originally published: 02/22/2022

(BRISTOL, PA) -- Bristol Riverside Theatre brings the laughter to Bucks County with a hilarious follow-up to Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor. One hotel suite, three tenors, two wives, three girlfriends, and a soccer stadium filled with screaming fans. What could possibly go wrong? A Comedy of Tenors, Ludwig’s hilarious farce, runs March 8-March 27.

“This show is intense, it’s high stakes, and it's energetic,” said BRT Producing Director Ken Kaissar. “It’s big and broad, but it can’t tip into buffoonery. These are real people fighting for their lives. Our mission hinges on three words - laugh, think, feel. This season was designed to ensure a well rounded experience of some plays that send you home deep in thought, some plays that give you all the feels, and now it’s time for one that’ll make your cheeks hurt and sides ache with laughter.”

It's 1930s Paris and the stage is set for the concert of the century—as long as producer Henry Saunders can keep the amorous Italian superstar Tito Merelli and his hot-blooded wife Maria from causing runaway chaos. Filled with characters from Ken Ludwig’s famous Lend Me A Tenor, this new addition to the Ludwig canon is an uproarious ride full of mistaken identities, blissful romance and madcap delight. Get ready for big laughs from the pen of one of America’s most prolific and successful comedy writers. The “Concert of the Century” is just hours away, there’s a stadium filled with screaming fans, but the three tenors have other concerns. What ensues is a whirlwind of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and unabashed hilarity.

BRT Producing Director Amy Kaissar directs this hilarious show. The last show she directed at BRT was the audience favorite The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The cast of A Comedy of Tenors includes Jef Canter as Tito and Barbara McCulloh as Maria. Rounding out the cast is: Jim Shankman as Saunders, Benjamin Robert Lurye as Maz, Oakley Boycott as Racon, Megan McDermott as Mimi and Michael Padgett as Carlo. Most of the cast are making their BRT debuts. BRT Favorites Barbara McCulloh and Megan McDermott return. McCulloh has appeared at BRT in Defiance, Death Trap, Baby, Blithe Spirit, and The Skin of Our Teeth, among others. McDermott is a bit of a resident comedienne at BRT having left audiences roaring in Laughter on the 23rd Floor.

“This cast is tremendous. They are hilarious, of course,” said Amy Kaissar. “Then they also have to sing opera and three of them have to be tenors. It takes a lot of training to be a great comedic actor. As a great actor once said, ‘Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.’ And it takes a lot of training to really sing opera. There aren’t that many people out there who can really do both, but we found them! It’s a great cast. I can’t wait for you to see them.”

Tickets start at $43, with discounts available for students and military. The show runs March 8-March 27. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling 215-785-0100.

Jason Simms returns to BRT after designing the set for Cabaret in 2020 as the set designer for this farce. Natalie Robin is the Lighting Designer. Michael Keck returns to BRT in his third show in a row as the Sound Designer. BRT Resident costume designer Linda Bee Stockton is designing the costumes for this show. Michele Begley is the Production Stage Manager.

“We are just going to make this show as hilarious as possible,” said Amy. “We made sure we could find comedians who can really sing opera. I find that the comedy works better when all the characters are believable. We have a very dynamic cast, and this show should really be a belly-ache-er.”

Honorary Producers for A Comedy of Tenors are Bill and Linda Engle and Ernest Schirmer and Cynthia Gilbert-Schirmer.

Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

About The Director: Amy Kaissar is the Co-Producing Director of BRT and not surprisingly, it’s her favorite place to make theatre. BRT Credits: Driving Miss Daisy and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Much of her early directing work was in New York City at Epiphany Theatre, which she co-founded to support the work of early career artists, among them the future winners of the Tony, Richard Rodgers, Jonathan Larson, and other prestigious awards. For Epiphany she directed I Am Not Breakfast, Pennsyltucky, Another Round, and The Big Switch and was the resident director for the very popular sketch comedy series. Philadelphia Credits: Humility (Painted Bride), Shul (Philadelphia Dramatists Center). Other NYC Credits include Abingdon Theatre, The Workshop Theatre Company, HERE Arts Center, Stone Soup, The Funny Woman Festival, and The Players Theatre. BFA (Directing) Carnegie Mellon University, MFA (Producing) Columbia University.

About the Playwright: Ken Ludwig has had six shows on Broadway, seven in London's West End, and many of his works have become a standard part of the American repertoire. His 28 plays and musicals have been performed in over 30 countries in more than 20 languages and are produced throughout the United States every night of the year. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards and was called “one of the classic comedies of the 20th century by The Washington Post. Crazy For You was on Broadway for 5 years and won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical.

In addition, he has won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, and the Edwin Forrest Award for Contributions to the American Theater. His plays have starred, among others, Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Tony Shaloub, Joan Collins and Hal Holbrook. His stage version of Murder on the Orient Express was written expressly at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate, and his latest play, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, won the 2020 Charles MacArthur Award for Best New Play of the Year and is optioned for Broadway. His book How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare, published by Penguin Random House, won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year, and his essays are published in the Yale Review. He is a graduate of Harvard and Cambridge and is a frequent guest speaker for groups as varied as The Oxford-Cambridge Society, The Jane Austen Society of North America, The Folger Shakespeare Library, and The Baker Street Irregulars.

HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS: All audience members will be required to wear masks at all times when inside the theatre and show proof of full vaccination* with a matching ID (a photo or copy of your vaccination card is acceptable) OR proof of a negative COVID-19 test (PCR or Antigen) taken within 48 hours of the performance start time.

*Full vaccination means the performance date must be at least 14 days after the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or at least 14 days after a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. For future shows, please stay tuned for continued updates that follow CDC, state and local guidelines.

For continued COVID protocols, BRT has upgraded its filtration to a MERV-13 as recommended by the CDC. The theatre will continue thorough and more frequent disinfection with CDC recommended products and special attention to high-touch areas. The theatre has installed touchless paper towel dispensers in all bathrooms. Hand sanitizer will be available in the lobby at all times. Updated health and safety protocols will be updated on the website during the season for each show and special event.

Since 1986, Bristol Riverside Theatre (120 Radcliffe Street) has continued to bring acclaimed theatre to Bucks County. The theatre is the recipient of over 71 Barrymore Award nominations. Now under the direction of Producing directors Amy and Ken Kaissar, and General Manager David J. Abers, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community. In addition to its mainstage productions, BRT offers the William Penn Bank Summer Music Fest, the holiday tradition An American Christmas Songbook concert, the new play development series America Rising, the summer theatre arts camp ArtRageous, and a range of education programs for local youth.