BUCKLEY AND MARILYN

NEW YORK -- MARILYN'S SECOND CHANCE, a one-person play by Willard Manus, publisher of Lively-Arts.com, will have its East Coast premiere on Nov. 4 & 5. The play will be performed on a bill with another one-person show, LORD BUCKLEY, at the Richmond Shepard Theatre, 309 East 26th St at Second Avenue. The umbrella title of the production is BUCKLEY AND MARILYN.

MARILYN'S SECOND CHANCE, a 70-minute monologue acted by Leslie E. Hughes, explores this hypothetical question: what if Marilyn Monroe had survived, living for years in obscurity, only to decide to audition for the lead role in Tennesee Williams' Orpheus Descending on Broadway. What would she make of this second chance in life, as a person and as an actress?

MARILYN'S SECOND CHANCE had its world premiere in Los Angeles and was called "an unforgettable theatrical experience" by "Entertainment Today." Another L.A, critic had this to say about the play: "Trespassing in deliciously forbidden territory, Marilyn takes luxurious hindsight measure of lost lovers, dead mentors, those who tormented her soul and those who called themselves her friend. It's a richly satisfying visit, in the karmic midnight time, with a lady who did too much living in too short a life. Beautifully written, beautifully lived. Try not to miss this elegant 70-minute play."

LORD BUCKLEY, America's legendary hip comedian, jazz storyteller, semanticist and sometime philosopher, died of old age in 1960 at the age of 54. Richmond Shepard, who worked with Buckley at The Club Renaissance in L.A. in 1958 and knew him during his final two years, will perform several of his hip classics.

309 East 26th St, Tickets are $18; seniors/students, $12. 8pm curtain. Call 212-684-2690.