Ego Trip to Bountiful

The National Actors Theatre may have started as a personal vehicle for Tony Randall, but it is showing signs of improvement

When Britain created a national theater, it turned to Laurence Olivier. If the American stage had set out to form a national troupe, it almost surely would not have turned to Tony Randall. And it certainly would not have expected him to direct Ibsen or to cast himself repeatedly in romantic leads decades younger than he is. At the dawning of his grandiosely named National Actors Theatre, Randall recalled last week, New York Times critic Frank Rich characterized the venture as a TV actor's ego trip.

After two seasons and six productions -- one laudable, two passable, three catastrophic -- it...

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