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Overview

Synopsis

Lord and Lady Ferncliffe are coming to New York City, and Millicent Jordan is aflutter with the importance -- getting them to dinner will be the social coupe of the season. Arranging the menu, hiring a string quartet, and desperately searching for just the right guest list puts her into a whirl of frantic activity, and she gets no help or sympathy from her family and friends. Her husband Oliver, the ailing head of an ailing shipping company, wants to invite uncouth, unscrupulous business tycoon Dan Packard and his tacky wife, Kitty, but having a secret and fatal heart condition, would rather avoid the stress of the dinner itself. Her daughter Paula, discontented with a looming marriage, is stepping out on her fiance with another dinner guest: Larry Renault, an alcoholic, increasingly desperate former film star, whose financial situation is so grim that his agent is pushing him to accept a walk-on role… as a dead beachcomber.

Further interference with Millicent’s plans comes in the form of Carlotta Vance, a theatrical “battered beauty” and old flame of Oliver’s, who arrives in New York hoping to unload her Jordan stock, and a violent love triangle brewing in the servant’s quarters, which comes to a head when Carlotta recognizes butler Gustave from her European travels, and asks about his family. Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman’s sophisticated Dinner at Eight is a masterful ensemble play, a multi-layered Depression “dramedy” in which a wide variety of personalities, all connected by one dinner party, must come to terms with age, financial uncertainty, professional failure, and romantic disappointment, while finding a way to maintain social grace in a changing world.

Show Information

Category
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
Number of Acts
3
First Produced
1932
Genres
Drama, Comedy
Settings
Period, Multiple Settings
Time & Place
1930s, new york city
Cast Size
large
Ideal For
College/University, Community Theatre, Ensemble Cast, Large Cast, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Theatre, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Late Teen, Young Adult Characters

Context


Plot


Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Millicent Jordan

Lead

Female

Spoken

Oliver Jordan

Lead

Male

Spoken

Carlotta Vance

Lead

Female

Spoken

Dan Packard

Lead

Male

Spoken

Kitty Packard

Lead

Female

Spoken

Larry Renault

Lead

Male

Spoken

Paula Jordan

Lead

Female

Spoken

Dora

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Hattie Loomis

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Doctor Talbot

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Max Kane

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Gustave

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Lucy Talbot

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Tina

Featured

Female

Spoken

Eddie

Featured

Male

Spoken

Mr. Hatfield

Featured

Male

Spoken

Miss Alden

Featured

Female

Spoken

Mrs. Wendel

Featured

Female

Spoken

Joe Stengel

Featured

Male

Spoken

Fitch

Featured

Male

Spoken

Ed Loomis

Featured

Male

Spoken

Waiter

Featured

Male

Spoken

Ricci

Featured

Male

Spoken

Miss Copeland

Featured

Female

Spoken

Musicians (3)

Ensemble

Either Gender

Spoken

Songs

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A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

Monologues

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Scenes

All scenes are the property and copyright of their owners. Scenes are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. If you would like to give a public performance of this scene, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor.

Key Terms

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