February 28, 1981

Professor of Drama William Rothwell presented “a madcap misadventure of movie madness” in his production of Once in a Lifetime (1930), the first of several collaborations by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. Writing in The Miscellany News, John Delorey ’81 praised the ensemble acting of Rothwell’s 27-member cast and their “panache, style, grace, energy and immaculate sense of timing.” Singling out Jon Cantor ’81 (“George Lewis”), Joan Moynagh ’81 (“May Daniels”) and Allen Newman ’81 (“Jerry Hyland”) for particular notice, Delorey also cited “Sara Ziegler’s (’81) wailing stage mother, Jon Karas’s (’80) tormented producer, Brett Goldstein’s (’81) frenetic foreign director and Georgia Papastrat’s (’82) imploringly sophisticated Variety columnist,” all of whom, he said, “dazzle the audience.” “The showstopper,” he concluded, “is Janet Warren’s costumes. They’re a sensuous treat. She has transformed bolts of material and boxes of feathers into striking shifts and flowing boas and gives us the ’20s we’ve always dreamed of.”

The Miscellany News