After a long, circuitous tour of the U.S., The Flying Karamazov Brothers new stage version of the 1937 John Murray-Allen Boretz farce Room Service may be heading for Broadway this fall.
The show is currently putting its production team together, said spokesperson Susan Weaving. Recently, a leading producer withdrew from the project when two films he was backing simultaneously went into pre-production. Nonetheless, Weaving said the show was still intended for Broadway, possibly opening in November. No theatre has been selected.
Room Service concerns a would-be Broadway producer trying to get a new show on its feet. Problem is, he can't leave his Manhattan hotel suite because the bill hasn't been paid. The play was famously turned into a 1938 film starring the Marx Brothers. Adapted by The Flying Karamazov Brothers and directed by Robert Woodruff, the four Brothers will perform all 14 characters who are engaged in the plotline. The brothers are Dmitri (Paul Magid), Smerdyakov (Sam Williams), Rakitin (Michael Preston) and Ivan (Howard Jay Patterson). Designers for the show are Greco [sic] (set and costumes), Rick Paulsen (sound), with Doug Elkins providing choreography.
Room Service will conclude its tour with an Oct. 27-Nov. 1 run at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Stamford, CT, before hitting New York.
-- By Robert Simonson
and David Lefkowitz