Diary of a Scoundrel
Comedy in two acts, adapted by Rodney Ackland from Alexander Ostrovsky's Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man
Gloumov, a young man of meager means and abundant imagination, sets out to con his way into the inner circle of Moscow society. He does this by pampering the various egos that comprise that circle.
Performances
| Phoenix Theatre off-Broadway | New York, NY | Nov. 5 to 25, 1956 (24 performances) |
Cast (In Order of Appearance)
Madame Glafira Gloumova ........... Ruth McDevitt Styopka ........................... Jerry Stiller Yegor Gloumov .................... Roddy McDowall Vassily Kourchaev ................... Bert Remsen Golutvin ............................. John Reese Madame Babakina ................. Josephine Brown Mamaev's Servant ..................... Peter Falk Neel Fedoseitch Mamaev .......... Howard da Silva General Anton Kroutitsky ............ Mike Kellin Madame Kleopatra Mamaeva ...... Margaret Hamilton Ivan Gorodoulin ..................... Robert Culp Matriosha ............................ Dee Victor Lubinka ............................ Doro Merande Madame Sofia Tourousina ........... Blanche Yurka Mashenka ............................ Zohra Alton Grigori ............................ Jerry Morris Poodle .............................. Lorelei Lee Pilgrim ........................... Eugene Firsow
Production
Directed by Alan CookeScenery and lighting by Klaus Holm
Costumes by Alvin Colt
Production stage manager: Carl Fisher
In the central role of the opportunistic scoundrel who plays on these poor fools as a means of rising in the world, it had the likeable Roddy McDowall. Perhaps the proximity of this assignment to his lengthy tenure as Ben Whitledge in No Time For Sergeants had something to do with his playing Gloumov as a remarkably open-faced fellow who would hardly deceive a steady patron of a bingo game. Well, he might fool this assemblage, at that -- and at least this was not another error in the direction of mere parody.
— Theatre Arts (January 1957)