Kaspar
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Lloyd's fantastic career in the theater |
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My trip to LA |
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Christina and I visit New York City |
Christopher Lloyd performed in summer stock for years before 1961. I'll try to get details about the plays and roles in which he performed.
Lloyd's first Actors' Equity performance was in the 1961 adaptation of this Shakespeare play in Connecticut. Lloyd performed with Bert Lahr and Ellen Geer and was listed under the category "various attendants." He also performed in a lead role of the same play at Yale at some point.
This Broadway play was performed 41 times with 15 previews from January 26, 1969 through May 1, 1969. At age 31, this was Lloyd's first Broadway performance. The original cast album was available on MGM Records.
Kaspar
Christopher Lloyd won an Obie award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for his title role in Peter Handke's Kaspar. The play was performed 48 times at Chelsea Theater Center of Brooklyn from February 26 until March 17, 1973. According to The play is based on the true story of a 16-year-old boy who was kept in a small container his entire life. When he escaped or was set free he had had no human socialization. He couldn't talk, walk, eat properly, didn't know the difference between men and women, etc. The play was shown over 15 closed-circuit television sets located around the theater. Kaspar was Lloyd's first New York acting job.
The picture at right is from The Best Plays of 1972-1973 edited by Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. The book is published by Dodd, Mead & Company: New York and is Copyright © 1973. (Click the thumbnail for a larger picture.)
This play was the first production of The Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles, California in the June 1973 to May 1974 season.
Performed at the Playwrights Horizon Showcase off-Broadway, this play ran November 6-11, 1973.
The SeagullLloyd was originally cast in this play but left after one week and never appeared in any performances. The theater just never reprinted the program. This play ran for 105 performances from December 18, 1973 to March 17, 1974.
Total EclipseThis play ran for 31 performances from February 20 to March 10, 1974.
Lloyd played the role of "Banquo" in this production, which ran for 82 previews from April 13 to June 23, 1974. Performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the production also starred Carol Kane, Chrisopher Walken, and Peter Weller.
Animal KingdomLloyd played Owen Arthur in the Phoenix Theater production in July 1974.
Christopher Lloyd is picutred here with Meryl Streep in Yale University's 1974 production of Charles Dizenzo's The Possessed. Lloyd played the role of "Nicholas Stavrogin." Special thanks to Australian fan Peter De Roode. He sent me this picture, which appeared in November, 1996 issue of Premire magazine. (Click the thumbnail for a larger picture.)
Pictured with Stephen Rowe (left), Christopher Lloyd is seen performing in New Haven, Connecticut at the Yale Repertory Theater's production of Andrzej Wajda's The Possessed. The Possessed ran for 24 performances beginning on October 3, 1974, the American premire of the play.
The picture at right is from The Best Plays of 1974-1975 edited by Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. The book is published by Dodd, Mead & Company: New York and is Copyright © 1975. (Click the thumbnail for a larger picture.)
This play was performed during the Yale Repertory Theatre of New Haven, Connecticut's October 1974 to May 1975 season.
Lloyd appeared in the role of "Al" in the off-Broadway production of David Rabe's In the Boom Boom Room. This play had 31 performances from November 20, 1974 until December 15, 1974. (Discrepancy note: another book says that the play ran for 32 performances from December 4-15, 1974.)
Birthday PartyA Phoenix Repertory Company production.
Amphytrion 38A Phoenix Repertory Company production.
White PelicansLloyd played Winston in this two-man PAF Playhouse production. White Pelicans was written by the director, Jay Broad. Lloyd cites co-star Jose Ferrer, who played Harry, as one of his idols during an interview for The Unexpected Man. The play was performed in 1975, its world premire.
Benjamin Rayson, Tony Azito, Christopher Lloyd, Grayson Hall, Donna Emmanuel, Robert Weil, Raymond J. Barry, and John A. Coe are pictured in "Dorothy Lane's" (Elisabeth Hauptmann's) musical Happy End. Lloyd first played the part of "Bill Cracker" during the October 1974 to May 1975 season of the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.
The musical was then performed off Broadway by Chelsea Theater Center 56 times from March 8, 1977 until April 30, 1977. It was then transferred to Broadway where it was performed 28 times from May 7, 1977 until July 10, 1977.
Pictured with Meryl Streep, Christopher Lloyd appears in the 1977 production of Happy End at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. According to Meryl Streep: The Reluctant Superstar, Lloyd fell onstage the day before the play's formal opening, ripping two ligaments in his right leg. His leg was in a cast from his hip to his ankle.
The top picture is from The Best Plays of 1976-1977 edited by Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. The book is published by Dodd, Mead & Company: New York and is Copyright © 1977. The bottom picture is from Meryl Streep: The Reluctant Superstar by Diana Maychick. The book is published by St. Martin's Press: New York and is Copyright © 1984. (Click the thumbnails for a larger picture.)
More pictures courtesy of SimplyStreep.com
Lloyd performed this play at the Long Wharf in New Haven, Connecticut during the October 1975 to June 1976 season.
This play featured only one performace on February 10, 1976.
Lloyd played the part of "Pozo" in the play that opened November 18 and closed December 20, 1988 at the off-Broadway theater Classic Stage Company.
The infamous 1/2 page insert from Christopher Lloyd's recent appearance as "Fagan" in Lionel Bart's Oliver!. The play ran from August 2-14 on the Eccles Stage of the Sundance Theatre in Sundance, Utah. (Click the thumbnail for a larger picture.)
Opening on September 19, 2001 and closing October 27, 2001 (it was extended by a week), this two-person play chronicles a train ride from Paris to Frankfurt. Also stars Holland Taylor of theater fame and the television show "The Practice." I had the distinct pleasure of attendeding two performances of The Unexpected Man on October 12 and October 13, 2001. This was really a personal dream come true. I had wanted to see Lloyd in a play for 10+ years, and this truly was the perfect setting in which to see him. The theater is relatively small - only 500 seats, there are only two actors, and his character speaks mostly in monologues.
At left is a picture of the cast party of The Unexpected Man. From left to right: Maria Mileaf - director, Christopher Hampton - translated the play, Gil Cates - Geffen Playhouse founder, Holland Taylor - co-star, Christopher Lloyd. Thanks as always to Christina Soberon for providing the pictures!
Christopher Lloyd appeared in Paul Osborn's Morning's at Seven at the Lyceum Theater. Lloyd performed with Julie Hagerty, Buck Henry, Piper Laurie, Estelle Parsons, Steven Toblowsky, Frances Sternhagen, and several others from March 28, 2002 until June 16, 2002, when he left to take a role with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Twelfth Night.
Pictured at left is the Lyceum Theater. Check out Lloyd's fan reviews and pictures on the new Morning's at Seven page.
Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" opened in Central Park on June 25 and ran through August 11, 2002. Christopher Lloyd played Malvolio in this free outdoor play.
Guernsey, Jr., Otis L., ed. The Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook: The Best Plays of 1972-1973; 1974-1975; and 1976-1977. Dodd, Mead & Company: New York. 1973, 1975, and 1977, respectively.
Lovece, Frank and Jules Franco. Hailing Taxi. Prentice Hall Press: New York. 1988.
Maychick, Diana. Meryl Streep: The Reluctant Superstar. St. Martin's Press: New York. 1984.
NYTheatre.com
Broadway.com
TheaterMania.com
Geffen Playhouse
Shakespeare in Central Park Web site (no longer active)
Last updated December 14, 2005.
Copyright © 1997-2006 Nicole R. Stachowicz