Photo Flash: Meet the Cast of Stage West's THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY

""Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose." That was Winston Churchill's take on the game of golf, an opinion which might be shared by several top competitors at the recent US Open. Nevertheless, golf remains an obsession for many amateurs, and competition in inter-country club tourneys can be fierce. But nowhere is there a competition with more comedic punch than in Ken Ludwig's riotous farce, The Fox on the Fairway, beginning a 6-week run at Stage West on Friday, July 5. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast below!

Two rival country clubs are about to open their annual tournament, and Henry Bingham is hoping that this year, his Quail Valley team will finally triumph over Dickie Bell's Crouching Squirrel group. Believing he has a ringer member who can lock up the victory, Bingham raises the stakes to a risky level. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, said member has changed his allegiance just hours before the tournament is to begin. At the last minute, Bingham thinks he may just have found a solution in his talented new assistant, Justin-but Justin is prone to nerves, and is easily thrown off his game.

Can the day be saved for Quail Valley? This is classic old-school farce, featuring young love, desperate ploys, rapid entrances and exits, misunderstandings, a lost engagement ring, a valuable vase, a business on the line, and former loves threatening to derail things, and it will certainly be a wildly entertaining time in the theatre.

Ken Ludwig has had six shows on Broadway and six in the West End, and he has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, three Tony Award nominations, two Helen Hayes Awards and the Edgar Award. His work has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and has been performed in thirty countries in over twenty languages. Broadway and West End shows include Crazy For You; Lend Me A Tenor; Moon Over Buffalo; Twentieth Century; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; and Treasure Island. Other major plays include Shakespeare in Hollywood; Leading Ladies; Be My Baby; The Beaux' Stratagem, an adaptation with Thornton Wilder at the request of the Wilder Estate; The Three Musketeers; 'Twas The Night Before Christmas; Midsummer/Jersey; The Game's Afoot; and The Hound of the Baskervilles. His book, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, was published in 2013, and his work has been published by the Yale Review. He has degrees from Harvard, where he studied music with Leonard Bernstein, Haverford College and Cambridge University.

Multiple award-winning director Robin Armstrong, lauded recently for her direction of Circle Theatre's God of Carnage, will serve as director for The Fox on the Fairway. The cast includes three actors new to Stage West, and three familiar to Stage West audiences. Mark Fickert, who appeared in Circle's God of Carnage as Michael, and was last seen at Stage West as Doyle Miller in The Sports Page, will play the hapless Bingham, with Kelly Thomas, seen as Mrs. Bradman in Stage West's Blithe Spirit, as his wife Muriel. Sherry Hopkins, who delighted audiences as Jane Jordan in The Sports Page, will play Dickie's ex-wife Pamela. New to Stage West are Kim Titus, last seen in Plano Rep's Stage Door, as the arrogant Dickie, Steven Martin, seen as the Bellhop in McKinney Repertory Theatre's Lend Me a Tenor, as the young assistant Justin, and Emily Davenport, who played Sheriff Reynolds in Bat Boy at Plano Theatre Center, as Justin's love Louise.

The set will be designed by Jim Covault, with lighting by Michael O'Brien. Costume design will be be handled by Covault and Peggy Kruger-O'Brien.

The Fox on the Fairway will preview Friday, July 5 at 8:00 (no performace on Thursday, July 4), and will run through Sunday, August 11. Performance times will be Thursday evenings at 7:30, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00, with Sunday matinees at 3:00. The opening night reception will be Saturday, July 6. Ticket prices range from $28 to $32, with discounts for the preview performance, and for students, seniors, and military. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations are necessary), and the Friday Prix Fixe special (dinner and show for $39) will be available beginning July 12. Reservations and information are available through the Box Office (817-784-9378), or on the website, www.stagewest.org.

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