Ken Ludwig
Encyclopedia
Ken Ludwig is an American
playwright
and theatre director.
Born in York, Pennsylvania
, Ludwig was educated at the York Suburban Senior High School
, York PA Haverford College
(Class of 1972), Harvard Law School
, and Trinity College
at Cambridge University. His first Broadway
play, Lend Me a Tenor
(1989), garnered him his first Tony Award
nomination; his second was for Best Book of a Musical for Crazy for You
(1992), which won the Tony, Drama Desk
, Outer Critics Circle
, LA Drama Critics Circle
, Helen Hayes, and Laurence Olivier Awards
as Best Musical. Other Broadway credits include Moon Over Buffalo
(1995) with Carol Burnett
and Lynn Redgrave (on Broadway) and Frank Langella and Joan Collins at the Old Vic in London, the book for a musical adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(2001), and a new adaptation of the classic Ben Hecht
-Charles MacArthur
play, Twentieth Century
(2004) starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche.
Among Ludwig’s other works are Shakespeare in Hollywood, which was presented at Arena Stage
in Washington, D.C.
, in 2003 and won the Helen Hayes
’ Award for Best Play of the Year; Leading Ladies
, premiered at The Cleveland Play House
in 2004; Be My Baby
, at the Alley Theatre
in 2005, with Hal Holbrook
and Dixie Carter
; and the completion of Thornton Wilder
's adaptation of George Farquhar
's Restoration comedy
The Beaux’ Stratagem, staged at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 2006. Ludwig’s adaptation of The Three Musketeers
opened at Bristol Old Vic in England in December 2006.
Ludwig's latest projects are an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson
's Treasure Island
, which premiered at the Alley Theatre
in April 2007 and played at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on London's West End in 2008, which won the AATE Distinguished Play Award for Best Adaptation of the Year. Another stage adaptation of the George
and Ira Gershwin
film An American in Paris
, premiered at the Alley Theatre
in Houston as "The Gershwins' An American in Paris" in May 2008.
Ludwig’s other plays include Sullivan and Gilbert
, premiered by the National Art Center of Canada and the Kennedy Center, and Postmortem, which appeared off-Broadway.
Over the years, Ludwig has earned an Olivier Award, two Tony Award
nominations, two Helen Hayes Award
s, the Edwin Forest Award, and an honorary doctorate from York University
.
In 2006, The Times
called Ludwig “the purveyor of light comedy to Middle America. ...There is hardly a regional theatre in America
that hasn’t a work of his scheduled.” His work has been performed in over 25 countries throughout the world, with translations into at least 16 languages.
Ludwig practiced law for several years with the Washington, D.C., firm of Steptoe & Johnson. He has lectured on drama at universities throughout the United States
.
Ludwig, his wife, Adrienne George, and their children Olivia and Jack reside in Washington, D.C. His brother, Eugene Ludwig
, was U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and theatre director.
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
, Ludwig was educated at the York Suburban Senior High School
York Suburban Senior High School
York Suburban High School is a Middle-States Accredited, comprehensive four-year high school with an enrollment of 850 students located in Spring Garden Township in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.-History:...
, York PA Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
(Class of 1972), Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, and Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
at Cambridge University. His first Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
play, Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
(1989), garnered him his first Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination; his second was for Best Book of a Musical for Crazy for You
Crazy for You
Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well...
(1992), which won the Tony, Drama Desk
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
, Outer Critics Circle
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
, LA Drama Critics Circle
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
, Helen Hayes, and Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
as Best Musical. Other Broadway credits include Moon Over Buffalo
Moon Over Buffalo
Moon Over Buffalo is a 1995 comic play by Ken Ludwig set in Buffalo, New York in 1953. This play marked the return of Carol Burnett to the Broadway stage, after 30 years.- Characters :*George Hay, a traveling actor....
(1995) with Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
and Lynn Redgrave (on Broadway) and Frank Langella and Joan Collins at the Old Vic in London, the book for a musical adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (musical)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a musical comedy based on the novel by Mark Twain with the book by Ken Ludwig and music and lyrics by Don Schlitz....
(2001), and a new adaptation of the classic Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
-Charles MacArthur
Charles MacArthur
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright and screenwriter.-Biography:Charles MacArthur was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading...
play, Twentieth Century
Twentieth Century (play)
Twentieth Century is a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles B. Millholland, inspired by his experience working for the eccentric Broadway impresario David Belasco....
(2004) starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche.
