L.A. Theatre Works' "The Play's the Thing" live radio series will present the West Coast premiere of P.G. Wodehouse's Thank You Jeeves, June 17-20, at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Santa Monica, CA. In what sounds like perfect casting, the expertly farcical and distinctly English Paxton Whitehead will assume the title role.
Simon Templeton will play opposite Whitehead as the feckless, upper-class twit, Bertie Wooster, over whom peerless valet Jeeves watches. Los Angeles Mayor and Wodehouse fan Richard J. Riordan will make his acting debut in the cameo role of blustering American millionaire J. Washburn Stoker. Rosalind Ayres will direct the four performances, which will all be recorded before a live audience for future broadcast on KCRW 89.9 FM.
Whitehead has appeared in such comedies as Noises Off, Run for Your Wife, Lettice and Lovage, and A Little Hotel on the Side. Templeton, a veteran on the Royal Shakespeare Company, most recently appeared in the L.A. production of Gross Indecency: The 3 Trials of Oscar Wilde.
For information, call (310) 827-0889.
-- By Robert Simonson