- The Royal Family (play)
"otheruses|Royal Family (disambiguation)A play by
George S. Kaufman andEdna Ferber , The Royal Family lampooned the famousBarrymore family acting clan. A hit, the show ran for 345 performances, the prolific and successful Kaufman's longest running show to that time. The most severely ridiculed Barrymores were John and Ethel. The character Tony Cavendish, a heavy-drinkingwomanizer , representsJohn Barrymore . Julie Cavendish is the prima donna Broadway starEthel Barrymore . Ethel Barrymore was offended and her critical comments were quoted by the press; however John Barrymore saw the production inLos Angeles and was amused, and congratulatedFredric March on his performance as Tony Cavendish. (Otto Kruger had played the role on Broadway.)The Royal Family was made into a
motion picture feature, "The Royal Family of Broadway ", released in1930 byParamount Pictures .In
England ,Noel Coward directed the West End version of the play in1934 , with a cast that includedLaurence Olivier as Tony.Before moving to Broadway, the play had successful out-of-town try-outs in Newark and
Atlantic City .The Royal Family opened one day after the revolutionary musicalShow Boat , based on Ferber'snovel of the sametitle .Edna Ferber herself acted in The Royal Family at the Maplewood Theater in 1940, in a production staged byCheryl Crawford (see LIFE Magazine, Sept 23, 1940)A revival of the comedy was one of the highlights of the 1975-76 season on Broadway. Directed by
Ellis Rabb , it starredRosemary Harris as Julie Cavendish,George Grizzard as Tony, andEva Le Gallienne as the theatrical matriarch, Fanny. It won Rabb the 1976 Tony award for best director. The production was later telecast onPBS , with Rabb replacing Grizzard as Tony, and this version is now onDVD .Several live TV productions of the play have been produced, including one in
1954 , with Fredric March reprising his role as Tony,Helen Hayes as Fanny, andClaudette Colbert as Julie. The only complete version of the play shown on TV, however, is the aforementioned PBS telecast; all of the others have been one-hour condensed adaptations.###@@@KEY@@@### s-ach|awsuccession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival
years=1975-1976
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