Richard Kline Takes Long, Not-so-Yellow, Road to 'Wicked'

[Zoneboy]

Richard Kline says his sinister Wizard is much different from the benign bumbler in the classic 1939 film “Wizard of Oz.”


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TAMPA - Richard Kline is surprised when people recognize him as Larry Dallas, the skirt-chasing wannabe playboy from the TV comedy "Three's Company."

"That was 25 years ago and I look nothing like I did when I had that Afro haircut and those 1980s clothes," says Kline, who is in Tampa appearing in "Wicked" at the David A. Straz Performing Arts Center.

He says his sinister Wizard is much different from the benign bumbler in the classic 1939 film "Wizard of Oz."

"He's more complicated and darker," Kline says. "He's a con man who gets in power and wants to control everything."

The musical "Wicked," which debuted in 2003, tells the back story of the friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch and how a corrupt government shaped their lives.

Kline says although there are many references to the 1939 film as well as some of the same characters, "Wicked" is about a government that silences dissent and controls its citizens through fear.

The play debuted in a post-9/11 America with George W. Bush in the White House and seemed to resonate with audiences as a cautionary tale. The book the play is based on was written seven years before 9/11 and the author has said his wizard was inspired by Adolf Hitler.

Kline doesn't play him that evil, though. "It's a musical, and he's not that malevolent," he says.

Kline, 65, lives in New York where he teaches acting classes. He also has extensive stage experience. On Broadway, he has appeared in "November" and "City of Angels," and has appeared on the national tours of "Do I Hear a Waltz?," "Oliver!," "Jake's Women" and others.

His directing debut in 1990 won him the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Award for Noel Coward's "Present Laughter." Since then he has directed for stage and television, including Burt Reynolds, Bruce Davison and Billy Connolly in their respective series. He also does commercial voiceover work.

He has appeared in numerous television shows dating back to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and continuing through "Gilmore Girls," "Judging Amy," "That 70's Show" and "ER."

"But even the youngest cast members will say 'Oh, I saw you on cable last night' because 'Three's Company' is still being shown just about every day somewhere in the world," he says.

For eight seasons, from 1977 to 1984, Kline played the womanizing best friend to John Ritter's Jack Tripper, an aspiring chef who was pretending to be gay so he could share an apartment with two attractive young women. The stuffy landlord wouldn't allow a heterosexual male to live there because he frowned on male-female premartial cohabitation.

"That concept seems so tame now but back then it called 'jiggle TV' because the women were in shorts or short skirts and tight outfits," Kline says. "The critics didn't like us either and there was a religious group that campaigned against us."

The American Family Association claimed the series promoted an immoral lifestyle.

Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Sommers played Jack's sexy roommates Janet and Chrissy. Sommers left the series after five seasons. Although the show had a lot of sexual innuendo and double entendres, there was no sex. "It seems innocence compared with what is on TV today," Kline says.

Kline has fond memories of the cast, especially Ritter, who died in 2003 from heart failure.

"He was nicest, funniest person to work with, and it's a shame he died too young," Kline says.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

Good for him! I hear so many great things about Wicked. Thanks for sharing.

[catlover79]

Very cool!!

[Marvo301]

I'm glad that Richard Kline is still working and finding new characters to play.

[Zoneboy]

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Richard Kline is best known as Jack Tripper’s best friend, Larry Dallas on the classic sit-com “Three’s Company.” He has appeared in over 60 television shows, including “ER,” “NYPD Blue,” and “Mary Tyler Moore.” Now, he’s in Tampa to play the Wizard in the broadway hit Wicked. Today he stopped by Good Day to talk about the show.

[Big3sCompanyFan]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I'm glad that Richard Kline is still working and finding new characters to play.

LOL....it's nothing like the old Larry though.

It give you an idea how difficult it is to make it in Hollywood. Larry was such a popular character on TC and anyone who knows a thing about the show knows who Larry is yet Kline never came close to making it on any other show. Neither did Joyce.

Only Suzanne did with Step by Step. Actually Suzanne may have actually had more success post TC with sitcoms than John did until 8 Simple Rules came along but that didn't last long.

Suzanne certainly didn't deserve it!

[Zoneboy]

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When he was cast as the Wizard in “Wicked,” the Tony Award-winning musical that opened its third engagement at Boston’s Opera House this week, Richard Kline knew he had some hard acts to follow.

“This character has two influences that could lead you astray. The dithering Frank Morgan from the classic movie based on L. Frank Baum’s story ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ or the darker character from Gregory Maguire’s novel,” explained Kline by telephone last week. “I wanted to be very careful to do something that was different with the character. I’m playing the Wizard as a guy who just wants to hold on to power and show that he is in command. His task is to keep everything status quo.”

The Stephen Schwartz musical with book by Winnie Holzman – spinning the Dorothy Gale tale from the witches’ perspective – is loosely based on Maguire’s best-selling “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” Continuing to break box office records in its seventh year on Broadway, on North American tour, and in sit-down companies world-wide, “Wicked” has proven to be anything but status quo, a fact not lost on veteran actor Kline.

“This show’s reputation preceded it, of course, when I got the call to audition. I saw the show twice before going into it, and by the second time, I remember just being completely blown away by it – the caliber of the talent, the costumes, the scenery, and, of course, the music. Even now that I’m in the show, I sometimes stand backstage and listen to ‘Defying Gravity.’”

Lasting appeal is something Kline knows first-hand, having co-starred as Larry Dallas, John Ritter’s (“Jack Tripper”) womanizing best friend on the sitcom “Three’s Company,” from 1977 to 1984, and its spin-offs “The Ropers” (1979-1980) and “Three’s a Crowd” (1984-85). Thanks to syndication and cable networks like Nick at Nite and TV Land, “Three’s Company” has never really gone off the air.

“When we were doing that show, I thought it was great that we got eight seasons of work out of it, but I thought it was over when it ended. I never imagined it would remain popular for as long as it has been. Farce has a life of its own as it turns out. And, in addition to that, I think a lot of the show’s enduring appeal has to do with how much people really enjoy watching good physical comedy that you don’t have to think about too much.”

What Kline, 66, does think about often are his co-stars from the ABC-TV comedy about a carefree bachelor platonically sharing an apartment with two beautiful female friends.

“It may have been called ‘Three’s Company,’ but John Ritter was the show,” says Kline of his friend and former co-star, who died at age 54 of an aortic dissection on Sept. 11, 2003. “We had hung out together so much while we were doing the series that we just kind of drifted apart when it ended. More recently, however, I had gone to see him on Broadway and he had come to see me in a couple of plays and we had resumed our friendship. We took in a ballgame together just a few weeks before John died. I drew so much inspiration from John and his amazing comedy style and I also valued him as a person very much. He is very much missed. These days, Joyce DeWitt (“Janet Wood”), Priscilla Barnes (“Terri Alden”) and I get together occasionally at autograph shows. I adore Joyce and we remain good friends to this day.”

The same cannot be said for Kline’s relationship with the show’s original third room-mate, Suzanne Somers, who famously left her role as dumb blonde Chrissy Snow in the series’ fifth season when her salary demands were not met.

“My thighs are in pretty good shape and I haven’t needed any estrogen replacement lately, so I haven’t had any reason to contact Suzanne,” says Kline of the actress turned TV pitchwoman and self-help author.

“Wicked” will be at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston, through Oct. 17. For tickets and information, visit the box office, call 800-982-2787 or go online at BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston