Monday, October 8, 2012

Up in Smoke

Jennings and McCormick in Ten Chimneys.

Having appreciated the stage work of Carolyn McCormick and Byron Jennings, who are married in real life, for many years (not to mention the former's appearances on Law & Order, I was pleased to have the opportunity to see them onstage together. In Jeffrey Hatcher's entertaining but uneven Ten Chimneys, they star as famed theater actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who were married in real life.

It's a particularly grand showcase for McCormick, who reaches full diva mode on more than one occasion. Were we living in the 1930s, when the play is set, a time when actors could become famous from stage work alone, I wonder if they would have emerged as a starry duo.