Elizabeth the Queen was a 1930 Broadway three-act play written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson, produced by the Theatre Guild, directed by Philip Moeller and with scenic and costume design by Lee Simonson. It ran for 147 performances from November 3, 1930, to March 1931 at the Guild Theatre. The starring roles were played by Lynn Fontanne as Elizabeth and Alfred Lunt as Lord Essex.
It was adapted into a film The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and a television movie, Elizabeth the Queen (1968) directed by George Schaefer and starring Judith Anderson and Charlton Heston.
On radio, it has been adapted four times: for NBC's "Great Plays" program on WJZ (May 7, 1939), with Mady Christians and Wesley Addy; on Matinee Theater (December 17, 1944) with Judith Evelyn and Victor Jory; on The Theatre Guild on the Air (December 2, 1945) with Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt and on Best Plays (November 9, 1952) with Eva Le Gallienne.
Contents
Plot
The play revolves around the turbulent love affair between the aging Queen Elizabeth I of England and her much younger suitor Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who is ambitious for the throne.
Cast
Lynn Fontanne as Elizabeth
Alfred Lunt as Lord Essex
Mab Anthony as Mary
Morris Carnovsky as Francis Bacon
Percy Waram as Sir Walter Raleigh
Robert Conness as Lord Burghley
Arthur Hughes as Sir Robert Cecil
Whitford Kane as Burbage
Phoebe Brand as Ellen
Louise Huntington as a Lady-in-waiting
Annabelle Williams as a Lady-in-waiting
Royal Beal as Marvel
Barry Macollum as the fool
Philip Foster as Captain Armin
Edla Frankau as Tressa
Anita Kerry as Penelope Gray
Edward Oldfield as a captain of the guards
Curtis Arnall as Poins, and as a courtier, a guard and a man-at-arms
Charles Brokaw as a courier and as Heming
Robert Caille as a courtier
John Ellsworth as a man-at-arms
Vincent Sherman as a herald
Multiple roles as Courtiers, Guards, Men-at-arms:
Michael Borodin
James A. Boshell
Thomas Eyre
George Fleming
Perry King
Henry Lase
Guy Moore
Stanley Ruth
Nick Wiger
James Wiley