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Private Notes
A one-man show spanning the lifetime of Abraham Lincoln, from his turning against slavery as a young man through his reading of the Gettysburg Address.
Adaptation of the two-person stage play based on the correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell.
Playwright George Bernard Shaw and actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell began exchanging letters in 1899, when Shaw was beginning to have success as a playwright and ""Mrs. Pat"" reigned in the English theater. Taken by her beauty and talent, the married Shaw ""fell head over heels in love"" and, in 1911, wrote ""Pygmalion"" with her in mind as Eliza Doolittle. Their preparations and heated rehearsals for that play dominate Act I of this one, which finds Mrs. Pat apprehensive about playing a teen-age flower girl and picky about her costar. ""If you attempt this play on the one-star system,"" retorts Shaw, ""nothing, not even my genius, can save you."" In the concluding act, their letters touch on World War I; their quarrels over her intention to publish the correspondence; and their disparate fortunes during the 1930s.
Casey Stengel earned a niche in baseball's Hall of Fame by managing the Yankees to 10 pennants and seven world series triumphs from 1949 to 1960. But it was his witty and baffling syntax that made him a favorite with sportswriters and fans. Bits of ""Stengelese"" highlight a monologue set at a 1969 banquet, where the ""Ol' Perfesser"" reminisces about his career. Among his topics: his great Yankee teams, his lovably pathetic Mets, and growing old (""most people my age are dead"").
