Breakfast With Les and Bess was an Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 play written by Lee Kalcheim

Lee Kalcheim

Lee Kalcheim is an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter.Kalcheim has written numerous television shows including episodes for:* The Paper Chase * All in the Family * N.Y.P.D...

 that originally premiered at Hudson Guild Theatre

Hudson Guild

The Hudson Guild is a community-based social services organization rooted in and primarily focused on the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1897 by Dr. John Lovejoy Elliott as a settlement house, with the intention of helping to alleviate the problems of the...

 in October 1982 before transferring to Lamb's Theatre

Lamb's Theatre

Lamb's Theatre was an Off-Broadway theater located at 130 West 44th Street, New York City inside the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene, near Times Square in New York City. It seated approximately 350 and specialized in musical productions...

 in May 1983.

Plot synopsis

It follows a radio celebrity couple with a morning show, similar to "Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick" and Tex and Jinx. This time the show is fictional "Breakfast With Les and Bess". The show follows them on and off-air at their house with their radical son David and strange daughter Shelby in 1961 in a Central Park South

Central Park South

Central Park South is the portion of 59th Street that forms the southern border of Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It runs from Columbus Circle at Eighth Avenue on the west to Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue on the east...

 flat. Also appearing, a lost interview with Rainier III, Prince of Monaco

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco , styled His Serene Highness The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.Though he was best known outside of Europe for having married American...

, and the new rock-music music that threatens to change their way of life.

Cast

The production at the Hudson Guild featured Holland Taylor

Holland Taylor

Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

 as Bess, Keith Charles

Keith Charles (actor)

Keith Charles was an American theatre and television actor who was active from 1956 until he retired in 2003. His work included Broadway and off-Broadway roles, and television work, including recurring roles on eight soap operas...

 as Les, Amy Wright

Amy Wright

Amy Wright is an American actress. She has appeared in such films as The Deer Hunter, Breaking Away, The Amityville Horror, Heartland, Wise Blood, Stardust Memories, The Accidental Tourist, Hard Promises, Crossing Delancey and Miss Firecracker.Wright is married to actor Rip Torn and the couple...

 as Shelby, Tom Nolan

Tom Nolan (actor)

Tom Nolan is an actor whose career dates back to his work as a child star in the 1950s.Nolan was born Bernard Girouard in Montreal, Canada, to parents of French and Irish descent. His family moved to Beverly, Massachusetts, where he immediately started dance classes...

 as Roger, John Leonard as David, and Daniel Ziskie as Nate/Announcer.

When it moved to Lamb's Theatre, the cast was as follows: Holland Taylor

Holland Taylor

Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

 as Bess, Keith Charles

Keith Charles (actor)

Keith Charles was an American theatre and television actor who was active from 1956 until he retired in 2003. His work included Broadway and off-Broadway roles, and television work, including recurring roles on eight soap operas...

 as Les, Kelle Kipp as Shelby, Jeff McCracken

Jeff McCracken

Jeff McCracken is an American actor, director, and producer.After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City he began his acting career on Broadway and off-Broadway, including Circle Repertory Company where he originated roles in new works by Lanford Wilson and Beth Henley, as well as...

 as Roger, John Leonard as David, and Daniel Ziskie as Nate/Announcer.

Productions were directed by Barnet Kellman

Barnet Kellman

Barnet Kellman is a television and film director, television producer and film actor.- Director:* Samantha Who?* Notes from the Underbelly* Four Kings* Living with Fran* George Lopez* Alias* Mary and Rhoda* Felicity...

, set design by Dean Tschetter, lighting design by Ian Calderon, costume design by Timothy Dunleavy, sound design by Michael Jay, and the stage manager was Andrea Naier.

Character Descriptions

• Bess - About 45, good looking, intelligent, stylish New York career woman and she puts her career before anything else. Not known to be sensitive or aware of others, but her public image matters very much. She never is deliberately mean with malicious intent she is just attached to things she cares about. Has yet to stop denying that her life is not everything she wants it to be.

• Les - Late 40's, attractive, easy going, has a sense-of-humor, and is a charming man. Misses being a sports announcer and sports columnist. He believes all of the success Bess and himself have are making their lives dismal, and wants to return to a life worth living. He does not like the phony social obligations. Loves to push Bess' buttons but will do anything to have them be madly in love again. He is able to see the problems and cope with them, but is sick and tired of just coping with them.

• Shelby - 20, slightly ditzy but cute.Impulsive and bizarre, but in a kind way. Full of life and energy. Will be defensive and pout because she feels she has a right to love and to attention. Still loves her parents and brother even with all they have been through.

• David - 20, typical 60's rebel, wish is to change the world overnight, and has a strange attitude toward life. A witty prankster with the absence of his parents attention have made his outlook misanthropic. His antics tend to get him into hot water, but generally a good kid.

• Roger - 25, a handsome, muscular U.S. Navy ensign (rank)
  Ensign (rank)
  Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
  
  , clean cut, honorable, practical Mormon from Utah. Healthy, stable, secure, regular American citizen not familiar with the New York "scene". He sometimes becomes discombublated as to how to handle his new family.

• Nate - 40, tall and lanky, Les' old broadcasting and drinking buddy, albeit he does not hide well the fact he cannot hold his liquor. He is everybody's friend, ready for whatever comes along.

Play's Setting

• Act I:

  • Scene One: Early morning (Day 1)

  Act II:

  • Scene One: Early morning (Day 2)

    Scene Two: Early morning (Day 3)

Critical reception

• "...Miss Taylor is one of the few utterly graceful, attractive, elegant and technically accomplished actresses in our theater...seeing her may turn you, like me, into a Taylor freak..." - New York magazine theater critic John Simon (critic)
  John Simon (critic)
  John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...