Whoopi, Charles Busch and Lypsinka to Star in Legends!
Charles Busch, Whoopi Goldberg and John Epperson a.k.a. Lypsinka will star the first-ever New York reading of Legends!, the infamous Broadway-play-that-wasn’t. Written by James Kirkwood, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning author or A Chorus Line, the play has been adapted by Epperson for the reading, which will also star Bryan Batt Mad Men. Benefiting the organization Friends In Deed, the one-night-only event takes place at Town Hall on March 23, directed by Mark Waldrop. Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks.
A comedy about two glamorous, Hollywood has-beens/arch-rivals who are forced to consider working together on a new project to resuscitate their careers, Legends! is one of the most notorious theatrical properties ever written – notably for what happened behind-the-scenes. Originally presented in a year-long, pre-Broadway tour in 1986, starring Carol Channing and Mary Martin, it closed on the road before making it to New York. The drama on- and off-stage was eventually chronicled in Kirkwood’s Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing. In 2007, the play resurfaced as a pre-Broadway national tour, now helmed by Dynasty co-stars Joan Collins and Linda Evans. Also failing to make it to New York, the production’s backstage wars were chronicled in detail by Ms. Collins for a two-part series in London’s Daily Mail.
Currently starring in off-Broadway's The Third Story, Busch is a Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning actor, writer, director and drag legend. He'll take on the role of former film fatale, Sylvia Glenn.
Award-winning actor, writer, fashionista and lip-synching icon Lypsinka I Could Go On Lip-Synching!, The Passion of the Crawford and his recent Medea-based play My Deah will read as the seemingly-saintly Leatrice Monsee.
Rounding out the trio is Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award-winning icon Whoopi Goldberg star of Ghost, producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie, current moderator of The View, who will essay the role of the quick-witted servant Aretha.
Bryan Batt has been featured in nearly a dozen Broadway shows La Cage aux Folles, Sunset Boulevard, Beauty & the Beast and created the role of Darius in the stage and film versions of Jeffrey. The leading man is currently featured on the hit show Mad Men. He will play Martin Klemmer, the producer scheming to get the two film stars to work together.
The creative team includes set designer Ray Klausen, costume designer Fabio Toblini, lighting & sound designer Matt Berman and choreographer Josh Rhodes.