FOUR PLAY
The setting for Ronald Harwood’s 1999 play is a retirement home in England for former opera singers. Three of the residents,  Reginald, Cecily, and Wilfred, try to persuade a newcomer to sing with them the Quartet from Rigoletto (which they once were famous for) during Verdi’s Anniversary Gala. Problems arise as this new arrival, an erstwhile major star named Jean, was once unhappily married to Reggie. As long-ago grudges surface and old scores are settled, Harwood (who turned his script into a film of the same name directed by Dustin Hoffman) centers his story around mistakes of youth, the troubles of getting old, and the nostalgia for past success.
Now in previews and opening on Thursday, The Old Globe’s production has gathered four veterans of some of the great stages in the world to tell this heartwarming tale. The production photos are in, so here’s a peek at this estimable company: Elizabeth Franz (“Jean”; Tony-winner for the 1999 revival of Death of a Salesman, and the best Sister in Durang’s Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You that I have ever seen); Robert Foxworth (“Reginald”; The Old Globe and Broadway’s August: Osage County); Roger Forbes (“Wilfred”; the National Theatre under Sir Laurence Olivier, London’s Garrick and Cambridge Theatres, founding member of Geva Theatre in New York); and Jill Tanner (“Cecily”; Broadway’s Dividing the Estate, Enchanted April, and No Sex Please, We’re British).
Harwood’s comedy is directed by Richard Seer (Other Desert Cities and God of Carnage at The Globe). Harwood received an Academy Award for his screenplay of The Pianist and was nominated for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Dresser (also a hit on Broadway and the West End). Quartet will play in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, through August 24, 2014.
photos by Jim Cox
Quartet
Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
The Old Globe in Balboa Park
Tues & Wed at 7:00; Thurs & Fri at 8:00;
Sat at 2:00 and 8:00; Sun at 2:00 and 7:00
scheduled to end on August 24, 2014
EXTENDED to August 31, 2014
for tickets, call 619.234-5623 or visit The Old Globe
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What a joy it was to watch this story unfold within as the elements unfolded without! We so enjoyed the Saturday matinee, with its truly stellar cast, and found all of the performances invigorating and touching. A better foursome would be hard to find to tell the story of Quartet. Thank you all.