About the Play:

Sabrina Fair is a full-length romantic comedy by Samuel Taylor. This is a modern version of the Cinderella fable, about a chauffeur's daughter who returns to Long Island as a sophisticated young woman after five years in Paris. Then, back at home, Sabrina must choose between the two sons of her father's wealthy employer, and the rich, amorous Frenchman who pursues her from Paris, who all want to marry her. But who does Sabrina love and will she get her heart's desire?

Sabrina Fair is set on Long Island in the 1950s and deals with the involvement of a very rich family named Larrabee with Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of their family chauffeur. She is bright, well-educated, and has just returned from five years in Paris, where she has done a brilliant job as an executive in a U.S. government overseas office. She has come home to find out if she is still in love with the younger Larrabee son, David. The elder son, Linus, a cynical, good-humoured tycoon who has taken control of the family fortune, detects Sabrina's feeling for his brother, and for his own amusement lays a trap to bring them together. It works: David falls in love with Sabrina and wants to marry her. At the same time, a rich young Frenchman who has known Sabrina in Paris turns up and asks her to marry him. Faced with this dilemma, Sabrina discovers it is really Linus she wants. After an amusing scene in which Sabrina's father, the chauffeur, makes a rather amazing revelation, Sabrina breaks down Linus' resistance and gets her man. An unusual number of fine character parts for actors: the beautiful mother of wit and perception; the father, whose one passion is attending funerals; the chauffeur who has been dabbling in the stock market and likes his job because it gives him time to read; the smart magazine editor who, as a house guest, is the interested observer.

Sabrina Fair premiered in 1953 at the National Theatre on Broadway in New York City. It's still enormously popular, and has been a staple of community theatres, regional repertory houses, and high schools since then.

Cast: 7 female, 7 male

What people say:

"One of the most attractive qualities of Sabrina Fair is the opportunity it provides for enjoying the foibles and crises of some fairly scrupulous human beings... remarkably pleasant piece of theatre… Mr. Taylor writes in a sparkling daze of incredulity and satire." — New York Times

"Sabrina Fair is a delightful, sparkling hit." — New York Mirror

"Thoroughly entertaining, most engaging...." — New York World-Telegram

"The best American comedy of manners in more than a decade." — Saturday Review

About the Playwright:

Samuel A. Taylor (1912-2000) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Chicago, but raised in San Francisco, and he attended the University of California at Berkeley. Before he wrote for the stage, he penned radio scripts and was a play doctor. He was best known for his play Sabrina Fair and the popular Audrey Hepburn movie that followed it, Sabrina, as well as co-writing the screenplay of the classic Alfred Hitchcock picture, Vertigo.