What roles Angela Lansbury could still play on stage?

[Will42]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 8:29am

I’ve read an interview where Ms. Lansbury said that she would’ve love to do a straight play, something challenging like Red and that she still could play women in their 60’s.

There is no question that it’s a great honor and blessing for all of us that Ms. Lansbury is still willing and able to perform 8 times a week and by any standards her Madame Arcati and Madame Armfeldt were great achievements, but her role of Mrs. Gamadge in The Best Man is rather small and doesn’t sound that challenging to be honest.

Is it because she’s simply not getting better offers or it’s just that at her age she prefers to be a part of a large ensemble and not to carry the show on her own and anything else would be too much to ask?
I don’t know if it’s true, but apparently she turned the part of Mother Superior that eventually went to a 50 years-old Victoria Clark.

Personally I would love to see Lansbury in something like August: Osage County or Other Desert Cities.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 9:51am

VIOLET WESTON! If only she would've been given the film!

Countess Aurelia in MADWOMAN, which she's already won a tony for playing in the musical version.

Of course there are a great many old women in plays: MORNING'S AT SEVEN, THE GIN GAME, ON GOLDEN POND, HECUBA, MISS DAISY, etc, etc, etc.

And of course THREE TALL WOMEN!





Updated On: 2/18/12 at 09:51 AM

[random person 112]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 9:58am

She was my first choice for the movie too henrik.

[Will42]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 10:13am

Considering that Lansbury has made only 2 live-action films in 27 (!) years I wish she was given at least one film role Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench or Vanessa Redgrave are getting all the time, so I can’t even dream of her getting a film role over Meryl Streep.
I honestly don’t get why the studios and film casting directors ignoring her, especially considering that Lansbury has expressed many times that she want to play ‘’at least one great film role’’.

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 10:33am

Maybe she can play Gavroche in the movie version of Les Miserables.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 12:16pm

He laughs at me, Madbrian
Just because I am old
He laughs at me, Madbrian
As if I'm dead and cold

So don't believe a word he says
'Cause none of it's true
This only goes to show
What ancient people can do!

And ancient people know
When ancient people act
We may look easy pickings
But we've got impact
So never kick gande dames
Because we still wear a cloche
We'll act like twenty Fannings
As I told Nina Foch -
I only wish she'd lived
To see me play Gavroche!




Updated On: 2/18/12 at 12:16 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 12:23pm

Lady Bracknell.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 12:36pm

I seem to remember someone here posting that she did not want to carry any show on shoulders at this poiint in her life.


I don't think she can carry off 60 on film/tv anymore -- stage, certainly.

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 12:50pm

Is she too old to play Jack's Mother in the Into the Woods film? She'd be fantastic, but I'm afraid she'd look more like his grandmother.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:17pm

The Dowager Empress in ANASTASIA.
(Has she played that?)

[Will42]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:38pm

Yes, she did, in the 1997 animated film.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:38pm

Claire Zachanassian in The Visit

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:38pm

Claire Zachanassian in The Visit

[Will42]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:52pm

The musical adaptation of the play was originally developed by Terrence McNally as a vehicle for Angela Lansbury and was scheduled for a Broadway opening on March 15, 2001; but she had to withdraw due to the illness of her late husband Peter Shaw. For the same reason she had also withdraw from David Copperfield (replaced by Dame Maggie Smith) and Tea with Mussolini (replaced by Dame Joan Plowright).

[random person 112]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 2:55pm

In the animated movie version yes. As for what some have been saying about dames, judi and maggie. You have to rember in england the theater is very revered, much more so than america were Lansbury did a majority of her stage work. They also continued to make movies while they doing theater. (At least for Maggie.) Judi also did a lot of stage work but she also made sure to appear in films every now and again, as she's aged she's had the ability and good fortune to go into films. Lansbury largely left films in the 60's for theater, and went into television in the eighties and 90's. Tv has a very demanding schedule for filming, so she had less time for movies or the stage. Shortly after murder she wrote her husband became ill and Angela sacrificed some wonderful roles to help him through his illness till his death. As for film career she never had a film where she was really the lead role, she had good supporting roles. When the aforementioned ladies had roles, most of them were leads or got big leading roles in at least one project. All Lansbury can claim as a well known showcase movie is the manchurian canidate, those ladies can claim even some recent films and in some cases there just younger and are easier to insure.


Updated On: 2/18/12 at 02:55 PM

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 3:43pm

Of course, Angela has already played Claire Zachanasian on Broadway. I saw her in the straight play directed by Hal Prince-- in 1973. Sadly she was the perfect age for the role THEN, not so much 40 years later

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 5:05pm

"All Lansbury can claim as a well known showcase movie is the manchurian canidate, those ladies can claim even some recent films and in some cases there just younger and are easier to insure."

