36 May 2 • 2019
jn

R

ichard Kline, best known as the 
neighbor Larry in the 1970s and 
’
80s sitcom Three’
s 
Company, is starring as the 
owner of Joe’
s Diner in the 
musical Waitress, playing 
at the Fisher Theater from 
May 7-19. 
“I had to learn a slight 
Southern accent for 
the role, and I am from 
Queens, New York,
” says 
Kline, who joined the road 
company last December. 
“The show is set in a small town in the 
American South.
”
Waitress, based on the 2007 film writ-

ten by Adrienne Shelly (see sidebar), 
tells the story of Jenna, a waitress and 
skilled pie-maker trapped 
in an abusive marriage. 
She finds herself pregnant 
and dreams of a way out. 
A baking contest nearby 
offers her a chance to move 
away and rebuild her life. 
Joe provides encourage-
ment for a new beginning.
“In the show, I am Jenna’
s 
support and I can easily 
relate to that because I have 
a daughter myself,
” says Kline, whose 
daughter is 35. “For me, the fatherly 
instinct is easy to portray.
”

Kline’
s five decades of acting began 
after earning an undergraduate degree 
from Queens College in New York, an 
MFA in theater from Northwestern 
University and serving three years in the 
military, including two years in Vietnam. 
He acted in college and graduate school 
but made his professional debut in the 
Lincoln Center Repertory Company in 
1971. He went on to perform in regional 
theater and made his Broadway debut 
in the show City of Angels in 1990. He 
was in the national touring company of 
Wicked and stood by for Nathan Lane in 
a show called November. He also starred 
in the one-man show Boychik Off-
Broadway.
Among his more than 75 television 
credits are Gilmore Girls, Judging Amy, 
That ’
70s Show, NYPD Blue, LA Law, 
Mary Tyler Moore, Maude and The 
Americans. He’
s been seen in almost a 
dozen films including Barry Levinson’
s 
Liberty Heights. He also directed Noel 
Coward’
s Present Laughter in Los 
Angeles, where he won the L.A. Drama 
Critics Circle Award for Best Direction.
He became part of sitcom history 
when he landed the role of Larry Dallas, 
Jack’
s friend and smarmy upstairs 
neighbor on Three’
s Company. “It was 
a dream working on that show,
” says 
Kline, who keeps in touch with co-stars 
Joyce DeWitt and Pricilla Barnes. “I 
started in a one-shot guest appearance as 
the upstairs neighbor. I guess they saw 
chemistry between John (Ritter) and 
myself because that led to a five-year 
deal — and a few years after that. It was 
truly like a family. John led the parade 
with his humor and graciousness, and it 
rubbed off on everyone. It was a terrible 
loss when he passed away.
” 

EARLY YEARS
Kline, who grew up in a Reform Jewish 
home, attributes his desire to become 
an actor to his family. “My sister is three 
years older than me and she studied 
ballet. Seeing her dance made me want 
to perform,
” Kline says. “My father 
had wanted to be an actor during the 
Depression, but he had to help out the 
family and instead became a tradesman. 
My mother was a bookkeeper with a 
beautiful voice. They both loved the arts 
and that had a big influence.
” 
Born and raised in New York City, 
Kline moved to Los Angeles in 1976. In 
2005, he moved back East and, about 
seven years ago, began teaching a drop-

in acting class in Manhattan. 
Kline says he’
s looking forward to 
coming to Detroit. “It’
s one of the plac-
es we will be stopping for more than a 
week — it’
s a two-week run,
” he says. “I 
am hoping to explore Detroit and even 
go up to Ann Arbor and visit my friend 
Vincent Cardinal, chair of the musical 
theater department at the University of 
Michigan.
”
Meanwhile, Kline hopes when the 
audience walks out of the theater, they 
will be uplifted. “There are a lot of peo-
ple who were or are in a bad relationship 
and can relate to Jenna,
” he says. “But 
the show has a happy ending. Here is 
a girl who breaks free from an abu-
sive, unhappy marriage — and it’
s 
very empowering. It’
s all about female 
power, and that’
s a good thing.” ■

Uplifting Musical 

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS. 

Waitress star Richard Kline embraces 
the message of female empowerment. 

Adrienne Shelly’
s 
Legacy

Waitress, the Broadway musical, was 
inspired by the movie written, directed 
and starring Adrienne Shelly, whose 
birth name was Adrienne Levine. Raised 
on Long Island, N.Y., her father, Sheldon 
“Shelly” Levine, passed 
away when she was 
young and, as a tribute 
to him, she took his 
first name as her stage 
surname. 
Sadly, Adrienne was 
brutally murdered Nov. 
1, 2006, by a 19-year-
old undocumented Ecuadorean con-
struction worker working in the same 
building as her Greenwich Village office. 
She was survived by her husband, Andy 
Ostroy, and her then 2-year-old daugh-
ter, Sophie. 
Ostroy established the Adrienne 
Shelly Foundation, which awards schol-
arships, production grants, finishing 
funds and living stipends to artists. 
In her honor, the Women Film Critics 
Circle gives an annual Adrienne Shelly 
Award to the film that it finds “most 
passionately opposes violence against 
women.”
The movie Waitress, which also 
starred Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines and 
Nathan Fillion, was released posthu-
mously in 2007. The musical Waitress 
officially opened on Broadway April 
24, 2016. It starred Jesse Mueller with 
music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles.

Adrienne Shelly

details 

Waitress is at the 
Fisher Theater, Detroit. 
For tickets, call (800) 
982-2787 or go to 
broadwaydetroit.com 
or ticketmaster.com. 
Prices start at $39. 

Christine Dwyer and 
Richard Kline in a scene 
from Waitress

SCOTT MARTINEZ

ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION

theater
arts&life

