Birthday Candles

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

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Concord Theatricals

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Cast Size

3w, 3m
Duration

90 minutes
Target Audience

Adult

Details

Summary

Ernestine Ashworth spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, an infinity of dreams, and one cake baked over a century.

This poignant and funny play takes its audience through the highlights, heartbreaks and extraordinary moments that make up one woman’s ordinary life.

History

Birthday Candles premiered on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre on April 10, 2022. Directed by Vivienne Benesch, the production starred Debra Messing and featured Enrico Colantoni, Crystal Finn, Susannah Flood, John Earl Jelks and Christopher Livingston.

Cast Attributes

Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)

Keywords

Performing Groups

Twelve roles, six actors, one goldfish.

ERNESTINE ASHWORTH – Travels from age seven to 107. In that time she will be a daughter, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, a friend, an aunt, a mother-in-law, a widow, a second wife, a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a great great grandmother.
ALICE – Selfless. Strong. Ernestine’s mother.
KENNETH – Ernestine’s awkward and annoying next door neighbor.
MATT – Chiseled jawline. A middle linebacker on the high school football team. Ernestine’s boyfriend then husband.
BILLY – Sensitive. An ear for music. Ernestine and Matt’s son.
MADELINE – Troubled. Bemused. Beautiful. Erudite. Ernestine and Matt’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice.
JOAN – Anxious. Very anxious. Billy’s wife.
ALEX – Takes no bullshit. Billy and Joan’s daughter. Played by actor playing Joan.
ERNIE – Ethereal. Vivacious. She doesn’t walk, she glides. Alex’s daughter. Played by actor playing Alice and Madeline.
WILLIAM – Thirteen. Grand. Played by actor playing Matt.
JOHN – A man woken up in the middle of the night. Played by actor playing Billy.
BETH – John’s domestic partner, she quit smoking ten years ago and hasn’t been in a good mood since. Played by actor playing Joan and Alex.

Twelve roles, six actors, one goldfish.

Roles are doubled as below:

ERNESTINE ASHWORTH
ALICE / MADELINE / ERNIE
KENNETH
MATT / WILLIAM
BILLY / JOHN
JOAN / ALEX / BETH

Time Period Contemporary, Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century, 1990s, 1920s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s/WWII, 1930s
Setting A kitchen in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1920s-2020s.
Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
Duration 90 minutes
Cautions
- Strong Language

Media

“A truly must-see show. Epic and beautifully written.” – New York Daily News

“A true gift.” – Variety

“For my money, Birthday Candles is precisely why people go to the theater, which is to think about their families, ponder their past romantic mistakes, stare down the demons of their futures and commune with those they have loved and lost.” – Chicago Tribune

“There were plenty of empathetic sniffles and sighs in the audience during the performance. The most moving moments to me were those quiet exchanges that functioned as silhouettes for unspoken griefs.” – The New York Times

“Affecting... it confronts the big and small questions of existence and time itself.” – The Daily Beast

“Warm... bubbles up our own cherished and difficult memories of the people in our lives who’ve come and gone.” – The New York Post

Videos

Birthday Candles - Show Clips
Devra Messing Discusses Birthday Candles
Birthday Candles - Roundabout Promo

Photos

Image: 2022 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

Image: 2022 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Ticketing

Authors

Noah Haidle

Noah Haidle is an award-winning playwright whose work has been seen on six continents. For the 2017-2018 season, he was the writer-in-residence at the National Theater of Mannheim, Germany, a position first held by Friedrich Schiller in 1785. A graduate of Princeton and Juill ...

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Birthday Candles