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Climbing The Royal Family Tree
By Harry Haun
26 Sep 2009
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The Royal Family's Jan Maxwell and Rosemary Harris
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | Rosemary Harris and Jan Maxwell play mother and daughter in a fictional look at the First Family of American theatre.
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In 1927, when George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber wrote The Royal Family, their affectionate fun-poke at a great American acting dynasty, Cavendish was just a three-syllable stand-in for Barrymore. It was easy to read between the laughs.
Ethel Barrymore was reportedly not amused, but brother John delighted in his roguish, skirt-chasing stage persona, Tony Cavendish. Lionel was commendably noncommittal.
Atop the Cavendish tree is Fanny, a grande dame unwilling to retire. The breadwinning star of the house — daughter Julie — is mulling a marriage way out, as is her daughter.
The revival, under director Doug Hughes, opens on Oct. 8 at the Friedman. It marks Rosemary Harris' second coming as a Cavendish. In 1975 she was Julie, the mother/daughter in the middle, and now she's been kicked upstairs to micromanage the family showbiz as Fanny.
The 1975 production, directed by Ellis Rabb (Harris' ex), "was only to be a six-week run at the Kennedy Center," she notes. "Ellis could strike a great balance of soul and heart and comedy. After the Kennedy Center, we went to BAM [the Brooklyn Academy of Music], then Broadway."
Eva Le Gallienne ("Le G" to intimates) scored a triumph as Fanny but wasn’t first choice. "Originally, Ellis cast Dame Judith [Anderson], who called a week before rehearsals began and said she'd hurt her back. Ellis then prevailed on 'Le G,' an old friend, and she said, 'Oh, well, darling, send me the play. I'm sorry you're in a spot, but you know, sweetheart, I don't really do boulevard comedy.' A few hours after she got the play, she called and said, 'I'm with you,' and never looked back. The rest is history. She was a great success and took the play on the road for two years."
Rabb took the Tony for Best Director as well as the role of Tony from George Grizzard, who gave up the part early in the Broadway run. The show ran for 233 performances.
Filling out the rest of the modern Cavendish tree is Tony winner John Glover, Tony Roberts, Reg Rogers and "Saturday Night Live" and Wicked alum Ana Gasteyer.
Taking the bough left vacant by her new stage mother is Tony nominee Jan Maxwell. "It’s a seminal comedy to me because it has so much humor and warmth and heart," she says. "I've wanted to do it all my life, and when I was asked to audition, I was over the moon. Plus, it's a real honor to play this with Rosemary."
And a tad terrifying, to do Harris' Tony-nominated role in front of her? "Well, I’m not a person to be that intimidated," replies Maxwell, never a shrinking violet. "Besides, if I go waaay off track, she can always say, 'What the hell's going on?'"
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Jan Maxwell, Kelli Barrett and Rosemary Harris in The Royal Family
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
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