta Hagen and television star David Hyde Pierce are helping make the world premiere of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks a hit at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, prompting an extension to July 8.
The extension was announced nationally on June 12, Hagen's 82nd birthday. The cast and crew will mark Hagen's milestone privately at the theatre, a spokesperson told Playbill On-Line. For her birthday, the actress got a collection of positive reviews from Los Angeles critics.
Richard Alfieri's comedy-drama opened June 7 with Hagen playing a feisty minister's wife who takes dance lessons from a heartbroken dance teacher who has relocated to Florida from New York City. The characters foxtrot, tango and tangle their way through an assortment of lessons in the play, about love, loss and friendship.
Previews began May 29. Arthur Allan Seidelman directs. Performances were originally announced to July 1.
Hagen's career is highlighted with classical and contemporary roles, including Shakespeare, Chekhov, Broadway's The Country Girl and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Off-Broadway's Collected Stories, among many other works. Pierce is widely know as Niles on TV's "Frasier" but has years of theatre credits behind him. Designers are Roy Christopher (set), Helen Butler (costume), Tom Ruzika (lighting) and Philip G. Allen (sound).
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Veteran actress Hagen accidentally stepped off the stage of the Geffen Playhouse and into the audience during an Act Two scene change of Six Dance May 30. The theatre said the show was halted briefly, while Hagen was examined by two doctors who were in the audience. She stood up, got a standing ovation and walked backstage with the doctors and a brief intermission was called.
Although Hagen wished to continue the performance, the Geffen management wanted to be prudent and cancelled the performance and sent Hagen to U.C.L.A.'s Medical Center, where she was given "a clean bill of health," according to a statement. She went on as usual May 31.
The Geffen Playhouse is at 10886 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood, CA. For tickets or information, call (310) 208-5454 or visit www.geffenplayhouse.com.
