It’s the 20th anniversary of Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladies, and St. Albert Dinner Theatre kick-starts its season with the tried-and-true farce.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Hollywood’s successful Some Like It Hot starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, the American playwright creates a time warp to 1958.
Leo (Sam Daly) and Jack (Mike Deregowski), two young struggling Shakespearean actors dream of hitting the big time. Instead, they’re plying their craft at a low-end venue in Amish country and are ejected by unhappy patrons.
They pick up a random newspaper and discover an article about Florence (Christine Gold), a wealthy, ailing older lady searching for the whereabouts of two long-lost nephews, Max and Steve. Although Florence already has an heir, Meg (Monica Lefurgy), she would like to leave Max and Steve a portion of her wealth when she dies.
After living hand-to-mouth for far too long, the desperate actors decide to impersonate the missing heirs. But there’s an unexpected glitch. The nephews are really nieces, and if the actors have any hope of swindling an inheritance, they must masquerade as Maxine and Stephanie.
In the tradition of every good farce, a series of comedic happenings occur after the two actors in drag fall in love with Meg and her best friend Audrey (Hannah Boulay).
St. Albert Dinner Theatre (SADT), which in recent years has developed a reputation for mounting sold-out farces, hosts the two-act play for three consecutive weekends: Nov. 14-16, 21-23 and 28-30.
“This is an eight-character production. What interested me about the script was that it was just a lot of fun, and I liked the way Ken wrote it. The characters have Scooby-Doo moments, and Jack and Leo switch back and forth pretending to be Max and Stephanie. It’s funny and there is love, something we enjoy,” said director Courtney Paige.
Leading Ladies is Paige’s first directing effort with SADT. The Sherwood Park resident volunteered running lights and sound since 2018 and is currently the company’s technical director. She also sits on the board of directors.
In addition to Ludwig’s trademark mistaken identities, pratfalls and over-the-top absurdity, actors will shift from modern English to Shakespeare’s poetic language as Leo/Maxine and Jack/Stephanie stage a reading of the Bard’s Twelfth Night.
“There’s quite a bit of Shakespeare as Meg and Maxine go back and forth quoting Shakespeare’s lines. But it’s not hard to understand,” said Paige.
On the surface, Leading Ladies is a silly spoof on romance and greed. However, by constructing a play-within-a-play, Ludwig promotes the ideas of women looking for independence in a man’s world, gender bending and same-sex attraction.
Adding fuel to the romantic fire is Reverend Duncan (Leith Hutton), Meg's fiance. Duncan is a thrifty, by-the-book minister who is interested in both the Lord’s work and Meg’s potential inheritance to the exclusion of everyone else.
Also on the sidelines is the Doctor (Dave McKay), Florence’s incompetent physician, and lastly, there is Butch (Jack Morrison). In this tangled love knot, Butch is the doctor’s son. While his father pressures him to marry Meg, Butch is in love with Audrey.
“I think Ken’s message was that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously. Also, being true to yourself and being genuine is so important. Have fun and be your authentic self.”
Leading Ladies takes place at Kinsmen Banquet Hall, 47 Riel Drive. Single tickets are $70. Group ticket price for 10 plus seats is $65 per person. Visit stalbertheatre.com or call 780-222-0102.
