"Lone Star" ends without Randy Quaid

"Lone Star Love," a musical that scratched its Broadway plans after receiving a mixed reception here, spent its final week at the 5th Avenue Theatre without its star, Randy Quaid.

Beginning last Tuesday night, a day after the show's Broadway run was canceled, 5th Avenue producing artistic director David Armstrong made a preshow speech to patrons explaining Quaid was ill and his understudy, Tony Lawson, would play Falstaff in the musical comedy version of Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

Quaid "had a doctor call us every day, to verify that he was sick," says Armstrong, who did not specify the nature of the noted actor's illness. "We offered everyone in the audience a chance to contact the box office, and exchange their tickets for seats to another of our shows. Very few people did that."

Armstrong acknowledges he also took the unusual, somewhat surprising step of making some remarks critical of Quaid at last Sunday's matinee of "Lone Star Love," the show's final performance here.

"I wanted to acknowledge the [rest of the] company, who were a class act," reports Armstrong. "They worked very hard under very, very difficult conditions ... I explained that in most cases, pre-Broadway runs help the show's creators assess whether the book, music or lyrics need work."

In this case, Armstrong says he told the audience, "what we really needed was a different star — not due to a lack of talent, but someone with a different personality and sense of professionalism."

Talk of backstage conflict was rampant during the three-week Seattle run of "Lone Star Love." The New York Post reported Quaid and his manager wife, Evi, battled producers over many aspects of the musical, which the Quaids wanted to be darker and raunchier. "Quite frankly, we did want to take it in a more surreal direction," Evi Quaid told The Post. "This is Shakespeare. It's not supposed to be whitewashed. It's not supposed to be 'The Little Mermaid,' which is where Broadway seems to be going."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com