WEST MILFORD — The West Milford Players' fall show will be "The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Next week, the group will hold auditions on Aug. 22 and 23, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., with callbacks on Aug. 26 from 7 to 9:30 p.m.
Show dates are Nov. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20.
The cast includes:
Monroe Stahr — 35, head of production, “Boy Wonder”
Cecelia Brady — 20s, narrator, all-American
Kathleen Moore — 26, English, mysterious
Pat Brady — 50s, Cecelia’s father, movie mogul
Wylie White — 30s, Southern writer
Katy Doolan — Stahr’s Secretary
Edna — Kathleen’s Friend
Stahr’s Mother — A Memory
Mort Fleishacker — Accountant
Dr. Baer — Stahr’s Doctor
“Reiny” Reinmund — Stahr’s Lead Producer
Nick Zavras — Greek Cinematographer
Mitch Kapper — Art Director
Mr. Marcus — Corporate President
The story
It's the golden age of Hollywood, the 1930s. This is Fitzgerald's masterpiece about the movie industry. The tragedy of a man obsessed. Monroe Stahr is in a fight with Pat Brady over artistic control of his movies. The "Boy Wonder" is only 36 and the most celebrated producer in Hollywood, but already the corporate men are ready to throw him over if he doesn't turn a profit. In a world where money is God, art is seldom discussed. When Stahr decides to make his masterpiece, the "Shakespeare Project," as a tribute to his dead wife, knowing full well it will lose money, Brady and the money men try to bring him down. They stand a good chance.Stahr has a bad heart from a childhood illness. His doctor tells him if he doesn't slow down, he'll be "dead in six months." But Stahr is a man obsessed — with movies, with illusion, with memories of his dead wife, with a mysterious, enigmatic woman (Kathleen Moore) whom he met on the back lot after an earthquake nearly destroyed his studio. It's been years since he's cared about another woman. He pursues her, like his precious "Project," without regard to consequences. All around him are people who love and want to protect him — especially Cecelia Brady (Pat Brady's daughter), who takes the audience on a journey of love into the literal and metaphorical heart of a great man.
The show is directed by Debbie Quinlan and Rich Ahrens.
For more information, go to thewestmilfordplayers.org.