Hal Linden to Star in Production of Love Letters

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

October 11, 2006

The Paramount is announcing that Hal Linden, star of stage and screen known for portraying the title role on TV’s Barney Miller, will be starring opposite Barbara Eden in the theater’s December 2 production of Love Letters.   Linden replaces Larry Hagman, who was previously announced in the role. 

Actor, singer, and musician, Hal Linden has earned three Emmys as well as Broadway’s highest accolade, the Tony, for his lead role in The Rothschilds.  The versatile star easily shifts from roles in film and television to projects for the legitimate stage and performances in the world’s finest nightclubs. 

His television credits besides Barney Miller have included Law and Order, Come To Papa, and Jack’s Place.  During the last few years, Linden has appeared in the Broadway productions of Cabaret, The Gathering, and The Sisters Rosensweig.  In addition, Linden has played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden, starred with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Out To Sea, transformed into a cantankerous octogenarian in I’m Not Rappaport for 44 weeks on Broadway, and completed a nine-city tour of Man Of La Mancha.

A.R. Gurney’s unique theatre piece Love Letters follows the correspondence exchanged over a lifetime between Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, childhood friends born to wealth and position who go their separate ways and continue to share confidences. Linden will play Andrew to Barbara Eden’s Melissa in this tale of a couple physically apart, but spiritually as close as only true lovers can be.  As the evocative, touching, and frequently funny letters are read aloud, it becomes clear that what is implied is as revealing and meaningful as what is actually written down. 

Tickets and further information about Love Letters is available online or through the theater’s box office at 434.979.1333.