''Act One'' is a play written by

James Lapine James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', ''Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ha ...

, based on

Moss Hart Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director. Early years Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother ...

's 1959 autobiography of the same title. The play premiered on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 2014.

Production

''Act One'' premiered on

at the

Vivian Beaumont Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT), the Beaumont is the only Broad ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

on March 20, 2014 (previews), officially on April 17, 2014. Directed by James Lapine, the cast featured

Santino Fontana Santino Fontana (born March 21, 1982) is an American actor and singer. He has received a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lortel Award, Obie Award, and Clarence Derwent Award in a mix of straight plays and musica ...

Tony Shalhoub Anthony Marc Shalhoub ( ; born October 9, 1953), is an American actor. His accolades include five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, six Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award nomination. He played Adrian Monk in the USA Net ...

(as

George S. Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. ...

and Moss Hart) and

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...

as Hart's theatrical agent

Frieda Fishbein Frieda Fishbein (born 7 March 1886, Romania, d. 6 September 1981, Brooklyn) was a Romanian American theatrical, film, television and literary agent for writers including Elmer Rice, George S Kaufman, Moss Hart, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh an ...

. Martin played three women in Moss Hart's life; Shalhoub also played three roles: as the older Hart, Moss's father, and George S. Kaufman.Brantley, Ben
"Several Moss Harts Are in 'Act One,' at Lincoln Center"
''The New York Times'', April 17, 2014 (in print April 18, 2014, p. C1) The play closed on June 15, 2014 after 67 performances and 31 previews. It was filmed to be shown on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

television program "

Live from Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that has broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS since 1976. The program airs between six and nine times per season. Episodes of ''L ...

." The filmed production was first televised on PBS in November 2015 & then uploaded to the Lincoln Center At Home Youtube page on June 19th 2020.Hetrick, Adam; Gioia, Michael
" 'Act One', With Santino Fontana and Tony Shalhoub, Will Air on PBS in November"
Playbill, October 8, 2015 The play had a reading on

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

in July 2012, with Tony Shalhoub, Debra Monk, Chuck Cooper and David Turner. The play was developed at the Vineyard Arts Project. The book had previously been adapted into a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

in 1963.

Overview

The play is an adaptation of

's autobiography '' Act One''. The play, narrated by the older Moss Hart, traces his life from being poor in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

to becoming famous and successful as a Broadway writer and director. The play depicts Hart's meeting and collaboration with George S. Kaufman. ''Act One'' ends with the production of the Hart-Kaufman successful play, '' Once in a Lifetime'' in 1930.

Critical reception

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', wrote "whatever its flaws, 'Act One,'... brims contagiously with the ineffable, irrational and irrefutable passion for that endangered religion called the Theater." Elysa Gardner, in her review in ''USA Today'', wrote that the play "... is rather an appreciation, most notable for its deep affection and almost deferential reverence. To say the play lacks the complex poignance of the 'Sunday in the Park with George' and 'Into the Woods' librettist's best work wouldn't be fair; however wry Hart's humor or complicated his relationships — with show business, his family, other people — his 'Act One' is a nostalgic and ultimately upbeat reflection on fulfilling a dream....Lapine captures that essence and the period, on the page and on the stage."Gardner, Elysa
"Lapine salutes Moss Hart's first act, affectionately"
''USA Today'', April 18, 2014 The play received nominations for five

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s, with

Beowulf Boritt Beowulf Boritt is a New York City-based scenic designer for theater. He is known for his scenic design for the play '' Act One'', which earned him the 2014 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design in a Play. Early life Boritt was born to American Civi ...

winning for what ''Playbill'' called his "captivating, multi-level set design, built on a large-scale revolve..."

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

References

External links

*
Lincoln Center Listing
*{{Playbill production, /act-one-vivian-beaumont-theater-vault-0000014027
archive
Broadway plays 2014 plays Plays based on books Biographical plays about writers Plays by James Lapine