FAQ

Historical accident. My older brother Gene, who is a businessman, lived in Washington when I finished law school and graduate school. He and I have always been very close, so I moved here to be near him.

I've rarely met a book I didn't like. If you came to my house, you'd see that I'm sort of a book addict. I just love buying new books, paging through them, reading a few passages here and there and getting the feel of them. I've got to stop soon or my house will explode.

As for favorite individual books, let's start with fiction.

My favorite novels of all time include:

• Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding

• Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

• Emma, by Jane Austen - Okay, all of Jane Austen (my absolute favorite author after Shakespeare)

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Innocents Abroad and Life On The Mississippi by Mark Twain

• The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

• Portrait of A Lady, The Europeans, and The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James

• Ulysses by James Joyce

• The Good Companions, by J.B. Priestley

• Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis

• A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse

• The Clicking of Cuthbert by P.G. Wodehouse (Okay, all of Wodehouse)

• Excellent Women and A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym

• At Freddie’s by Penelope Fitzgerald

• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

• The Fixer by Bernard Malamud

• Leaven of Malice by Robertson Davies

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

My mother got me hooked on mysteries early on, and my favorites include:

• Everything by Rex Stout, especially Too Many Cooks, Death of A Dude, Some Buried Caesar and The Black Mountain

• Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon, Strong Poison and Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers

• All the Rumpole books by John Mortimer

• The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

• And of course the Sherlock Holmes stories

Favorite non-fiction:

• The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (which I read endlessly)

• Also, John Wain’s biography of Samuel Johnson, not the masterpiece that Boswell’s is, but a terrific overview.

• My Early Life by Winston Churchill

• The Last Lion, a biography of Winston Churchill by William Manchester (the first volume is much better than the first)

• In Search of Churchill by Martin Gilbert

• After The Fact by James West Davidson

• The Verdi-Boito Correspondence, Verdi

• A Biography by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

• The Collected Letters of George Bernard Shaw

• John Adams by David McCullough

• The Lyttleton-Hart Davis Letters (all 6 volumes)

• Sir Peter Hall's Diaries (the best theatre book of all time)

• Men At Work by George F. Will (the best baseball book ever)

• The Collected Letters of Noel Coward

• Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson (pretty much anything by Bill Bryson)

• The Life of Jane Austen by Clare Tomalin

• Will In The World by Stephen Greenblatt

• Shakespeare: A Life in Drama, and Shakespeare for All Time by Stanley Wells

Favorite Periodicals:

• The Guardian Review from England

• Opera News

I generally have about 20 books by my bedside to dip into at bedtime, but the one’s I’m currently reading in earnest are:

• The Memoirs of Sir George Solti

• American Writers At Home by J.D. McClatchey

• Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson

• Selected Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson

...and I love reading about opera.

My favorite plays are virtually all comedies. They start with the great Shakespeare comedies - and my favorites there are Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Each one launched a separate tradition of comedy that exists to this day. And each one is simply jaw-droppingly great.

After Shakespeare, you have to jump to the late Restoration for any really great plays. From the 18th Century, it's Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer first and foremost. After Shakesepare I'd say it's the greatest comedy ever written. Then The Rivals and The School For Scandal by Sheridan. I also love The Beaux' Stratagem and The Recruiting Officer by Farquhar, and Wild Oats by O'Keefe.

Once again, there's a big leap in years and for me the next great comedy is Dandy Dick and The Magistrate by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. Right after Pinero come the great Shaw comedies that I love so much: Arms and the Man, The Devil's Disciple and Pygmalion. And in about the same time period is The Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde.

I dearly love the big 4 by Chekhov (can we call these comedies? well Chekhov does); and I love some of the shorter burlesques as well, especially The Bear and The Marriage Proposal.

Once we get into the 20th Century (well, we were already in it with the later Shaw), I particularly love Noel Coward's Private Lives, Hay Fever and Blithe Spirit. And then there's Terence Rattigan's Harlequinade; Wilder's The Matchmaker and When We Are Married by JB Priestley. And I'm a huge Stoppard fan. I lovely especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and On The Razzle.

I'd say that every single one of these plays embodies the true spirit of comedy; and I reread them - and about 25 other comedies - all the time.

I had written a number of plays that were being performed, little by little, Off-Off-Broadway and at small regional theatres, when I met a wonderful English director named David Gilmore. He was interested in directing Sullivan & Gilbert, and one day, when he was about to fly home to England, he asked me what I had written lately so that he could get a better feel for my style of writing. I gave him a copy of Lend Me A Tenor, which I had recently finished writing and which had just been produced at a small summer theatre in New Hampshire called The American Stage Festival. (At the time the play was entitled Opera Buffa, which is Italian for “comic opera.”)

A few days later, David called me from England and said that he really liked the new play and would like to direct it – AND that he would like to show it to a producer-friend of his. Being a compete jerk, I wanted to sound important, so I said “Oh, I don’t know if you should. I do have some interest from some good producers here in the States.” Then, rather absently, I added, “What’s your producer-friend’s name?” And he answered “Andrew Lloyd Webber.” When I got off the floor, I said “Yeah. Go ahead and show him the play.”

Two days later I was sitting at home and had just starting the day’s writing, when the phone rang. It was Andrew Lloyd Webber. Honestly. And he said he wanted to produce my play in the West End. Two weeks later I was on a plane for London. And six months later the play opened at the Globe (now the Gielgud) Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue – directed by David Gilmore. Andrew then went on to produce the play in New York (with co-producer Marty Starger).

I’m proud of the fact that Andrew took such an interest in one of my early works; and I’m equally proud of the fact that I paid my dues by working my tail off and writing a number of plays before that.

Generally, Ken writes one new project per year.

“It usually takes me a month to come down from the last project. Then I lock myself in a room and just think for about three months. During this time, I doodle on a legal pad, then start writing bits of dialogue and ideas for plots and themes. Usually, after three or so months, I’m ready to write something that vaguely looks like a play or a libretto, and that takes about a month or two from beginning to end. After that, it’s a matter of rewriting. And the rest of my year is taken up with meeting colleagues about new projects and of course getting involved in new productions around the country and abroad.”

Click here to see if there is an upcoming production near you. From there, you will be able to click through to the appropriate theatre’s website.

All of Ken’s plays are performed frequently by high schools and colleges. Shakespeare in Hollywood, Lend Me A Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer have become staples of high schools and colleges throughout the country as have Midsummer / Jersey, Leading Ladies, The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island.

For licensing information on all of these plays, click here.

Crazy for You, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Sullivan and Gilbert are all musicals and they are all available for production. For licensing information, click here.

Copies of all of Ken’s plays may be obtained through Concord Theatricals at www.concordtheatricals.com or by calling them at (866) 979-0447.

For copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, please contact Music Theatre International at 212-541-4684 or on the web at www.mtishows.com.

For Crazy for You, please contact Concord Theatricals at (866) 979-0447 or www.concordtheatricals.com.

Easy! Just click here, include your message and contact email and Ken will respond a day or two.

Yes. Please send an email through the contact page with details and Ken will respond within a day or two.

Yes, as of 2021, Dear Jack, Dear Louise is available for licensing in most regions. Please contact Concord Theatricals to ensure that this title is available for licensing by your theatre.

Ken has hosted several book talks for How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare. If you have a larger group and would like Ken to speak about the techniques he uses in his book, send us an email through the Contact page and we will respond within a day or two.

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