THE next play by Courts Players is a hilarious former Broadway and West End hit ‘Lend me a Tenor’.

They will be on stage at Grays’ Thameside Theatre from October 23 to 25.

It’s the brilliantly funny story set in 1930’s America of the impending appearance of the opera singer ‘Il Stupendo’ Tito Merelli at the Cleveland Opera House.

The manager has a full house turning up that evening to hear him sing the lead in Othello.

Unfortunately a short while after arriving with his fiery Italian wife in the hotel room they have a row and she storms off.

He refuses to go to rehearsal and retaliates by drinking Chianti and downing too many sleeping tablets in his frustration.

He falls asleep so deeply that the manager’s assistant charged with taking care of him thinks he’s dead, tells the manager who then forces his assistant, an aspiring amateur singer, to take the role as he knows all the songs so the show can go on without the audience knowing.

Once he has blacked up and gone to the stage and delivered a stunning performance ‘Il Stupendo’ wakes up, gets into make up for the performance and starts wandering around looking for his wife.

The manager’s daughter Maggie (engaged to his assistant) and Diana, a formidable career obsessed and man-hungry soprano (hungry for ‘Il Stupendo’!) each start to pursue an Othello each, except the manager’s daughter doesn’t realise she’s pursuing her own fiancé who is himself as desperate as the manager to keep the audience from knowing that they haven’t just seen the real ‘Il Stupendo’ who is now half drugged wandering around the theatre as people go home!

With it so far?

It’s at this point the play really takes off! So make a note of the new dates above and book your tickets early!