Poor Murderer was a 1976 Broadway play written by Pavel Kohout

Pavel Kohout

Pavel Kohout is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring exponent and dissident in 1970s until he was expelled to Austria...

 that premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....

 on October 20, 1976 and closed on January 2, 1977 after 87 performances.

Setting

The time is 1900, and it takes place in the great hall of the St. Elizabeth Institute for Nervous Disasters, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Plot

The show follows a famous actor under treatment in a mental institution wonders: did he really kill the actor playing Polonius as he was playing Hamlet, or was it only an illusion?

Background

Poor Murderer was based on the Leonid Andreyev

Leonid Andreyev

Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer. He is one of the most talented and prolific representatives of the Silver Age period in Russian history...

 short story Mysl (Thought) and translated from the German version of G. and A. Baumrucker by Herbert Berghof and Laurence Luckinbill

Laurence Luckinbill

Laurence George Luckinbill is an American actor.-Life and career:Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Agnes and Laurence Benedict Luckinbill. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1956 and The Catholic University of America in 1958.He starred in the 1976 Broadway play...

.

Original Production

The show was directed by Herbert Berghof

Herbert Berghof

Herbert Berghof was an Austrian American actor, director and acting coach. He co-founded HB Studio in New York City with his wife Uta Hagen in 1945...

, scenery and lighting Howard Bay

Howard Bay (designer)

Howard Bay was an American scenic, lighting and costume designer for stage, opera and film. He won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design twice.-Career:...

, costumes Patricia Zipprodt

Patricia Zipprodt

Patricia Zipprodt was an American costume designer. She was known for her technique of painting fabrics and thoroughly researching a project's subject matter, especially when it was a period piece...

, musical director Stanley Wietrzychowski, produced in association with Don Mark Enterprises, production stage manager Frederick A. deWilde, stage manager Harry Young, and press by Louis Sica and John Springer Associates Inc. The musicians were Stanley Wietrzychowski, Brian Koonin, and Alfonso Schipani.

The cast starred Larry Gates

Larry Gates

Larry Gates was an American actor probably best known for his role as H.B. Lewis on daytime's Guiding Light and as Doc Baugh in the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...

 (Prof. Drzhembitsky), Laurence Luckinbill

Laurence Luckinbill

Laurence George Luckinbill is an American actor.-Life and career:Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Agnes and Laurence Benedict Luckinbill. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1956 and The Catholic University of America in 1958.He starred in the 1976 Broadway play...

 (Anton Ignatyevick Kerzhentsev, Hamlet), Kevin McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy (actor)

Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...

 (1st Actor, Alexey Konstantinovich Savelov, Polonius, Hamlet II), Maria Schell

Maria Schell

Maria Margarethe Anna Schell was an Austrian/Swiss actress, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1956 for Gervaise....

 (1st Actress, Tatyana Nikolayevna, Queen), Paul Sparer (2d Actor, Ignat Antonovich Kerzhentsev, Rector, Waiter, Bernardo, Others), Ernest Graves (3d Actor, Dean, Lawyer, Maj. Count Byelitsky, Kurganov, King, Others), Peter Maloney (4th Actor, Cashier, Newspaper Vendor, Conductor, Gypsy, Francisco, Polonius II, Others), Julie Garfield (2d Actress, Servant Girl, Katya, Flower Vendor, Gypsy Roma, Marya Vassilyevna, Others), Ruth Ford

Ruth Ford (actress)

Ruth Ford was an American model and stage and film actress. Her brother was the bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents managed the Tennessee Hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee.-Life and career:As a model she posed for Harper's, Town and Country and Mademoiselle...

 (3d Actress, Voluptuous Waitress, Irina Pavlovna Kurganova, Countess Byelitskaya, Others), Felicia Montealegre

Felicia Montealegre

Felicia Cohn Montealegre was a stage and television actress. From 1951 until her death, she was the wife of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein....

(4th Actress, Slim Mistress, Duchess de Cliche-Turomel, Prologue, Others), and Barbara Coggin (Apprentice, Gypsy Girl).