Industry Reading for "The Queen Is In The Parlour" Set for October

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The play stars Sophie Hayden, Donna English, Lenny Wolpe, and Karen Murphy, with direction by Don Stephenson.

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A by-invitation-only industry reading of the new comedy THE QUEEN IS IN THE PARLOUR will be held on October 25 & 26. The play is written by MARC GOLDSMITH and Kleban Award winner Laurence Holzman .

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The reading will feature the talents of Sophie Hayden (Most Happy Fella, The Ballusters), Donna English (Anything Goes, Lend Me a Tenor, Ruthless), Lenny Wolpe (Wicked, The Drowsy Chaperone, Mayor), Karen Murphy (9 to 5, Titanic, All Shook Up), John Jellison (Come From Away, Motown, All Shook Up), Curtis Wiley (Ain't Too Proud, Attack of the Elvis Impersonators, The Jerusalem Syndrome), and ABUZAR FARRUKH (The Hound of the Baskervilles). Don Stephenson is directing.

Set in 1991, THE QUEEN IS IN THE PARLOUR tells the story of Chester and Beatrice, elderly twins with a tentative grasp on reality, who manage to lure Queen Elizabeth II to their home in the British countryside in a misguided attempt to have her knight their beloved younger brother, Martin. When the Queen threatens to prosecute the twins as criminals, what started off as a well-intentioned pipe dream turns into a full-blown kidnapping as Martin locks the Queen in their parlour until she promises not to press charges. Martin and her Majesty engage in a battle of wills as Scotland Yard and the local constable, who also happens to be Martin's fiancée, close in. THE QUEEN IS IN THE PARLOUR is a brisk, heartfelt comedy that asks what duty one owes to family, what bonds tie ruler to subject, and why we put little pieces of paper between slices of cheese.

MARC GOLDSMITH & Laurence Holzman (The Playwrights) first met in Mrs. Carmelli's nursery school class, and they have been working together, in some form another, ever since. In addition to THE QUEEN IS IN THE PARLOUR, they also collaborated on the screenplay and young adult novel, FELLA, about the young son of a maid in FDR's White House who is charged by Eleanor Roosevelt with the task of caring for the Scottish terrier that would be the president's Christmas gift.

Marc's plays include DANNY BOY (winner, Audience Favorite, New York International Fringe Festival), MIAMI TWILIGHT, and COMPARING BOOKS, which have had productions in New York, Atlanta, and Washington DC. In addition, he wrote the book and lyrics to a musical adaptation of Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL (music by A. Michael Tilford ). It's production by the Workshop Theatre Company in NYC was nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award. With a JD from Columbia Law School and Masters in Adolescent English Education from Hunter College, Marc teaches middle school Language Arts and American History.

Laurence, along with his other longtime collaborator, Felicia Needleman , won the prestigious Kleban Award for Most Promising Musical Theatre Librettists, as well as ASCAP's Sammy Cahn Award for Outstanding Lyricists. The two collaborated on the book & lyrics of musicals for many years, up to the time of Felicia's untimely death in July 2023. The duo first met in Modern Drama class at Columbia College and wrote together in the BMI- Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.Their works include WALLENBERG (White Plains Performing Arts Center, NYMF and Equity Lab directed by Martin Charnin ), THE JERUSALEM SYNDROME ( York Theatre Company ; Original Cast Recording on JAY Records; winner of the Theatre for the American Musical Prize for Most Promising Book Musical), THAT TIME OF THE YEAR ( York Theatre Company ; Original Cast Recording on JAY Records), SUDDENLY, HOPE! (Stamford Center for the Arts, Garfield Theatre in La Jolla and Denver Civic Theatre) and I MARRIED A WITCH (ASCAP Workshop). Projects in development include the original musicals, ONE NIGHT, MAKING ENDS MEET (both, Broadway Bound Theatre Festival), THE WINDOW, and SUDDENLY A SONG, a collection of their cabaret material. Laurence is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. As a principal of Bard Theatricals , Laurence's Broadway/West End producing credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Play That Goes Wrong, Mrs. Doubtfire, Jagged Little Pill, Fiddler on the Roof (2015), China Doll, The Scottsboro Boys, and Looped, as well as the Museum of Broadway. Laurence is also a graduate of Columbia Law School.

Don Stephenson developed and directed a highly acclaimed scaled-down version of the musical Titanic (The Hangar Theatre, Westchester Broadway Theatre), as well as the 2014 staged concert of that show at Lincoln Center. Other recent productions include the new musical Paperboy, for which he co-wrote the book (Weathervane Theater), Guys and Dolls and The Roar of the Greasepaint... (Goodspeed Musicals), Lend Me a Tenor and A Comedy of Tenors(Paper Mill Playhouse), One Night (Broadway Bound Theatre Festival), and The Jerusalem Syndrome ( York Theatre Company ). As a performer, Don's Broadway credits include Titanic, Parade, By Jeeves, Dracula, The Producers (as Leo Bloom ), Private Lives, Rock of Ages, Trouble in Mind, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. He recently starred as Doc in the national tour of Back to the Future.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/industry/article/THE-QUEEN-IS-IN-THE-PARLOUR-to-Hold-Industry-Reading-in-October-20260930)._