Cakewalk
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Cakewalk
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About this listen
Broadway legend Elaine Stritch stars as author Lillian Hellman in Peter Feibleman’s beguiling account of Hellman’s tumultuous relationship across several decades with a man 25 years her junior, played by Oscar nominee Bruce Davison.
Accompanied by the original music of Carly Simon. Includes a conversation with Hellman scholar Deborah Martinson, author of Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels.
Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles in February 2000.
Directed by Rosalind Ayres
Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg
Samantha Bennett as Esther Bruce
Bruce Davison as Cuff
Claudette Nevins as Women’s Voices
Raphael Sbarge as Men’s Voices
Elaine Stritch as Lilly
Radio Producer: Raymond Guarna
Foley Artist/Stage Manager: John Lovick
©2009 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2009 L.A. Theatre WorksEditor reviews
The memory play has grown into a full-blown genre, in which a character addresses the audience directly between scenes of his or her remembrances. On stage such fare yields problematic results because the present tense of live performance often collides with the past tense of memory. On the other hand, in audio, it combines the feel of theater with storytelling. In this instance, novelist Feibleman recalls his affair with his mentor, the late Lillian Hellman, the hard-living playwright and activist, a quarter-century older than he. The formidable Hellman is portrayed by the formidable Elaine Stritch, and her narrating protégé by Bruce Davison. Though under-rehearsed, these fine performers, as well as the subject matter, provide fascinating listening, loaded with wit and true-life drama.