Looped concerns another lady of stage and film, Tallulah Bankhead. Ashley would play the part. Hayden was recently seen on Broadway as Prince Hal in Henry IV at Lincoln Center Theater. He recently took a part in Dessa Rose, the new musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, set to play the Mitzi E. Newhouse beginning Feb. 17, 2005, and open March 21.

John Tillinger is on board as director.

Tea at Five, which starred Kate Mulgrew, found Hepburn at her home in Old Saybrook. The first act takes place in 1938, a brief dip in Hepburn's career when a series of film flops got her branded "box-office poison."The second act speeds ahead 45 years to 1983. Here, recuperating from a car accident, she looks back on her storied career and famed romance with fellow (and married) actor Spencer Tracy. It had a run Off-Broadway in early 2003. Tillinger directed the show.

Bankhead is a popular subject with playwrights. Tovah Feldshuh appeared Off-Broadway in Tallulah Hallelujah! in 2000. Around the same time, Dahling, a brisk, eight-actor play about the actress-diva, also played Off-Broadway. Finally, Kathleen Turner starred in the touring Tallulah in late 2000. It was advertised as Broadway-bound, but never reached New York.