June Moon

Updated 10 January 2006

Intro | New Productions | Other Links | Partial Production List

the book French's theatre edition from the original program	June Moon was Ring Lardner's one great success on the Broadway stage. He wrote skits of varying degrees of success for Ziegfeld and had collaborated with George Cohan on Elmer the Great, but he had never achieved the success on the stage that it seems was his goal and his passion. Looking back over Lardner's life and his work without knowledge of what had "made him famous" might give the impression that he was primarily a playwright and lyricist (albeit a struggling one) who wrote other things to keep food on the table. In Niles, Michigan, as a youth, he wrote and performed in family skits. After graduation, his first writing was for a local theater company. His personal correspondence and his professional writing were peppered with verse. His earliest work which was published outside the newspaper was either light verse or music. There can be no doubt that he had theatrical aspirations. But success came late. And it only came once--June Moon, his collaboration with George Kaufman. Twenty years ago, Jonathan Yardley, Ring's second biographer, characterized June Moon as a "period piece," and commented on the PBS production of the play by saying, "What was funny in the twenties was merely a curiosity forty-five years later." It seems the addition of another twenty odd years has made it funny again. The last couple years have been especially good for June Moon. The big break occurred in January, 1997, when The Drama Dept., revived the play at the Ohio Theater. Their production received very good reviews and was awarded a Lortel award for best revival. Since then, the revival seems to be building up steam. See the partial list of new productions, and the partial listing of all productions below.
NEW MOON	One new production has come to my attention: November 13, 1999- February 13, 2000 The Colony Theatre Company 1944 Riverside Drive Los Angeles, CA 90039 Phone: (323) 665-3011 Web: http://www.colonytheatre.org/index.html Email: TheatreCol@aol.com
Some other links. . .	The Drama Department Production of June Moon http://www.dramadept.com/junemoon.htm Offers links to credits, production photos, set renderings, and pictures from the opening night party. A Review of the Drama Department Production Drama Department Review The Princeton, NY Production of June Moon http://www.english.upenn.edu/~emazer/junemoon.html A review by Cary M. Mazer of the McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NY) production. A Review of the Dallas Theatre Three Production Theatre Three review
	Partial Performance List

Tryout Performance	July 1929	Atlantic City, NJ
Broadhurst Theatre	9 Oct 1929-	New York, NY
Broad Street Theatre	n.d.	Newark, NJ
Company not known	1930	Philadelphia, PA Boston, MA Pittsburgh, PA
Road Company	27 Feb 1930-	Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Cincinnati, OH Milwaukee, WI St. Louis, MO Kansas City, MO West Coast
Pasadena Playhouse	19-28 Mar 1931	Pasadena, CA
University of Northern Iowa	Studioproduction of scenes Nov. 12, 1937.	Cedar Falls, IA
The Barnstormers	week of 2 Aug 1955	Tamworth, NH
The Barnstormers	week of 17 Aug 1965	Tamworth, NH
Theater in America	1974	PBS
The Barnstormers	week of 2 Aug 1977	Tamworth, NH
Drama Workshop Syracuse University	1986	Syracuse, NY
The Barnstormers	24-28 Aug 1993	Tamworth, NH
Graduate Acting Program New York University	1996	New York, NY
St. Jean's Players	3-12 May 1996	New York, NY
Porthouse Theatre Co. Kent State University	26 Jul - 11 Aug 1996	Kent, OH
Drama Department Ohio Theatre	7-19 Jan 1997	New York, NY
Drama Department McCarter Theatre	16 Sep - 5 Oct 1997	Princeton, NJ
Drama Department Variety Arts Theatre	18 Dec - Feb 1998	New York, NY
Theatre Three	14 Mar - 12 Apr 1998	Dallas, TX

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