1983 Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap

1983

In 1983, the play was produced on Broadway under the title Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap. Alternating in the lead role of Tanzi were Deborah Harry (lead singer of the band Blondie) and Caitlin Clarke; the role was double-cast because of the strenuous nature of the wrestling involved. Also appearing in the Broadway production was comedian Andy Kaufman as the referee; Kaufman was attracted to the role because of the wrestling theme. (Kaufman had himself been known for wrestling against women and had claimed to be the world inter-gender wrestling champion, known for his staged match with professional wrestler Jerry Lawler.) Despite the play's previous success in London, though, Teaneck Tanzi closed on Broadway after two performances, matinee and evening .

 

Opening Night Cast

Caitlin Clarke	Teaneck Tanzi	Alternate
Clarence Felder	Tanzi's Dad
Deborah Harry Broadway debut	Teaneck Tanzi	Alternate
Andy Kaufman	The Ref
Zora Rasmussen	Tanzi's Mom
Scott Renderer	Dean Rebel	Alternate
Dana Vance	Platinum Sue
Thomas G. Waites	Dean Rebel	Alternate

Andy Warhol With Cast

Standbys: Cedering Fox (Platinum Sue, Tanzi's Mom, Teaneck Tanzi), Christopher Loomis (Tanzi's Dad, The Ref).

Andy Kaufman and Debbie Harry

From an Interview with Debbie Harry: What can you tell us about your Broadway debut alongside Andy Kaufman in Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap? [Laughs.] Well, it was a very interesting little musical play. At the time, way back in the beginning of the ‘80s, Chris [Stein, co-founder of Blondie] and I were very big wrestling fans and we used to go to the Garden all the time because we had a friend who did all the promotion there and she would get us ringside seats. We had a great time and started going to wrestling many, many years before Cindi [Lauper] starting hanging out with Lou Albano. So then all of a sudden I got this script and I thought it could be really fun. So we did the show for about three weeks in previews, downtown in a nice sort of loft space Off Off-Broadway. And it was great; the audiences were loud and everybody was shouting at the wrestlers just like a real wrestling match. And then they decided they were going to open it on Broadway and it opened and closed almost instantly! So I guess it was a little bit premature for Broadway.

Caitlan Clarke 1983

Caitlan Clarke Bio:

Born

3 May 1952

Died

9 September 2004

Birth Place

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Home Town

Sewickley, Pennsylvania

Parents

Dr. Charles E. Clarke;
Cecilia Clarke († 26 April 2006)

Education

Mt. Holyoke College, B.A., 1974;
Yale School of Drama, M.F.A, 1978.

Caitlin Clarke was born Katherine Anne Clarke in Pittsburgh, the oldest of five sisters, the youngest of whom is Torie Clarke, who was the Pentagon's chief public-relations official in 2001-2003. Her family moved to Sewickley when she was ten, where her parents still lived and worked. Clarke married in December 1980 an Oxford philosophy student who became a professor in Pennsylvania. They divorced in 1985 without children.
Clarke received her B.A. in theater arts from Mount Holyoke College in 1974 and her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama in 1978. During her final year at Yale Clarke performed with the Yale Repertory Theater in such plays as Tales from the Vienna Woods and Christopher Durang's 'Dentity Crisis.
The first few years of Clarke's professional career were largely theatrical, apart from her role in Dragonslayer. After appearing in three Broadway plays in 1985, Clarke moved to Los Angeles for several years as a film and television actress. She returned to theater in the early 1990s, and to Broadway as Charlotte Cardoza in Titanic. During her tenure in Titanic, Clarke taught theater at P.S. 58, New York City, in 1998-9 as part of an initiative by the Broadway Theater Institute.
Clarke was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2000. She returned to Pittsburgh to teach drama at the University of Pittsburgh and in the Studio G program at the Pittsburgh Musical Theater's Rauh Conservatory until her death on September 9, 2004.