Now wait a minute.

First, her performance in The Manchurian Candidate is often cited as one of the greatest performances ever given on film.

And then consider what else she did in the movies: Gaslight (an oscar nomination at age 18 in a grade A classic), National Velvet (Elizabeth Taylor's sister in another grade A classic), Dorian Gray (she breaks your heart and shows she can play a truly nice young woman with the best of them), The Harvey Girls (bitch rival to Judy Garland), State of the Union (bitch rival to Katharine Hepburn), Bel Ami (something of a cult classic), Death on the Nile (hilariously camp, arguably stealing the movie from a cast of giants, including Maggie Smith and Bette Davis!), and The Mirror Cracked (leading another all star case including Taylor, Novak and Hudson) are all showcase roles in famous movies, although some are very old movies.

All that and a starring role in Bedknobs and Broomsticks which Disney gave her after considering Leslie Caron, Julie Andrews and Lynn Redgrave. It may not have been a huge box office hit, but it did make more money than Mame, and is a hell of a lot better (small praise, it goes without saying).

What is interesting about Lansbury is that she was a well known movie personality with a long Hollywood career before she became a stage icon, but her stage stardom eclipsed her movie fame. The exact opposite of Judi Dench, especially from a U.S. point of view.

Moreover, Lansbury is so well known to American audiences from major television success, that one would think she would have had gotten her last great movie role. Well, we can only hope it might still come to be.

* * *

Charles, I didn't know Lansbury had already played Claire, but didn't Durenmatt fashion The Visit so that Claire could be played by a woman somewhere between 40 and death?


Updated On: 2/18/12 at 05:05 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 5:14pm

Um, I think I've made it clear on other threads that IMO Angela Lansbury walks on water, but I should point out that she and Meryl Streep are not in competition for film roles. They are more than a generation apart in age. Not that Lansbury looks bad for 87, but film close-ups would tend to make her age apparent.

I wouldn't be surprised if she is sticking to supporting roles. Who could blame her?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 5:21pm

Gaveston, there seems to be this ongoing battle over what is age appropriate for Violet Weston. Without rehashing all that out, I'm of the opinion that the older she is the better.

[beaemma]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 6:06pm

Regarding the non-musical THE VISIT, I believe Claire was played by Rachel Roberts in the 1973 production directed by Hal Prince. Incidentally, my translation of the play puts Claire's age at 63; but she's referred to as old in the text.

As for stage roles Miss Lansbury could play now, I've read that she doesn't want to carry a show alone any more, but some possibilities come to mind. Yes, I could see her as Lady Bracknell; but she'd also be a hilarious Miss Prism. I'd also like to see her as Letitia Primrose. There are juicy old lady parts in KIND LADY and NIGHT MUST FALL. These are old fashioned melodramas, but might work with some other big names in the casts. They certainly could work as television movies for Hallmark.

Meanwhile, I'll just look forward to seeing her in THE BEST MAN. If she's doing something (even a small role like Mrs. Gamadge) on Broadway, I'll be there until I'm bankrupt from the travel expenses.

[NoName3]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 6:13pm

Fairy Godmother in Cinderella

[Will42]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 6:29pm

Lansbury played the role of Mrs. Edwards in the 1951 film version of Kind Lady opposite Ethel Barrymore.

I know it's not a play, but I would loved to see her in Make Way for Tomorrow.

[beaemma]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 6:39pm

Actually, watching the movie of KIND LADY with Ethel Barrymore gave me the idea. I think Angela Lansbury could pull off a lot of the movie roles Miss Barrymore did in her later years. I think the old movie of NIGHT MUST FALL (Robert Mongomery and Dame May Whitty) has held up quite well and merits a revival as much as many of the older plays that have been revived recently. The Montgomery role would be a good one for any number of name actors. Lansbury did a fine job in the Whitty role in a mediocre remake of THE LADY VANISHES in the seventies, if that means anything.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 7:13pm

There had been some talk about Angela playing the Countess in a revival of YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU. She'd be marvelous.

[random person 112]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 7:36pm

When i say showcase henrik i mean THE lead female role. Also the mirror was a tv movie. I will admit i had forgotten Dorian Gray, but most of those are supporting roles. She wasn't a leading lady is abot it boils down to, the women who are getting the roles now are the former leading ladies of in some ways both the stage and film.

EDIT: You also have to remember that Lansburies agent for most of her life was her husband Peter Shaw, she took off some major time to care for him. A time where she could have had the reassurgence of popularity like Dench, Redgrave, and Smith as that's when there resurgence was occurring. That and a sick agent isn't going to be able to do his best work for you.

Updated On: 2/18/12 at 07:36 PM