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'Mrs. C' stars in New Theatre's latest production
By: Jessica Marshall, Managing Editor
New Theatre Restaurant’s new play, “The Last Romance,” is a heartwarming, boy-meets-girl comedy with a twist.
They are senior citizens struggling to find “probably the last romance either of them will ever have,” playwright Joe Di Pietro said.
Di Pietro wrote the play for Marion Ross, of “Happy Days” fame, and her real-life partner, actor Paul Michael.
“They did my play ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ twice at New Theatre, so I got to know Marion and Paul. They’re not only talented but are great people,” Di Pietro said. “(Marion) kept bugging me to write something for them. A couple years ago Paul was turning 80 and I thought, ‘If I’m really going to write a play for them, then I should just do it.’”
Michael plays Ralph Bellini, a vigorous octogenarian with an eye for the ladies. Ross is Carol Reynolds, an attractive, well-dressed woman who never expected another chance at love and has no defenses against Ralph.
Ross, 79, said she kept after Di Pietro to write a play for her and Michael because he “writes for old people really well.”
“He’s a real comer, this kid. We’d gotten to know him pretty well and we told him our love story,” Ross said. “This isn’t our story, but certain lines we actually said to him are in this play. He captured so much of us in this. We love it. It’s a comedy and a love story. The first half is extremely funny and then it gets … well, I don’t want to talk too much about it because I want people to be surprised. It has its teary moments. I love to cry.
“What’s really fun for us is we get to be the romantic leads. Normally I have to be the grandmother.”
Di Pietro, 46, said he wrote characters “essentially based” on Ross and Michael because of their great chemistry.
“I know people in their 60s, 70s and 80s who do fall in love and have romantic affairs, but it’s something I haven’t seen too much about,” he said. “I wanted to write two vibrant people trying to figure out how to make this love work later in life after they’ve had a lot of life experience, which tends to temper new life experiences.”
Di Pietro also wrote “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and New Theatre’s summer retro rock, Broadway hit musical, “All Shook Up.” “The Last Romance” is his fourth production at New Theatre.
“I absolutely love it. Rich Carrothers is directing this play and the artistic director is just fantastic. They’re folks who do a piece because they love it. They really want to make an audience laugh and cry and really feel something, which is my sort of theater,” Di Pietro said. “I’m really thrilled that they want to do some more of my work.”
After its world premiere at New Theatre, the company plans to take “The Last Romance” to New York.
“It’s a long journey,” Ross said. “(Carruthers) asked us if we would go to New York with this. When you go to New York it means you’re gonna live in some dreadful little theater with dreadful dressing rooms. But we said yes, before we die, we’d go and do this.”
Ross said she enjoys the Kansas City area and performing at New Theatre.
“(The dinner) doesn’t impinge on us in any way. The food is really good and it is a wonderful night out,” she said. “We love the people here and the weather. I’m from Minnesota, so I’m used to these kind of people. And there’s so much culture in this town … it has everything.”
•••
Marion Ross shares her thoughts on…
Acting:
“I like the technical difficulty of television. But theater is easier and we get the luxury of rehearsing. In film and television, you (meet someone) and by 8 o’clock you’re in bed doing a scene. You don’t even know each other. (With theater) we get the fun of really working on this stuff. Because (‘The Last Romance’) is a brand new play, we’re discovering more every day.”
Love:
“Paul and I celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day we met (on Aug. 28). We met doing a play called ‘The Whole Half.’ I didn’t really care anything about the play. I just kept thinking ‘Who is this beautiful, handsome m,an?’ We’re lucky to have each other.”
Children:
“My daughter (Ellen Plummer) wrote for ‘Friends’ and now she writes for ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine.’ My son (Jim Meskimen) is an actor. He does all the voices and imitates all the politicians on jibjab.com.”
Show business:
“I always encouraged my children to be creative, but I never encouraged them to be in this business. I don’t encourage anybody to. I know how tough this can be. I was under contract with Paramount by the time I was 22 years old. I came from a little town and I was so single-minded. Of course you should follow your dream and know that you can do anything you want.”
“Happy Days” fame:
“It’s the best hook. In this day and age, you’ve gotta have a handle. It serves me so well. People are so nice to me. It’s been a blessing.”
