I'm all for this! Bette would be simply divine! PS When can we expect to see a Patti LuPone "Evita" revival (much like the "Hello Dolly" revival in the 90s with Carol)?
First of all, Bette doesn't look her age. Second of all, you're all high if you think Mame can't be older than 50.
Just to be clear, I never said Midler is too old to play Mame (particularly on stage). I was just going with what seemed the prevailing theme of the conversation.
What interests me more is that we can all name bankable musical stars who are 70 or thereabouts, but few if any of us can name a female who is 50. Even Madonna (who lacks the interest and the acting chops to play Mame) is 55.
I'm just saying that many people get all in a tizzy and a lather and forget all common sense with the notion of one icon playing another famous icon. They don't consider the reality or the practicality of it.
Back in 1964, who would have thought that Angela Landbury could pull off MAME? That woman from The Manchurain Candidate? Evlis' mom in Blue Hawaii? To be a successful Mama requires talent, not just a sense of whackiness. I've always thougt that the key to Lansbury's success as Mame was that she had excessive talent, could sing and dance, and could act. (I never saw her in the role, just the LP and various YouTube clips.) With Lansbury, one thought "elegance," not "comic." There has to be an actress out there who is the right age and is an undiscovered Mame.
I have a splendid idea. Let's get Joan Fontaine to play Mame and Livy de Havilland can play Vera. They can switch off each night like Elaine Stritch and Judy Garland were going to.
And get Russ Tamblyn to be Patrick Dennis. It will be marvelous!
Anyone actually seen a production of MAME recently?
It's long and dated and long and thin and long and squawking and flat and long.
Lovely score, yes, but the show reeks unless your taste for dated social satire is truly epic.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
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"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
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