Faye Gets Fired

Never count Faye Dunaway out.  I thought that her turning up at two consecutive Academy Awards would be the final sad public appearances of this one-time legendary lady.  How wrong I was.  It was announced that she would play Katharine Hepburn in Matthew Lombardo’s Tea at Five…on BROADWAY.  I was skeptical.  So when a pre-Broadway run was announced in my native Boston, I braced myself for the worse.  Prior to opening night, I said in a television interview, “Faye Dunaway playing a legendary film star – what could go wrong?”  My fears were well-founded.  After the Boston run, she was fired in a most embarrassing way.  Rather than say something like “creative differences”, this was the statement: “The producers of Tea at Five announced today that they have terminated their relationship with Faye Dunaway.”  This project was doomed from the start.  At the photo session announcing the play, Dunaway allegedly threw her luncheon salad on the floor.  When she did occasionally show up for rehearsal, she wouldn’t let anyone look at her – including the director and playwright.  She complained if anyone wore white – “because it distracts me”.  More distracting was the fact that she couldn’t remember her lines and had to be prompted via an earpiece.  Best of all, prior to opening night in Boston, Dunaway allegedly had staffers get on their hands and knees and scrub the floor of her dressing room!  The more things change…

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