Roundabout

NBC’s “The Today Show” interviews Present Laughter actress Alice Duffy, who is making her Broadway debut at age 81

Posted by Roundabout - January 27th, 2010

Veteran actress makes Broadway debut at 81
Source: TODAYshow.com

Jan. 27: NBC’s Anne Thompson shares the story of an actress whose journey to the “Great White Way” has taken a little longer.

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From NBC.com>>

“VICTOR GARBER is DEBONAIR and MAGNETIC!”-The New York Times

Posted by Roundabout Press Office - January 22nd, 2010

Congratulations to the Present Laughter team on a great New York Times review!

Shades of Coward, Robed in Silk and Self-Devotion

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Published: January 22, 2010

Should Bergdorf Goodman experience a sudden run on velvet smoking jackets and silk pajamas, blame Victor Garber, the debonair star of the Roundabout Theater Company revival of “Present Laughter,” Noël Coward’s valentine to the maddening, marvelous world of the theater and to his own maddening, marvelous self.

In this frothy production, which opened Thursday night at the American Airlines Theater, the stage stalwart Mr. Garber, who has lately traded the boards for a checkbook-swelling stay in Hollywood, eases back onto Broadway as if slipping into a bubble bath, Champagne coupe in hand. As a vehicle for former matinee idols on the wrong side of 40, “Present Laughter” is ideal, a purring vintage Daimler that simply requires a magnetic actor of finely honed comic gifts to work its considerable charms. Mr. Garber fits the role as neatly as those silk pajamas fit him.

Read the full review>>

Alias: Essendine

Posted by Leonard Jacobs - January 12th, 2010

Victor Garber transforms his genial self into the raffish, raging egomaniac Garry Essendine for
Present Laughter.

Victor Garber and Lisa Banes

Anyone who knows actor Victor Garber would not characterize him as an immense—but ultimately lovable—narcissist like Garry Essendine, the aging matinee idol at the vortex of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter. Over a leisurely breakfast, Garber never fails to mention the other actors in Roundabout’s 2010 revival of the play on Broadway, almost all of whom performed in the acclaimed production at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company in 2007. Of Present Laughter’s director, Nicholas Martin, Garber’s voice grows louder and his praise becomes lavish. “He’s more fun than anyone I know,” he says, most sincerely. Garber’s enthusiasm makes you wish you were sitting in the rehearsal room—or standing on line at the theatre, a pair of center-orchestra seats in hand. Watch the video on youtube.
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