Looped Closes On Broadway

The new Broadway show Looped closes at the Lyceum Theatre after just playing 27 preview performances and 25 regular Broadway performances. The short-lived comedy starred Valerie Harper (best known from TV shows Rhoda and Valerie) as the outrageous actress Tallulah Bankhead on a day when she had to come into a sound recording studio to "loop" a single line of a dialogue - a much larger challenge that one might expect. The play was written by Matthew Lombardo and directed by Rob Ruggiero, and co-starred Brian Hutchison as an aggravated film editor and Michael Mulheren as a sound engineer. Although Looped was well-reviewed by critics, the play simply couldn't drum up enough ticket sales to keep running.

Valerie Harper Throws Broadway For a Looped

Emmy Award-winning actress Valerie Harper takes on the role of the notorious, outrageous, and hard-drinking performer Tallulah Bankhead in the new play Looped, beginning performances on Broadway today at the Lyceum Theatre. Looped takes place in a sound recording studio in 1965, where Bankhead has gone to "loop" (i.e. re-record) a single line of dialogue from her latest movie, Die! Die! My Darling. Having arrived inebriated, she can't get the line right, frustrating her film editor (played by Brian Hutchison, recently on Broadway in Exit the King) and forcing the studio sound technician (Michael Mulheren, whose Broadway credits include Kiss Me, Kate and The Farnsworth Invention) to play referee. Written by Matthew Lombardo and directed by Rob Ruggiero, Looped will have its official Broadway opening on March 14.