Casting, Tour Dates Set for Legends, with Evans & Collins

Full casting, as well as a tour schedule, has been announced for the upcoming tour of James Kirkwood's claw-baring comedy Legends, featuring previously-announced "Dynasty" co-stars Joan Collins and Linda Evans. 

The tour will kick off at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre on September 12; it will run through October 22nd.  It will then play 13 other cities through May of 2007.

The show "centers on two fading and somewhat desperate movie stars named Sylvia (Collins) and Leatrice (Evans). Both actresses are courted by an unscrupulous young producer to star together in a Broadway show, despite the fact that they have hated each other for decades. He convinces both ladies to go along by misleading them into believing that they will be starring in the show with Paul Newman. This hilarious set-up provides the background for the full-blown comic confrontation between these two somewhat desperate and waning movie stars and the surprising and hilarious resolution," state press notes on the shows, which was previously announced as being possibly New York-bound.  John Bowab directs.

In addition to Collins and Evans, Legends will feature Joe Farrell as Martin Klemmer, Tonye Patano as Aretha, Will Holman as Boom-Boom and Ethan Matthews as the Cop. Erickson will serve as understudy in the role of Martin Klemmer, while Chaundra Cameron will do the same for the role of Aretha.

Legends is famous to theatre fans for having been a showcase for Carol Channing and Mary Martin, and for serving as basis for Kirkwood's (A Chorus Line) book Diary of a Mad Playwright. The play was to have moved to Broadway after a 23-city tour, but the legendary Martin withdrew from the production after one of her character's speeches--about breast cancer--was cut.

Collins appeared on Broadway in Private Lives. In addition to her role on the '80s primetime soap "Dynasty," she also acted in films such as The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, The Opposite Sex, and Esther and the King. She also appeared as Potiphar's wife in the filmed version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Evans' films and TV credits include "Dazzle," "The Love Boat," "The Rockford Files" and Beach Blanket Bingo.

The tour will feature sets by Jesse Poleshuck, costumes by Nolan Miller, and lighting Phil Monat.

Ben Sprecher, William P. Miller, Wendy Federman, Spring Sirkin, Max Cooper, David Mirvish and Ed Mirvish will produce Legends.

The tour schedule is as follows:

Sept. 12-Oct. 22--Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre
Oct. 24-Nov. 5--Philadelphia's The Forrest Theatre
Nov. 7-12--Hartford's Bushnell
Nov. 14-19--East Lansing's Wharton Center
Nov. 21-Dec. 3--Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre
Dec. 5-10--Kansas City's Lyric Theatre
Jan. 9-14, 2007--San Diego's Civic Center
Jan. 16-28--Los Angeles' Wadsworth
Feb. 20-March 4--Chicago's LaSalle
March 20-April 1--Cleveland's Palace Theatre
April 10-15--Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center
April 24-29--Ft. Myers' Barbara Mann PAC
May 1-6--Raleigh's BTI Center
May 8-13--New Haven's Shubert Theatre

Visit www.legendsthecomedy.com for more information.