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Everybody Loves Opal
Everybody Loves Opal
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Author: John Patrick Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 74 Pub. Date: 1962 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822203677 ISBN-13: 9780822203674 Cast Size: 2 female, 4 male
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About
the Play:
Everybody Loves Opal has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female Scenes.
Everybody Loves Opal is a full-length comedy by John
Patrick. Part of this author's ever popular "Opal"
series about the lovable and irrepressible Opal Kronkie – a
colourful, naive middle-aged woman with a bit of a hoarding problem.
This cheerful,
wealthy recluse is besieged by three con artists who take advantage
of her by moving in and then trying repeatedly to murder her and
collect the money from her estate.
Everybody Loves Opal revolves around the Opal Kronkie,
the zany and lovable heroine with
a heart of gold who lives in a tumbled-down home at
the edge of the city dump. The general disarray of her establishment
is aggravated by the fact that Opal has a
passion for collecting junk – anything that can be
toted home in her little red wagon. Opal is also an optimist, for no
matter how mean her lot – or her "friends" – Opal
responds with unfailing kindness and an abiding faith in the goodness
of human nature. Into her rather strange world comes Gloria,
Bradford, and Solomon, a gang of petty criminals fleeing the police.
Opal's derelict house is the perfect hideout – and Opal, herself,
might be the remedy for their shattered finances. They decide that
what she needs is plenty of insurance, a rapid demise, and three
beneficiaries named Gloria, Bradford, and Solomon. Their plan to kill
her is aborted in a web of surprise situations that crackle with
comedy and dramatic intensity. The unsavoury trio concoct an
elaborate scheme to drop the ceiling on Opal's unsuspecting head –
but she is in the cellar at the time; they try to drug her and set
the house on fire – but Opal's state trooper friend arrives at the
wrong (or right) moment; a plan for a "hit and run"
accident backfires. Through it all, Opal radiates kindness, affection
and, strangely enough, gratitude. But the real clincher comes at the
end. It seems that there was plenty of money around all the time;
bags, barrels, and mooseheads full of it, in fact, and any friend of
Opal's is welcome to as much as he wants. All they had to do was ask.
Everybody Loves Opal premiered in 1961 on Broadway at
Longacre Theatre and has been delighting audiences ever since. An
entertaining and fanciful comedy, the play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is one of the most successful
plays for regional, high school, and community theatres.
Cast: 2 female, 4 male
What people say:
"…shamelessly
entertaining…." — New York Post
"…loads of laughs and a
cheerful philosophy." — New York Mirror
"…chockful of nutty laughs."
— Women's Wear Daily
"…goofy, extravagant and
enjoyable." — New York Daily News
"John Patrick's
comedy ... wears its decades well... The show appeared in 1961 but
isn't at all stuck in that era." — Roanoke Times
(Roanoke, Virginia)
About the Playwright:
John Patrick (1905-1995) was a prolific American playwright
and screenwriter, writing more than a dozen screenplays and some 30
plays. He had several Broadway successes, most notably Teahouse of
the August Moon (which was awarded a Pulitzer, a Tony and a New
York Drama Critics Circle Award) and The Hasty Heart. His
movie scripts are impressive with Three Coins in a Fountain, The
Shoes of the Fisherman and The World of Suzie Wong as well as
adaptations of the two plays mentioned above. His "Opal"
series of plays remain popular with high schools and
community theatres.
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