Alice Duffy made it to Broadway. And if the 84-year-old actress never returns, at least in a professional capacity, she's lived to tell the tale.
Hingham resident Duffy last weekend closed out the Roundabout Theatre Company's New York run of Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," which opened at the American Airlines Theater in January.
She reprised the role of Lady Saltburn from the 2007 Huntington Theatre production in Boston, which also starred leading man Victor Garber and most of the same cast, as well as director Nicholas Martin. Hers has been a well-regarded turn, to say the least, and even the harsher New York critics singled out Duffy's Saltburn as a highlight.
Duffy said neither she nor many of her castmates had banked on "Present Laughter" getting another full run, let alone on Broadway, even though it had been a hit for the Huntington.
Duffy, who's been living with her daughter in midtown Manhattan during the run, says she has no plans to permanently relocate.
She hasn't noticed any big differences in the houses "Present Laughter" played to in Boston versus New York, and she said the audiences were impressively varied in both places. Duffy says the key to the wide appeal goes back to the playwright.
Asked if the play has aged well, Duffy suggested Coward's gift for comic drama was "timeless." She doesn't know yet what her next job will be, but right now she's focused, Duffy said, on ensuring a good end to the run.