Once in a Lifetime

Satirical comedy / 24 m. 14 f. (doubling possible.) / 5 ints. or unit set. Recently revived on Broadway to great acclaim this is the rollicking tale of three down and out troupers who decide to head for Hollywood and try their luck with the newly invented talkies. Due to a series of consistent blunders the most stupid of the three is carried to pinnacles of fame and fortune until he's literally made a god of the industry. It's a fast paced and wild romp and a marvelous spoof of tinsel land.

It's 1929 as The Jazz Singer hits the silver screen and the talkies promise to change movies forever. Enter three down-and-out vaudevillians who hatch a hare-brained scheme to "make it big" in Tinsel Town. Their plan? To open a voice academy for the witless stars of silent movies. The only things standing in their way are ditzy starlets and power-hungry movie moguls. Starring Ed Asner and directed by Moss Hart's son, this is top-of-the-bill screwball comedy and Kaufman and Hart genius at its very best

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:

Caroline Aaron as Helen Hobart and Miss Chasen

Edward Asner as Herman Glogauer

Jen Dede as Susan Walker

Jeanie Hackett as Mrs. Walker and Miss Leighton

David Kaufman as George Lewis

Katharine Leonard as Florabel Leigh and Bridesmaid #2

Joe Liss as Ernest and others

Kellie Matteson as Phyllis Fontaine and Bridesmaid #1;

Jon Matthews as Rudolph Kammerling and others

Sarah Rafferty as May Daniels

Jonathan Silverman as Jerry Hyland

Steve Vinovich as Lawrence Vail and others

Directed by Christopher Hart. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.