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Show . - --r : I . I' iT ww " - -" T I V , " I - n - I 1 1 Clockwise (L-R) William Meisle, Bill Lawrence, Rodney Montague, Molly Cameron, Kenney C. Vance, Chris Watkins in "Life With Father," now showing at the Pioneer Memorial Theatre I in Salt Lake City January 4 through 25. . Pioneer Theatre to present an old American favorite "Life With Father," the longest running play in Broadway's history and the greatest family comedy ever, starts off the new year on the Main Stage at Pioneer Memorial Theatre in Salt Lake City. It opens Jan. 4 and plays nightly except Sundays at 8 p.m. through Jan. 25. There will be a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, Jan. 21. "The real success of the play is its ability to pull out such universal values as family life, growing up and falling in love and look at them in a highly comical way," said guest director Charles Morey. "The play is a beautifully crafted, funny piece that has a wonderfully sentimental, nostalgic sense to it." "Life With Father," which ran at New York's Empire Theatre a record 3,224 performances per-formances after it opened in 1939, has drawn laughs from audiences for more than four decades because of its successful suc-cessful treatment of a universal uni-versal theme: the eternal struggle between the sexes. Set in New York City in the late 1880s, the play offers a humorous glimpse into the quarrelsome yet affectionate affection-ate Clarence Day family who set about to have hot-tempered Father baptized bap-tized despite his loud protests. pro-tests. Morey describes "Life With Father," Howard Lind- ( I I ' say and Russel Crouse's adaptation of Clarence Day's character sketches, as "tight as an Elizabethan sonnet." "Lindsay and Crouse were masters of form and structure. struc-ture. They really knew how to tell a story on stage," said Morey, who has directed two other comedies on the Main Stage last season's "Charlie's "Char-lie's Aunt" and another Lindsay and Crouse favorite, favor-ite, "Arsenic and Old Lace." The comedy features William Will-iam Meisle, a guest artist from New York, as Father. Molly Cameron, now of Salt Lake City, is his high-spirited wife Vinnie. Other cast members are: Babetta George, Max Robin- ' . f , . i .... -. , , . son, Dana Evans Bishop, Bobbi Fouts, Susan Glaber-son, Glaber-son, Marvin L. Hanson, Alison Whitney Henriksen, Lesly Herbert, Bill Lawrence, Law-rence, Rodney Montague, Tom Pavich, Laura Tietjen, Kenney C. Vance and Chris Watkins. Elizabeth Novak, PMT's resident costume designer, has designed late 19th century cen-tury costumes from the decorous bustle period for "Life With Father." Richard J. Harris has created the sets, and Ingra Draper has designed the lighting. D. Dale Dean is the production stage manager. Call 581-6961 for ticket reservations. |