Phil Rosenthal is Coming with his Comedy Writers to Give an Inside Look into “Everybody Loves Raymond” at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Saturday, March 10th at 8pm

Ridgefield, CT, February 28, 2007 --(PR.com)-- It was a long-running American sitcom on CBS from 1996 to 2005 that revolved around the life of Italian-American Ray Barone, a newspaper sportswriter from Lynbrook, Long Island who lived with his family and across the street from his brash parents and jealous self-doubting brother who never gave Ray or his family a moment of peace.  

“It” was “Everybody Loves Raymond” and one of its creators, Phil Rosenthal, will be coming to the Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m.  He will be bringing with him some other masters of comedy, Tom Caltabiano, Lew Schneider and Aaron Shure, who were writers on the sitcom, as well as actress Monica Horan who played Amy Barone on the show (and happens to be Rosenthal’s wife).  They will all be performing an unusual hybrid of stand-up comedy and multimedia show taking you behind the scenes of this beloved show as part of the Bruce Bennett Nissan Comedy Series. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to The Playhouse’s Arts for Everyone Program, which provides Playhouse tickets to children and their families in low-income areas.

The credits of the show are astounding; 89 Emmy nominations, 15 wins; People’s Choice Award winner for Outstanding Comedy and on and on.  Now audiences not only get a glimpse into the comedic genius that made the show so successful- but will also be able to ask questions of its creators and writers as there will be a Q&A after the show.

According to a recent story in the New York Times, Phil Rosenthal, who is 46, has a speaking cadence (and even a writing cadence in his book) that makes every sentence sound like a punch line from a borscht belt comic. But, that is not where he got that timing—his came from watching the classic sitcoms like “The Honeymooners” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” He has acted—in summer stock and in “Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding”—and written for other sitcoms. It was with “Coach” that the door opened to “Raymond,” only because he and Ray Romano hit it off immediately, largely because their families—one Italian, one Jewish—had so much in common.

“I had confidence in that what we were doing was my material,” Mr. Rosenthal explains. “I was writing about my family.” Of course, sometimes that could get a bit dicey, he acknowledges. His wife, Monica Horan (who played Amy, who married Ray’s brother Robert on the show), became sensitive to the fact that every squabble might end up as material. Her retort to him was often “You’re lucky you’re funny,” which, quite naturally, ended up as his book’s title.

For tickets ($40) and further information about The Ridgefield Playhouse, call the box office at 203-438-5795; tickets may also be purchased online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Playhouse is at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

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