No Love Lost Behind the Scenes of 'Lone Star Love'
Not sure how much clout Randy Quaid has in Hollywood anymore, but apparently he and his wife, Evi Quaid, have "hijacked" the musical Lone Star Love, starring Quaid and the Red Clay Ramblers in a jolly Wild West retelling of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Randy Quaid stars as the lecherous, hard-drinking con artist Col. John Falstaff in the $6.5 million musical, now in tryouts in Seattle and set to open Dec. 3 in New York at the Belasco.
Michael Riedel of the New York Post writes today that Evi Quaid, Randy's hard-charging wife and manager, is firing away at the show's lead producer, Ed Burke, whom she dismisses as "essentially an investor who has no experience except for a three-day course he once took in producing."
It gets waaay better:
"Ed Burke doesn't know what acting is, and he's lording it over Randy, telling him to tone down his performance," Evi tells The Post. "Ed is more concerned with his personal taste than he is with what's right for the show."
Burke's "personal taste," she adds, runs more to "Disney" and "Six Flags" than it does to Shakespeare.
And of the Red Clay Ramblers, she says: "Randy has several scenes with them, and he's finding it very difficult because they don't know how to act."
Evi, at the same time, is being criticized as an "out-of-control maniac" who has "bulldozed" her way into every aspect of the production... When she doesn't get her way, she fires off "incredibly vicious" e-mails to production staffers in the middle of the night. One, sent to the show's ad agency, contained a photo of herself ( a former Helmut Newton model) in the nude and carried a message that cannot be printed in a family newspaper.
Sources also say she's ordered the writers to eliminate subplots and characters so that her husband of 18 years has more time onstage, and that she's had his costumes completely redesigned.
We don't know if Randy can get some control over this mess himself - or if this is all his idea anyway - but we sure hope things settle down before the cast and crew make it to New York this winter. (Makes you wonder if brother Dennis Quaid and his ex Meg Ryan would have acted this way)
-- Daniel Lehman
I've seen the show in Seattle and would not recommend it. The character of Falstaff, as acted by Randy Quaid is truly gross and has no redeeming qualities and no heart. There is nothing for the audience to even remotely identify with. Not only that, but some elements of the Shakespeare play just don't work in the American West setting. The critcs are right....people should stay away....in droves.
Posted by: PamelaS | September 25, 2007 at 01:30 PM