Casting Bind Forces Play’s Cancellation

“Legends,” a comedy about two fading movie stars caught up in a conflict of egos, has been dropped from the Laguna Playhouse season. It was to have played at the Moulton Theatre in Laguna Beach from Jan. 19 to Feb. 12.

Artistic director Douglas Rowe said Tuesday that “difficulty in casting” forced the cancellation. The original “Legends,” which toured nationally in 1986 with Carol Channing and Mary Martin but never made it to Broadway, calls for over-the-hill actresses who still have glamour and energy.

Speaking from the Los Angeles office of drama publisher Samuel French Inc., Rowe said he was trying to obtain rights to Lee Kalcheim’s “Breakfast With Les and Bess” as a replacement. The comedy, which ran on Broadway in 1982, is about a couple who broadcast a New York radio show from a Park Avenue apartment.

Rowe said if he cannot get the rights “within the next 48 hours,” he may fill with “I’m Not Rappaport,” the 1986 Tony-winning play about a black janitor and a retired white waiter who meet daily on a Central Park bench.

That could create further complications: Though it had not been announced, Rowe was planning on “I’m Not Rappaport” for the season’s fourth slot. “It’s tough to find a good black actor in Orange County,” Rowe said. “I would have to hire a professional guest artist” on an Actors Equity contract.

Rowe said he is also “leaning toward” scheduling an original audience-participation whodunit, “Night of Illusion,” being developed by Arthur Lewis, a Broadway producer who lives in Dana Point.