Kevin Kline says farce looks easy but it's certainly not

NEW YORK (AP) — At a press event celebrating his return to Broadway, Kevin Kline wanted to be crystal clear on one topic:

Kline is starring in "Present Laughter," Noel Coward's 1939 farce about an egomaniacal matinee idol in the midst of personal turmoil.

Kline, 69, plays Garry Essendine, an aging star who can't answer the door without first checking his hair in a mirror.

The character is planning a trip to Africa but is interrupted by a love-struck ingenue, a producer, his estranged wife and crazed young playwright.

Described by the playwright himself as "a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics," the play has now been revived five times on Broadway and many times in London, starring Ian McKellen, Albert Finney, Frank Langella, Victor Garber and Coward himself.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel, who earned a Tony nomination directing "Hand to God," said the Coward play is timely despite being 78 years old.