Looped

by Matthew Lombardo

LOOPED depicts an actual 1965 recording session in which an intoxicated Tallulah Bankhead required eight hours to dub a single line from her final movie Die! Die! My Darling! while antagonizing the film editor assigned to the job.“Entertainment guaranteed!” —Los Angeles Times“Matthew Lombardo’s riveting new play is as funny as it gets in theatre! … A seductive, funny and frequently moving piece.” —The Hollywood Reporter“Howlingly funny! … Fun, touching and exceedingly funny! A must see!” —Pasadena Star News“Hilarious!” —LA Weekly“This play is a masterpiece!” —Santa Monica Press“Scores of zingers, one-liners, retorts and anecdotes leaves the audience roaring so loud the actors often struggle to be heard!” —Daily Variety“A+ … Matthew Lombardo’s brilliant script crackles with a number of zingy one-liners! His screamingly funny play will have you rolling in the aisles!” —Palm Beach Post“A raucous comedy! Lombardo has penned a hysterically funny script with serious undertones that features a cascade of PG-rated zingers, R-rated retorts and X-rated anecdotes.” —Sun Sentinel“Fours stars! … A terrific play! The biting wit is bawdy and hysterical! May LOOPED live on and on. I’ll drink to that.” —The Washingtonian“Pure theatrical magic! Scathingly funny! Deliciously inappropriate. Sometimes, the saying goes, you have to laugh to keep from crying. Try to fight either as hard as you can. You will end up doing both.” —The Washington Times

68 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2019

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

I only came to this play after reading Lombardo's equally hilarious Who's Holiday - only to discover that my Facebook buddy, Brian Hutchison (that's him in the lower left-hand corner on the cover), costarred in this more or less two-hander (there is a third offstage voice character as well) with Valerie Harper on Broadway. Although the play lasted barely a month, Harper was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance (she lost to Viola Davis for Fences).

The play, based on a true incident, concerns Tallulah Bankhead, the diva of stage and screen, at a Hollywood sound stage to 'loop' one line of dialogue for what would be her final picture, 'Die, Die My Darling'. It's jam-packed with terrific one-liners, and although it gets a bit lugubrious towards the end, it's still a dynamite script. The entire performance is available on YouTube, if anyone cares to see it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUC4q...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBGJv...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdKw8...

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/th...
https://variety.com/2009/legit/review...#!

[Bradley Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything I wished for it to be! Tallulah Bankhead is perhaps one of my favorite actresses and celebrity figures! Highly recommend for any Broadway fan!

[Javier Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Looped on stage yesterday at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, Florida. I've been a subscriber at the theater for many years and this is one of the best plays and productions I've seen there. The amazing script touches on a broad range of emotions. One moment it's hilarious, at the drop of a hat though, it's yanking on your heartstrings.

I had never heard of this play until it was announced as one of the shows in this season's schedule. It was an unexpected treat for me.