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Life with Father by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse 
Press release | Podcast | Reviews | Tickets The longest-running play in Broadway history and a classic family comedy, Life With Father has been called the one play every American has to see, like Niagara Falls and the Washington Monument. The American Century Theater now gives modern audiences the chance to discover why Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s best-known work had unequaled fame and success on Broadway for more than a decade, shattering box office records and spawning a successful move (starring William Powell, Irene Dunn, and Elizabeth Taylor) and television show.
To play the classic role of stockbroker Clarence Day Senior, Claassen tapped TACT veteran Joe Cronin, most recently enjoyed by American Century audiences as the perpetually quizzical “Loose Leaf” in Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and a stand-out in over a dozen of the company’s productions. His wife will be the witty and antic Deborah Rinn Critzer, also featured in Wanda June as well as Hellzapoppin and The Autumn Garden. Brian Crane, familiar to TACT audiences for his work in Wanda June and Hellzapoppin, returns in the pivotal comic role of the Reverend. The rest of the large cast are newcomers to the company: Karl Bittner (as Clarence, Jr.), Billy Puschel, Paul Hogan, Scott Clark, Sarah Holt, Megan Graves, Karen Lange, Ken Clayton, Seth Vaughn, Lexi Haddad, Tamra Testerman, Laura Rocklyn, and Shelby Sours. Producer Sherri Haddad’s design and production team, includes assistant director Tiffany Ford, stage manager David Olmsted, the costume and props team of Ceci Albert, Susan Sedgwick, Margaret Mook and Kate Dorrell, Jen Durham on makeup and hair design, frequent TACT lighting designer Ann Marie Castrigno, sound designer Bill Gordon, and the season’s set team of Trena Weiss-Null and technical director Michael Null. Running Time 2 hours, 20 minutes (including two intermissions)
Click on a performance to purchase seats online November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
PWYC indicates "pay what you can" - no advance reservations are accepted. Call! indicates that seats are available for this performance, but can no longer be purchased online. |
Life With Father opened in 1939, in the teeth of the Depression, and the daily travails of the large Day family in a more innocent America was exactly what audiences wanted to see. “Lindsay and Crouse were masters of stage comedy with heart,” says the play’s director, Rip Claassen. “Like Neil Simon, they seldom got proper appreciation from critics, who regarded them as engineers rather than artists. But they knewhow to assemble comedies that worked, and what they built, they built to last. It shows. The script is as solid as they come, and the laughs are all still there. And so is theheart.”