Lend Me A Tenor
by Ken Ludwig

Lend Me A Tenor Book Cover
Lend Me A Tenor Cover

Highlights

120 mins1930sEnsemble CastInterior SetPeriod CostumesAmericanComedy

Awards & Recognition

Drama Desk AwardTony Award

Winner! 3 Tony® Awards and 4 Drama Desk Awards Nominee! 2010 Tony® Award, Best Revival of a Play

What readers are saying

Readers find 'Lend Me A Tenor' to be a delightful exploration of dialogue in theatre. The play brings humor and charm to the stage, though some feel there is still more depth to be uncovered in its characters and storylines.

Humor and charmEngaging dialogueWitty exchangesLacks deep character development

Synopsis

"Lend Me A Tenor is a furiously paced comedy with more than a touch of the Marx brothers... A marvelous combination of wonderful farcical moments and funny lines."

Time Out New York

"Somewhere up above, George S. Kaufman, Abe Burrows, Moss Hart and all those clever fellows who wrote the comedies of yesteryear are rolling with laughter, echoing the audience last night at Moon Over Buffalo.

The play is nothing less than a love letter to live theater."

Boston Herald

"Ludwig's comedy [Leading Ladies] is so funny, it will make sophisticated and reasonable men and women of the 21st century cackle till their faces hurt."

The Houston Press

"Shakespeare in Hollywood is so deliciously inventive, you'd swear Ludwig and the Bard were in cahoots.

At once poignant and funny, literary and farcical, sophisticated and silly, political and fanciful, high-brow and low-brow... a delight!" The Baltimore Sun

Press Reviews

"One of two great farces by a living writer."

— The New York Times

"A remarkable piece of theatre… a masterpiece… Author Ken Ludwig has verve, a sound grasp of plot mechanics and a rare ability to couple high art with low comedy."

— The Times of London

"Ken Ludwig's 1989 Tony-winning comedy is one of only two classic farces by a living playwright, the other being Michael Frayn's frenetic Noises Off."

— New York Daily News

"The most inventive, original farce in a long time!"

— Punch

"A furiously paced comedy with more than a touch of the Marx Brothers… A marvelous combination of wonderful farcical moments and funny lines."

— Time Out New York

Characters

Character
Maggie

Max's girlfriend

Saunders

Maggie's father, General Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company

Tito Merelli

a world-famous tenor, known also to his fans as Il Stupendo

Maria

Tito's wife

Bellhop

a bellhop

Diana

a soprano

Julia

Chairman of the Opera Guild

Max

assistant to Saunders

Videos

Ken Ludwig on the 25th Anniversary of his play, Lend Me a Tenor

Available Editions

FormatPrice
Paperback
$17.62
Paperback
$23.66
Paperback · First Edition
$59.95

Publication

PublisherSmith & Kraus
Year1986
BindingPaperback
EditionFirst Edition
Pages114
PlaceLondon
LanguageEnglish
ISBN-139780573016400
ISBN-100573016402
LCCN87209454
LCCPS3562.U2957 L4 1986
DCC812/.54

Lend Me A Tenor is a American comedy play written by Ken Ludwig and published by Smith & Kraus in London (1986).

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Rating

4.1

23 ratings·30 reviews

Review

Buy Play

Paperback

Samuel French · 1986 · 114 pp

From $16.08 total

Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur Only
Fee:Minimum Fee: $130 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)

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