Betsy Aidem News

Marguerite Oswald was domineering, obsessive and desperate in her need to be loved by her younger son, Lee Harvey. A chilling glimpse into the Oswald household before and after that fateful November morning in Dallas.  This New York metro area premiere was called "a gripping family drama that illuminates history by adding a touch of humanity' by The Press Herald.

Broadwayworld.com interviewed Betsy Aidem who will play Marguerite Oswald in George Street Playhouse's production of 'Mama's Boy.' The play is directed by the Playhouse's Producing Artistic Director, David Saint and will be on the New Brunswick stage from 10/18 to 11/6.

George Street Playhouse today announced the cast of Rob Urbinati's Mama's Boy, which runs October 18 through November 6 at the New Brunswick theatre. Betsy Aidem (Broadway's All the Way, GSP's God of Carnage) stars as Marguerite Oswald, the headstrong mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, played by Michael Goldsmith (TV's Doctor Who, Gotham). 

Perhaps most important, 20th Century Blues (notwithstanding its title) addresses, from the inside and the outside, the universal experience of aging, an experience common to all times and places.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Boston, Sacramento, Los Angeles and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include THE MUSIC MAN at Cape Playhouse, SEUSSICAL at California Music Circus, and GREY GARDENS in Los Angeles, just to name a few.

A show about older women celebrating and commiserating aging has been done countless times in entertainment, from Steel Magnolias on stage to The Golden Girls on television. However, 20th Century Blues, a world premiere play at the Contemporary American Theater Festival written by Susan Miller and directed by Ed Herendeen, breaks the mold when it comes to the female ensemble dramedy.

The theatrical scene continued to be lively in Maine this year, with the Portland-area theatres presenting a number of stunning world premieres and the musical theatre scene gloriously vibrant. These are my personal choices of the best in Maine, grouped by theatre company and show: Because their repertoires are so vastly different, and because both companies produced outstanding seasons, my vote for highest honors goes to both Maine State Music Theatre and the Good Theater.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Connecticut, Omaha, South Africa, and more. Check out our top 10 spooky stories around our Broadway World below, which include DISGRADED in Connecticut, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE in Omaha, and SWEENEY TOOD in South Africa, just to name a few.

In mounting the world premiere of Rob Urbinati's new play, Mama's Boy, Good Theater's Artistic Director Brian P. Allen has given Maine a great gift - one of the company's finest productions - some two hours of searing psychological drama, tautly directed and brought to life by a stellar cast. Urbinati's (Death by Design, Hazelwood) two-act play explores the complex, emotionally wrought family dynamics of Lee Harvey Oswald, his mother Marguerite, his wife Marina, and his brother Robert in the time just prior to and just after the Kennedy assassination. Though the play is rooted in history and evokes indelible memories in the communal consciousness, it is less about the tragic events of 1963 and more about the personal relationships of four damaged individuals desperately seeking some connection and meaning. At the epicenter of this dysfunctional family is Marguerite Oswald, thrice married single parent to three estranged sons, a fierce and tender woman who is sees herself as victim and survivor, a woman whose own emotional demands continue to cripple her children. Returning from his defection to Russia, Lee Harvey brings with him his bewildered young wife Marina and their first child, and Urbinati examines Lee Harvey's troubled year before November 22, 1963 as he struggles to support himself and his family, find an ideology, and take hold of his manhood by freeing himself from his mother. The playwright effectively probes Lee Harvey Oswald's increasing instability, as well as his conflicts with Marina and Marguerite. Though the play offers no answers to the many riddles of the JFK assassination, it does challenge the audience to view the characters as human beings and to realize that the dreadful events at Dealey Plaza claimed the Oswald family among its victims, as well as the beloved President, his family, and a grieving nation.

Good Theater will offer two talk-back sessions with the playwright, Rob Urbinati, of MAMA'S BOY on Friday evening November 6, and Saturday afternoon November 7. These talk-back sessions are open to all patrons.  The Friday night session will begin at 9:40 immediately following the conclusion of the 7:30 performance of MAMA'S BOY.  The Saturday afternoon session will begin at 5:10 following the 3:00 matinee.

Some images are seared into the communal consciousness forever. The tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy and its tumultuous aftermath are just such indelibly tragic events which haunt memory. Playwright Rob Urbinati, whose new work Mama's Boy will receive its world premiere at Portland's Good Theater on October 29, 2015, was six years old in November 1963 and recalls seeing Lee Harvey Oswald murdered on television. It was an image which would resurface in his writing decades later. Urbinati's new play focuses on Marguerite Oswald, her two sons Lee Harvey and Robert, and Lee's wife Marina in the year prior to the assassination and in the days after, offering an unusual prism on the events through the eyes of Marguerite. The play, however, is not really an historical drama, but rather a domestic drama in which Urbinati, Actress Betsy Aidem, and Good Artistic Director Brian P. Allen have tried to imagine the family context from which the Oswald phenomenon emerged.

Good Theater is proud to present the world premiere of MAMA'S BOY, an exciting new play from Rob Urbinati the author of Death by Design. Broadway veteran, Betsy Aidem, plays Marguerite Oswald with Graham (The Rainmaker) Emmons as Lee Harvey Oswald, Laurel (The Rainmaker) Casillo as Marina Oswald and Erik (4000 Miles) Moody as Robert Oswald in this fascinating look at the mother and the family behind an event that changed the course of history. The show will open October 28 for a run through November 22.

Good Theater is proud to present the world premiere of MAMA'S BOY, an exciting new play from Rob Urbinati the author of Death by Design.  Broadway veteran, Betsy Aidem, plays Marguerite Oswald with Graham (The Rainmaker) Emmons as Lee Harvey Oswald, Laurel (The Rainmaker) Casillo as Marina Oswald and Erik (4000 Miles) Moody as Robert Oswald in this fascinating look at the mother and the family behind an event that changed the course of history.  The show will open October 28 for a run through November 22.

Good Theater, the professional theater company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, kicks off its 14th season tonight, September 23, with the original musical revue, NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ. This show is a tribute to Mary Martin and Ethel Merman starring three singers: Marie Dittmer, Lynne McGhee and Jen Means.

For tickets visit www.sweetchaostheater.org or call the Symphony Space box office at 212-864-5400. Proceeds from the event will fund home libraries for families living in low-income housing communities in Harlem in association with LitWorld.

Good Theater, the professional theater company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, kicks off its 14th season on September 23 with the original musical revue, NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ.  This show is a tribute to Mary Martin and Ethel Merman starring three singers:  Marie Dittmer, Lynne McGhee and Jen Means.

The Public Theater presents Cymbeline, the second show of The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte. Directed by Tony Award winnerDaniel Sullivan and featuring the previously announced Hamish Linklater as Posthumus Leonatus/Cloten and Lily Rabe as Imogen, Cymbeline runs through Sunday, August 23, and opened last night, August 10. The Public began the Free Shakespeare in the Park season with THE TEMPEST.

Bryan Cranston will be stepping back into his presidential garb in the near future.

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU just opened last night, September 28, 2014, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street), after 32 previews. The production is directed by six-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award winnerScott Ellis (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Twelve Angry Men, 1776) and will play a 19-week limited engagement. BroadwayWorld was there for the special evening and below, you can check out photos from the star-studded red carpet!

In honor of All the Way's closing, Robert Petkoff took photos of the company on on instant film with a Polaroid 250 Land Camera- a fitting tribute to the historical play which takes place in the 1960s. All the Way takes audiences behind the doors of the Oval Office and inside the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency and his fight to pass a landmark civil rights bill. Check below to see the portraits!