It?s the best American play you?ve never seen. Well, most likely.
The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company?s first American play, “The Front Page,” was last performed in Baltimore over 20 years ago. “It?s one of the great comedies of the century, but many theaters don?t have the opportunity to do it because of the economics of it, there are so many male actors in it,” said CSC?s artistic director Ian Gallanar, who directed the play. “It?s a great play that people don?t really know about.”
Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, both former journalists in Chicago in the 1910s, the play follows a pressroom in Chicago?s Criminal Courts Building during a criminal?s escape from execution. The play, which was first performed on Broadway in 1928, served as an inspiration for the popular Cary Grant film, “His Girl Friday,” and the 1974 movie of the same name starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
Chicago native Rebecca Ellis conducted hours of research for the play. “Each character mentioned [in the play] was based on some actual figure. I had to go through a bunch of Chicago?s public records,” she said. “In that way, [the play] is really neat.”
CSC will perform an early version ? one written in 1928 ? rather than the well-known version of the 1950s. Gallanar stumbled across Columbia resident George Hilton, who recreated the 1928 script for the show. “The two versions were a lot different. The language [in the 1928 one] hadn?t been cleaned up,” Gallanar said. “It was a lot grittier, and a lot uglier too, which made sense to me. These are scrappy guys, being competitive, working in anunglamorous environment. The language just suited them a lot better.”
Although the play is more than 50 years old, managing director Lesley Malin still considers it relevant in 2007. “I think it really is a timeless play,” she said. “For one thing, there?s always the question of the media, how far do they go, is it right for something to go that far. I think it?s extremely relevant for today.”
“It?s a fascinating examination of a period that we?ve put a little of a gloss on,” Malin said. “It does expose the rawness of the time.”
IF YOU GO
“The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
» Venue: The Black Box Theatre, Howard County Center for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Road, Ellicott City
» Time: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 25
» Tickets: $15 to $20
» More info: chesapeakeshakespeare.com or 866-811-4111
