The Man Who Came to Dinner is a classic screwball comedy set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s and involves famous ( and famously cranky) radio personality, Sheridan Whiteside, slipping on a piece of ice on the doorstep of the Stanley family and having to spend 6 tumultuous weeks recuperating in their home.
The Stanley living room is monopolized by the irascible Whiteside; with ex-convicts, transatlantic calls, the arrival of strange gifts from his friends, . . . throw in a harbor penguins in the library, an octopus in the cellar, and 10,000 cockroaches in the kitchen – plus a sudden romance, what more can happen? Just tons of laughs in the 1939 classic!
Many of the characters are based on celebrities of the time. The character of Sheridan Whiteside, modeled after the critic Alexander Woollcott is played by Tracy Tupman. The Lorraine Sheldon character is a thinly veiled Gertrude Lawrence played by Joyce Patrone. Thom Gall plays the part of Banjo, patterned after Woollcott pal, Harpo Marx while Pol Clarke plays Noel Coward stand-in Beverly Carlton.
Performance dates are: Friday Nov 3 8:00pm, Saturday Nov 4 8:00pm, Sunday Nov 5 3:00pm, Friday Nov 10 8:00pm, Saturday Nov 11 8:00pm and Sunday Nov 12 3:00pm. Tickets are Adult: $20, Senior (60+): $17 and Students: $12 and can be purchased at bit.ly/HACDinner. All performances will be held on the Ken and Robin Brenneman Stage at the Hilliard Civic and Cultural Arts Center.