Among Ludwig’s other works are Shakespeare in Hollywood, which was presented at Arena Stage
Arena Stage
Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest Washington, D.C. Its declared mission"is to produce huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Arena has broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, in 2003 and won the Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
’ Award for Best Play of the Year; Leading Ladies
Leading Ladies
Leading Ladies is a theatrical comedy play by Ken Ludwig.-Synopsis:Set in York, Pennsylvania in 1958, this farce centers on two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors, Leo Clark and Jack Gable...
, premiered at The Cleveland Play House
Cleveland Play House
The Cleveland Play House is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, OH. As of 2005, the artistic director is Michael Bloom, the eighth artistic director since its inception. In 2011 they moved operations to the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square Center.Founded in 1915,...
in 2004; Be My Baby
Be My Baby (2005 play)
Be My Baby, a play by American playwright Ken Ludwig, opened the 2005–2006 season at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas and starred Hal Holbrook and Dixie Carter, directed by John Rando....
, at the Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
in 2005, with Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
and Dixie Carter
Dixie Carter
Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
; and the completion of Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's adaptation of George Farquhar
George Farquhar
George Farquhar was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux' Stratagem .-Early life:...
's Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
The Beaux’ Stratagem, staged at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 2006. Ludwig’s adaptation of The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
opened at Bristol Old Vic in England in December 2006.
Ludwig's latest projects are an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, which premiered at the Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
in April 2007 and played at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on London's West End in 2008, which won the AATE Distinguished Play Award for Best Adaptation of the Year. Another stage adaptation of the George
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
film An American in Paris
An American in Paris
An American in Paris is a symphonic tone poem by the American composer George Gershwin, written in 1928. Inspired by the time Gershwin had spent in Paris, it evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s. It is one of Gershwin's best-known compositions.Gershwin composed the piece...
, premiered at the Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
in Houston as "The Gershwins' An American in Paris" in May 2008.
Ludwig’s other plays include Sullivan and Gilbert
Sullivan and Gilbert
Sullivan and Gilbert is a musical by Ken Ludwig with music and lyrics by Gilbert and Sullivan. Sullivan and Gilbert features over 15 Gilbert and Sullivan songs...
, premiered by the National Art Center of Canada and the Kennedy Center, and Postmortem, which appeared off-Broadway.
Over the years, Ludwig has earned an Olivier Award, two Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations, two Helen Hayes Award
Helen Hayes Award
A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
s, the Edwin Forest Award, and an honorary doctorate from York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
.
In 2006, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
called Ludwig “the purveyor of light comedy to Middle America. ...There is hardly a regional theatre in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that hasn’t a work of his scheduled.” His work has been performed in over 25 countries throughout the world, with translations into at least 16 languages.
Ludwig practiced law for several years with the Washington, D.C., firm of Steptoe & Johnson. He has lectured on drama at universities throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Ludwig, his wife, Adrienne George, and their children Olivia and Jack reside in Washington, D.C. His brother, Eugene Ludwig
Eugene Ludwig
Eugene A. "Gene" Ludwig is an American business leader and expert on banking regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. He is the Founder and CEO of Promontory Financial Group, a global financial services advisory firm...
, was U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.
Plays by Ken Ludwig
- Be My BabyBe My Baby (2005 play)Be My Baby, a play by American playwright Ken Ludwig, opened the 2005–2006 season at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas and starred Hal Holbrook and Dixie Carter, directed by John Rando....
- Leading LadiesLeading LadiesLeading Ladies is a theatrical comedy play by Ken Ludwig.-Synopsis:Set in York, Pennsylvania in 1958, this farce centers on two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors, Leo Clark and Jack Gable...
- Lend Me a TenorLend Me a TenorLend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
- Moon Over BuffaloMoon Over BuffaloMoon Over Buffalo is a 1995 comic play by Ken Ludwig set in Buffalo, New York in 1953. This play marked the return of Carol Burnett to the Broadway stage, after 30 years.- Characters :*George Hay, a traveling actor....
- Postmortem (play)
- Shakespeare In Hollywood
- Sullivan and GilbertSullivan and GilbertSullivan and Gilbert is a musical by Ken Ludwig with music and lyrics by Gilbert and Sullivan. Sullivan and Gilbert features over 15 Gilbert and Sullivan songs...
- The Fox on the FairwayThe Fox on the FairwayThe Fox on the Fairway is a comedy by Ken Ludwig that was first produced in 2010.-Plot summary:Bingham, president of the Quail Valley Country Club, is in a difficult position, less by finding out that his newly hired hand, Justin, is in love with Louise, the waitress at the club house, but by the...
- Midsummer/Jersey