Good Theater delivers a tribute to the Golden Age of Broadway with the New England premiere of A.R. Gurney’s “The Grand Manner.”

The play takes a real-life event from the playwright’s past and toys with the idea of “What if?” Gurney did have the pleasure of meeting legendary stage actress Katharine “Kit” Cornell in 1948, after seeing her perform in “Antony and Cleopatra.” They did talk about their hometown, Buffalo, N.Y., and she did sign his program.

What lasted a matter of minutes in reality unfolds on stage in a one-act play that nostalgically recalls a bygone era when Marlon Brando was an up-and-coming young thespian and actors “learned how to act in the grand manner.”

Good Theater has cast a power trio of actors to portray the play’s three renowned theater personalities. Denise Poirier, Maureen Butler and Tony Reilly are Cornell, Gertrude “Gert” Macy and Guthrie McClintic. Tristan Rolfe also stars as Gurney’s reimagined younger self, “Pete.”

Cornell and her director husband, McClintic, were larger-than-life characters in Broadway history. She was a lesbian, and he was gay. After marrying, they formed their own production company, M.C. & C Company, and McClintic directed every play that Cornell starred in.

Director Brian P. Allen has chosen well in casting Poirier and Reilly as the acclaimed couple. Both have an epic quality to how they perform, with unforgettable voices and grand gestures. They command the stage whenever they are on it.

Butler is also well cast as Macy, Cornell’s “great and good friend.” Macy was not only Cornell’s assistant, but also her true love. Butler has an inherent ability to become the character she is portraying, adopting both the mannerisms and attitude.

As the playwright personified, Rolfe allows the audience to glimpse the heyday of Broadway, when theaters still lined the “Great White Way” and actors were akin to royalty.

“The Grand Manner” is a play that Allen holds near and dear to his heart. In a way, he was Pete in his own past. As a young man in the 1980s, Allen worked with Victoria Crandall, who founded Maine State Music Theatre.

Crandall would regale Allen with tales of her life in the Broadway scene of the 1940s and 1950s, working with stars such as Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Lerner & Lowe and Bob Fosse. A piece of this history plays out on the Good Theater stage in “Grand Manner.”

April Boyle is a freelance writer from Casco. She can be contacted at:

aprilhboyle@yahoo.com

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