Emily Chaviano and Colin McGonagle in “Lend Me a Tenor" at the Timber Lake Playhouse -- June 16 through 26.
Thursday, June 16, through Sunday, June 26
Timber Lake Playhouse, 8215 Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll IL
Lauded by the Hollywood Reporter as “hysterically funny” and BackStage as “an evening full of belly laughs,” playwright Ken Ludwig's Tony Award-winning farce Lend Me a Tenor returns to Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse for a June 16 through 26 engagement, this tireless and hilarious show-biz comedy delivering, according to the Associated Press, “more than enough laughs to keep Ludwig's outlandish story spinning merrily.”
As Lend Me a Tenor opens, the year is 1934, and world-famous Italian tenor Tito Mirelli is set to perform the starring role on a very important night for the Cleveland Grand Opera Company. Henry Saunders, the company's general manager, is beyond stressed about everything turning out right, and insists that his assistant, Max – a nervous, young fellow and secret tenor extraordinaire – watch over Tito’s every move to ensure smooth sailing. After a huge fight with his fiery Italian wife Maria, Tito receives a double dose of tranquilizers through a series of mishaps. And after you throw an ambitious female co-star, Max’s giddy girlfriend, a flirty head of the opera guild, and a meddling bellhop fighting for Tito’s attention you have a recipe for a topnotch comedic disaster. Max navigates the company through one catastrophe after the next – an angry spouse, a presumed death, crazy costumes, secret sex romps, and loads and loads of slamming doors and mistaken identities – with Ludwig's knockabout slapstick ultimately posing the question: Can Max and Saunders find a way to save the Opera Company’s big night in grand, farcical fashion?
Directing and providing scenic design for Lend Me a Tenor's Timber Lake run is the company's longtime executive director Dan Danielowski, who also directed the theatre's recent productions of The Robber Bridegroom and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, and starred as Tevye in 2018 presentation of Fiddler on the Roof. Included among the show's cast are Darren Mangler as Henry Saunders; Colin McGonagle as Max; Margot Frank as Maria; Emily Chaviano as Max's girlfriend Maggie; Bryant Howard as the bellhop; Jodie Langel as stage diva Diana; Marcia Sattelberg as the opera guild's Julia; and Peter Lake as Tito Merelli. And with the comedy's lighting design by Cameron Strandin, additional members of Lend Me a Tenor's creative team include costume designer Jade Zhang, props designer Callie Hester, sound designer Tyler Malone, and production stage manager Chelsey Steinmetz.
Lend Me a Tenor runs at the Mt. Carroll theatre June 16 through 26, with scheduled performances at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission is $25-35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (815)244-2035 and visiting TimberLakePlayhouse.org.