“The Last Romance” opens Thursday at New Theatre Restaurant, 9229 Foster, Overland Park, and runs through Nov. 9. For tickets, call 649-7469, visit www.newtheatre.com, or stop by the box office.
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They are senior citizens struggling to find “probably the last romance either of them will ever have,” playwright Joe Di Pietro said.
Di Pietro wrote the play for Marion Ross, of “Happy Days” fame, and her real-life partner, actor Paul Michael.
“They did my play ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ twice at New Theatre, so I got to know Marion and Paul. They’re not only talented but are great people,” Di Pietro said. “(Marion) kept bugging me to write something for them. A couple years ago Paul was turning 80 and I thought, ‘If I’m really going to write a play for them, then I should just do it.’”
Michael plays Ralph Bellini, a vigorous octogenarian with an eye for the ladies. Ross is Carol Reynolds, an attractive, well-dressed woman who never expected another chance at love and has no defenses against Ralph.
Ross, 79, said she kept after Di Pietro to write a play for her and Michael because he “writes for old people really well.”
“He’s a real comer, this kid. We’d gotten to know him pretty well and we told him our love story,” Ross said. “This isn’t our story, but certain lines we actually said to him are in this play. He captured so much of us in this. We love it. It’s a comedy and a love story. The first half is extremely funny and then it gets … well, I don’t want to talk too much about it because I want people to be surprised. It has its teary moments. I love to cry.
“What’s really fun for us is we get to be the romantic leads. Normally I have to be the grandmother.”
Di Pietro, 46, said he wrote characters “essentially based” on Ross and Michael because of their great chemistry.
“I know people in their 60s, 70s and 80s who do fall in love and have romantic affairs, but it’s something I haven’t seen too much about,” he said. “I wanted to write two vibrant people trying to figure out how to make this love work later in life after they’ve had a lot of life experience, which tends to temper new life experiences.”
Di Pietro also wrote “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and New Theatre’s summer retro rock, Broadway hit musical, “All Shook Up.” “The Last Romance” is his fourth production at New Theatre.
“I absolutely love it. Rich Carrothers is directing this play and the artistic director is just fantastic. They’re folks who do a piece because they love it. They really want to make an audience laugh and cry and really feel something, which is my sort of theater,” Di Pietro said. “I’m really thrilled that they want to do some more of my work.”
After its world premiere at New Theatre, the company plans to take “The Last Romance” to New York.
“It’s a long journey,” Ross said. “(Carruthers) asked us if we would go to New York with this. When you go to New York it means you’re gonna live in some dreadful little theater with dreadful dressing rooms. But we said yes, before we die, we’d go and do this.”
Ross said she enjoys the Kansas City area and performing at New Theatre.
“(The dinner) doesn’t impinge on us in any way. The food is really good and it is a wonderful night out,” she said. “We love the people here and the weather. I’m from Minnesota, so I’m used to these kind of people. And there’s so much culture in this town … it has everything.”
•••
Marion Ross shares her thoughts on…
Acting:
“I like the technical difficulty of television. But theater is easier and we get the luxury of rehearsing. In film and television, you (meet someone) and by 8 o’clock you’re in bed doing a scene. You don’t even know each other. (With theater) we get the fun of really working on this stuff. Because (‘The Last Romance’) is a brand new play, we’re discovering more every day.”
Love:
“Paul and I celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day we met (on Aug. 28). We met doing a play called ‘The Whole Half.’ I didn’t really care anything about the play. I just kept thinking ‘Who is this beautiful, handsome m,an?’ We’re lucky to have each other.”
Children:
“My daughter (Ellen Plummer) wrote for ‘Friends’ and now she writes for ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine.’ My son (Jim Meskimen) is an actor. He does all the voices and imitates all the politicians on jibjab.com.”
Show business:
“I always encouraged my children to be creative, but I never encouraged them to be in this business. I don’t encourage anybody to. I know how tough this can be. I was under contract with Paramount by the time I was 22 years old. I came from a little town and I was so single-minded. Of course you should follow your dream and know that you can do anything you want.”
“Happy Days” fame:
“It’s the best hook. In this day and age, you’ve gotta have a handle. It serves me so well. People are so nice to me. It’s been a blessing.”
“The Last Romance” opens Thursday at New Theatre Restaurant, 9229 Foster, Overland Park, and runs through Nov. 9. For tickets, call 649-7469, visit www.newtheatre.com, or stop by the box office.