The Guardsman 1924

New Jersey Theatre Alliance and East Lynne Theater Company (ELTC) present a staged reading of the classic romantic comedy THE GUARDSMAN AND THE ACTRESS by Ferenc Molnar, adapted by Mark Edward Lang.

In the new play 'LUNT AND FONTANNE: THE CELESTIALS OF BROADWAY,' playwright and actor Mark E. Lang unites with his wife of twelve years, Alison Murphy to celebrate The Lunts and examine their lives, their work and their legacy... to dig beneath their public personae and discover the all-too-real and sometimes fragile personalities beneath.

In the new play "LUNT AND FONTANNE: THE CELESTIALS OF BROADWAY," playwright and actor Mark E. Lang unites with his wife of twelve years, Alison Murphy to celebrate The Lunts and examine their lives, their work and their legacy... to dig beneath their public personae and discover the all-too-real and sometimes fragile personalities beneath.

They were married actors. Who worked together, almost exclusively, for decades. Stage actors who chose to turn down big-money offers from Hollywood. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne ruled Broadway, toured the nation and even played London's West End in the middle of World War II. With the Theatre Guild, they took low salaries to play in acclaimed productions of Shaw, O'Neill and Shakespeare; as well as three plays by their good friend Noel Coward. Laurence Olivier once said, 'Everything I know about acting I learned from Alfred Lunt.' A Broadway theater was named for them in 1958, and the Cole Porter musical 'KISS ME KATE' was inspired by their on and off-stage battles. Hugely famous in their time, they are now almost completely forgotten by the general public.