Love her, but Lucie looks too young to play Berthe

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:56pm

I'm sure she'll be great, but she looks exceedingly healthy in the pictures I've seen.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 1:07pm

Have you seen her without make-up?

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 1:23pm

I'd imagine that is why her Berthe wig is grey as opposed to the auburn worn by all of the other Berthes in this production.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:17pm

I think Annie Potts looks pretty young and healthy too on stage.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:32pm

I agree about Annie Potts, and for that matter Andrea Martin. Irene Ryan truly looked like a little old lady in the original, while every revival Berthe has been in-shape middle aged.

I guess the trade-off is that you get all the surprises during No Time at All the an actual old-timer couldn't pull off.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:46pm

Andrea Martin was 66 when she was in it last year. 67 now. She just looks really good.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:48pm

You do realize that they changed the image of the character for the production? (And that, as Andrea Martin herself puts it, "66 NOW is very different from 66 back then". (Ms. Martin was 66 when she played it. If the rumors are to be believed, Rhea Pearlman could be coming in and she would be 66 when she played it, too.) The ladies in the role have been in their 60s. And I agree with Ms. Martin's statement that 66 is not what it was-people are living longer and are more active. (You should check out audios/interviews of Ms. Martin talking about this.)

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:55pm

It's worth noting that, however she looked, Ryan had just barely turned 70 when she opened in the show.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 5:18pm

Changing the "image" of a character can only accomplish so much when their song is about being old!

"When you are as old as I, my dear
And I hope that you never are"
and
"Or a succulent pear if with each juicy bite
You spit out your teeth with the seeds?"
and
"Give me a night that's romantic and long
And give me a month to get ready
Now I could waylay some aging roue
And persuade him to play in some cranny
But it's hard to believe I'm being led astray
By a man who calls me granny"

She's OLD!

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 5:25pm

There was a similar issue with the Beverly Hillbillies movie. The funny thing about Granny is that she looked old but would hop around very spry. Irene Ryan played it to the hilt.

When Cloris Leachman played it in the '90s she did not year look like an "old lady" so it was rather lame.

[beaemma]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 6:26pm

In the current production, after singing the lyric about "feeling broken and bent and unwell," she's doing gymnastics on a trapeze. I sat there wondering if this was a dream sequence or just an assumption that the audience wouldn't be listening to the lyrics. It's entertaining, but it doesn't make much sense for the song.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 8:19pm

^ That sequence is meant to be her reminiscing and flashing back to what she used to be able to do. She still feels young in her mind, despite her physical age. It gives a deliberate ironic twist to the lyrics you mention.

Updated On: 9/23/14 at 08:19 PM

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 8:25pm

I think it's great that she will be performing the role during the LA tour run since Andrea Martin is taking over. Instead of LA she'll be doing BROADWAY! Congrats. I kind of wanted to see her though. But I can't be greedy haha

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:07am

"That sequence is meant to be her reminiscing and flashing back..."
Who told you that?

The song is about being old but young at heart, about passing on advice and enjoying life at any age. But don't waste your youth, have fun, experiment.

The trapeze bit is just another attempt to have the audience go "ooooh"
It really has nothing to do with the song at all.

[Brick]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:16am

How dull can some of you be?

The trapeze act in Berthe's song not only has something to do with the song - truly, don't pull Diane Paulus down to your level of stupidity - whether you get it, or like it, or not.

Whether it's Berthe reminiscing or even demonstrating even she's not quite done is certainly open to interpretation. But either would make sense, and add greater dimension to the song, like this production does in many cases.

I have my quibbles with this production, mainly in the choreography, but it's conceptual understanding and interpretation of the material is astounding; it's truly Paulus' great strength, along with being a tried and true showman.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:23am

Brick-Thank you! I have been trying to say that (the only thing I'd tell you to add is that for "No Time at All" Andrea Martin collaborated with both Diane Paulus and Gypsy Snider to create the finished product. She has said how she wanted the song to not be about giving up on life but living it. I almost think the last verse is for BOTH of them now).

I think the trapeze act is a fantastic addition and think the reinterpretation of the piece is aligned with the rest of the production.

[brdway411]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:35am

HERE it is in Black and White About Andrea Martin and how the role was developed.

It is more than 144 characters long so some may not be able to follow.


Andrea Martin talks with Playbill about Bertha and the creation of the part Updated On: 9/24/14 at 11:35 AM

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:58am

And I don't agree. And I'm not an idiot.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 12:07pm

"That sequence is meant to be her reminiscing and flashing back to what she used to be able to do."

Maybe there should be a program note, or better yet, an announcement. Because I certainly didn't take that away. I just thought that Berthe was quite spry and fit (despite the lyrics) and kept a company of circus performers on her country estate, just to play with.

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 1:39pm

Isn't that why they invented make- up?

[darreyl102]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 2:12pm

@ GoSmileLaughCryClap - Bertha states her age in the show as 66. All who have played her were VERY close to that age, some were just a few years younger.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 2:50pm

darreyl102,your avatar makes exactly the point about age in 1972 vs. 2014. It really is strange to think that little gray haired Irene Ryan was selling herself as "old" at the age of 66 (well the lyric says 66 but she was 70) and people accepted that as elderly.

Forty years of changing habits and an almost universal use of plastic surgery among actors have exempted all but the most elderly celebrities from reading old.

For someone today to play Berthe the way Ryan did, you would need someone like Betty White - in her late 80s.

As it is we have 5'10" Lucie with guns that look like she just finished a workout at Gold's Gym.

With all due respect, casting like this for Berthe is like casting Kelly O'Hara as Fosca.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 3:06pm

Does this mean she is not playing the role in Orange County?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 3:16pm

On a side note, think how old 66 would have been in the Middle Ages!

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 3:21pm

In the Middle Ages she'd have been 33.