MARTIN ANDRUCKI · BATES COLLEGE ·
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Ken Ludwig.

Ken Ludwig was born in York, Pennsylvania, a sizeable town at the tip of the Pennsylvania panhandle on Lake Erie, in 1950.  He was educated at York Suburban High School and Haverford College.  Choosing the law as his profession, he then went on to Cambridge University in England where he took an LL.M in 1975, followed by Harvard Law School where he was awarded his J.D. in 1976.

Since then he has pursued a dual career as playwright and attorney.

In the latter capacity, according the biographical sketch published by his firm, Steptoe & Johnson, Ludwig “represents numerous clients who are nationally and internationally recognized in the field of arts and entertainment. . . .”  Among his clients are “best-selling authors, publishers, the estate of one of America’s most prominent artists . . . and several theatres. . . .  Mr. Ludwig is also experienced in international law.”

His playwriting career began at about the same time as his legal work.  In 1979, Divine Fire was produced in Washington D.C, and in New York in 1980.  This was followed by Sullivan and Gilbert, Postmortem, and Dramatic License, all produced between 1983 and 1985.  Lend Me a Tenor debuted as Opera Buffa in 1985 in Milford, New Hampshire, and under its current title in London in 1986.  The play’s New York opening was in 1989.

Subsequent plays by Ludwig include Crazy for You, an adaptation of George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy, produced in New York in 1993, and Moon over Buffalo, produced in 1996.

Ludwig describes his work as an attempt to revive the tradition of “’muscular comedy.’”  This he describes as, “the kind of comedy that, while firmly rooted in reality and the emotions of the characters, bursts off the stage, has a story filled with unexpected twists and turns, contains a broad range of characters from different levels of society, and abounds in word play—all in all a reflection of our real lives but somehow ‘bigger’.”

He goes on to describe the “distinguishing hallmark” of  “muscular comedy” as “some form of confusion, deception, or mistake, either in the workings of the plot or at the core of the structure.”  He traces this confusion-ridden drama back to Plautus, the Third Century B.C. Roman playwright, and to Shakespeare, whose Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream he describes as “the greatest comedies ever written.”

In the American theater, according to Ludwig, the bearers of this tradition have been Kaufman and Hart, authors of You Can’t Take It with You, and Hecht and MacArthur, co-creators of The Front Page.  In film, Ludwig names Ernst Lubitsch, director of Ninotchka, and To Be or Not to Be, and Preston Sturges, writer-director of Sullivan’s Travels and The Lady Eve.  He might also have named Howard Hawks, whose On The Twentieth Century and Bringing up Baby helped to define screwball comedy, and Frank Capra, director of one of the most enduring “muscular comedies” of the American screen, It Happened One Night.   Another name for some of these plays and films, and for Lend Me a Tenor, is farce.

Ken Ludwig’s plays have won three Tony Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and three Outer Critics Circle Awards.  He lives in Washington, D.C.
 ​
  • Home
    • About me
    • Resources
  • The Public Theater
    • Titles A thru G >
      • A >
        • All in the Timing
        • Almost Maine
        • Animals Out of Paper
        • Around the World in 80 Days
        • Art
      • B >
        • Betrayal
        • Biloxi Blues
        • Blithe Spirit
        • The Book Club Play
        • Broadway Bound
        • To Build a Fire
        • The Business of Murder
      • C >
        • A Christmas Carol
        • The Cocktail Hour
        • Collected Stories
        • Communicating Doors
        • The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged
        • Crossing Delancey
      • D >
        • Dancing at Lughnasa
        • Deathtrap
        • Doubt
        • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
        • Dracula
        • Driving Miss Daisy
      • E >
        • Educating Rita
      • F >
        • Fallen Angels
        • Fiction
        • The Foreigner
        • Fuddy Meers
      • G >
        • The Glass Menagerie
        • Good People
        • Gun Shy
    • Titles H thru O >
      • H >
        • Hedda Gabler
        • Holiday Memories
        • The Hound of the Baskervilles
        • Humble Boy
      • I >
        • Indoor/Outdoor
        • An Infinite Ache
        • Italian American Reconciliation
      • L >
        • The Language Archive
        • Last Gas
        • The Last Mass
        • The Last Romance
        • Lend me a Tenor
        • Lips Together
        • Lost in Yonkers
        • Love/Sick
      • M >
        • Manny's War
        • Marjorie Prime
        • Marvin's Room
        • Miss Witherspoon
        • A Month of Sundays
        • Moonlight and Magnolias
        • Moonshine
      • N >
        • The Nerd
      • O >
        • The Old Settler
        • On Golden Pond
        • Orphans
        • Outside Mullingar
        • Over the River
    • Titles P thru W >
      • P >
        • Pavillion
        • Prelude to a Kiss
        • Private Lives
        • Proof
        • Psychopathia Sexualis
      • R >
        • Red
        • Red Herring
        • The Revolutionists
        • Rough Crossing
        • Rumors
      • S >
        • Seascape
        • Shirley Valentine
        • Side Man
        • Skylight
        • Sleuth
        • Southern Comforts
        • Steel Magnolias
      • T >
        • Terra Nova
        • 13th of Paris
        • Three Days of Rain
        • Tigers Be Still
        • Time Stands Still
      • U >
        • Under the Skin
      • V >
        • Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike
        • Visiting Mr. Green
      • W >
        • Wait Until Dark
        • What Rhymes with America
        • The Wind in the Willows
        • The Woman in Black
        • Wrong for Each Other
  • Portland Theater
    • Season 93 94 I
    • Season 93 94 II
    • Season 94 95 I
    • Season 94 95 II
    • Season 95 96
    • Season 96 97
    • Fool for Love
    • Ghosts
  • Playwrights
    • Albee to Coward >
      • Edward Albee
      • David Auburn
      • Alan Ayckbourne
      • Truman Capote
      • John Cariani
      • Noel Coward
    • Dickens to Harris >
      • Charles Dickens
      • Joe DiPietro
      • Arthur Conan Doyle
      • Tom Dudzick
      • Christopher Durang
      • Brian Friel
      • A.R. Gurney
      • Richard Harris
    • Ibsen to Nolan >
      • Henrik Ibsen
      • David Ives
      • Rajiv Joseph
      • Ira Levin
      • David Lindsay-Abaire
      • Jack London
      • Ken Ludwig
      • Donald Margulies
      • James Nolan
    • Pinter to Shue >
      • Harold Pinter
      • Yasmina Reza
      • Willy Russell
      • Susan Sandler
      • Robert W. Service
      • John Patrick Shanley
      • Larry Shue
    • Simon to Zacarias >
      • Neil Simon
      • Mat Smart
      • Craig White
      • Tennessee Williams
      • Karen Zacarias