Director Taylor Hackford, Presenter Hershey Felder, Co-Authors Sued Over Geffen Playhouse Production of LOUIS & KEELY 'LIVE' AT THE SAHARA

The husband and wife duo of Louis Prima and Keely Smith were a smash vocal act in the 1950s, headlining all the top nightclubs and releasing hit recordings of "That Ol' Black Magic," "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen." Audiences loved how the deadpan Smith played off the eccentric antics of her other half.

But their personal and professional partnership ended with divorce after only eight years of marriage. Now a play about their off-stage troubles, LOUIS & KEELY 'LIVE' AT THE SAHARA, is also going through off-stage troubles.

Austin Siegemund-Broka of The Hollywood Reporter writes that director Taylor Hackford, co-authors Vanessa Stewart and Jake Broder, and Hershey Felder, who is presenting a return engagement at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse, have been named in a law suit by Roger Lee Harrison, who is seeking $500,000 in damages, producer credit and revenue from upcoming productions.

Harrison and Hackford each became interested in the play after seperately seeing a 2008 production starring Steward and Broder.

The Hollywood Reporter states, "Harrison says he and the Academy Award winner (Hackford's credits include RAY, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN and the winning short film TEENAGE FATHER) independently made investment deals with the playwrights - Harrison allegedly investing $70,000 and Hackford and his wife, Helen Mirren, $40,000 to fund the play's first Geffen run in 2009, with Hackford directing."

The lawsuit states that Harrison arranged a meeting with Hackford and the authors after disagreements during the Geffen run ended Hackford's involvement with the project, and they had agreed that Harrison would join as co-producer.

A new production of the play is now scheduled to open at the Geffen in December, starring Stewart and Tony-winner Anthony Crivello, presented by Felder and without Harrison's involvement.

"These matters predate me," says Felder, 'and I do not know the individual and have never had any communication from him."

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