Several original cast members of the television series The Love Boat reunited in New York City on Tuesday for the off-Broadway debut of Lady Patriot, a historical drama written and directed by longtime cast member Ted Lange.
Lange, 77, who played Isaac the bartender on the series from 1977 to 1987, was joined at Theater Row’s Theater Five by fellow former cast members Jill Whelan, 58, who portrayed Vicki Stubing, and Fred Grandy, 77, who played Burl “Gopher” Smith. Also in the audience was veteran actor Bernie Kopell, 92, known for his role as Dr. Adam Bricker. Whelan shared photos from the evening on her Instagram Stories and noted that Kopell had flown in to support the production.
Lady Patriot is a fact-based play set in the Confederate White House during the U.S. Civil War that centers on a search for a spy believed to be leaking secrets to the Union. The narrative follows three women who could have been responsible: Varina Davis, the wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis; Union sympathizer Elizabeth Van Lew; and Mary Bowser, a formerly enslaved woman whose espionage activities have been documented in historical accounts.
Lange said he was moved to write the play after reading about Van Lew and discovering the story of Mary Bowser. "I happened upon the contribution of Black slave, Mary Bowser, as a Union spy, [and] I added into the mix the plight of the confederate first lady, Varina Davis. I soon realized I had a story about the patriotism of three different schools of thought," he said in a release about the production. He also said he has enjoyed directing and working with his former Love Boat colleagues. "I delight in working with my Love Boat cast mates, Jill and Fred. We have artistic chemistry and it is fun to see our love of theatre blossom on stage."
Whelan, who stars in the production alongside Grandy, told People in May that collaborating with former co-stars as an adult has been "really special." "We enjoy each other's company and we enjoy each other's intellect — whether we have it or we don't — but we all love each other's sense of humor and we know each other so well. When we work together, there is a shorthand that is super satisfying," she said.
Lady Patriot runs at Theater Row through Sept. 20. The play completes a historical trilogy for Lange, who has written more than two dozen plays since The Love Boat ended. His previous works include Four Queens - No Trump, which received an NAACP award for best play, George Washington's Boy, a fact-based piece about an enslaved valet to the first U.S. president, and The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson, about the lone survivor of the Harper's Ferry raid. Lange also scripted and starred in the 2008 television series Players at the Poker Palace.
The Love Boat originally premiered in 1977 and aired for a decade, mixing romance and comedy aboard a cruise ship. The series received five Emmy nominations and eight Golden Globe nominations during its run and won a People's Choice Award in 1978. Cast members have periodically reunited for special events in the decades since the series ended.
Lange, Whelan, Grandy and Kopell are scheduled to reunite again this November for Princess Cruises' Love Boat Celebration. The themed cruise will depart from Galveston, Texas, and make multiple calls in Mexico during a weeklong voyage that will feature appearances by former series cast members and related events for fans.
Attendees at Tuesday night's opening included members of the Lady Patriot cast such as Josie DiVincenzo, Count Stovall, Derek Emerson Powell, Gordon Goodman and Chrystee Pharris, among others. The production's focus on an often-overlooked trio of historical figures and its use of former television colleagues on stage pointed to both Lange's ongoing interest in historical drama and the enduring camaraderie among the actors who helped make The Love Boat a pop-culture fixture.