Would A Revival Of "Come Back To The Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" Work?

[Jordan Catalano]

Watching the film again now (I adore it) and I've always wanted to see a production on stage and see how it would be done live. Is this something that would work nowadays or is it too "dated"?

[jemjeb2]

I don't see why it would not work. The time of the play would no longer be "the present", but that should not detract from the play's impact. (I'm a fan of the show too.) .

[Jordan Catalano]

If love to see Mary Louise Parker as Mona and Jan Maxwell as Joanne.

[Joviedamian]

"I would love to see Mary Louise Parker as Mona and Jan Maxwell as Joanne."

After Snow Geese, MLP is giving up acting remember?

[Jordan Catalano]

A cool TV commercial for the original run of the play.

[brldisteach2]

I saw a regional production of the show within the last decade and thought it was fantastic. I think the show still works.

[Playbilly]

I wish someone would revive it. Change the cast out like Chicago, and it would run forever.

[Jordan Catalano]

With Billy Ray Cyrus as Joe and Wendy Williams as Juanita!

[lovebwy]

That TV commercial is funny. It gives you zero idea of what the play is about, and the marquee is misleading too. "Get in on the fun" the announcer says. HA!

[quizking101]

For a show with such high caliber stars (at the time), I'm surprised it only ran for 36 performances.

1) The play must've really sucked.
or
2) They could only gather all three of them for this very short run.

[GavestonPS]

I think it was just a tough time for Broadway in general, particularly for straight plays. Sandy Dennis' career had peaked and Cher, while a star, wasn't quite the legend she is today.

I think the only problem with the play dating is that only folks of a certain age will appreciate how big James Dean was. But younger people know idols who died young like Kurt Cobain and Heath Ledger, so I think they'll figure it out.

[Jordan Catalano]

Someone could always write the sequel COME BACK TO THE STARBUCKS, KURT COBAIN, KURT COBAIN.

[newintown]

That movie is a guilty pleasure, with that bevy of camp gorgons struttin' round, but you have to admit the play is truly hokey stuff, gushing with ridiculous "shocking" revelations.

[BrodyFosse123]

The time of the play would no longer be "the present"

The play was never set in 'present day' as the plot takes place on September 25, 1975 - the 20th anniversary of the death of James Dean.

Even the original 1976 Ohio production of the play (before its Broadway debut in 1982 with Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates) wasn't set in 'present day'.

And for the record, I also agree this most definitely needs a Broadway revival. A Limited Engagement with a roster of A List actresses, too.

[lovebwy]

All three actresses were at low ebbs in their careers. Cher was a joke at the time. It's actually very impressive that she was able to come back the way she did.

[GavestonPS]

And for the record, I loved the filmed version of the play and I was 18 months old when James Dean died. So it's not like I had to have loved him to understand the context.

[logan2]

One of my all time favorite movies. It's what made me discover Sandy Dennis, and then go seek out all of her films. I adore her.

I think a revival could definitely work, but for me anything would be a disappointment without the fabulous five of Dennis, Cher, Karen Black, Sudie Bond, and Katy Bates. No matter how good the new cast was, it just would never be as good.

I think Sandy's performance as Mona is one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Heartbreaking, haunting, irritating, funny, and poignant, all at the same time - now that's some feat.

I know I left out Marta Heflin. I could stand someone else in her role. Not that she wasn't good, but I could watch someone else.

[Jordan Catalano]

The thing with this show is that anyone who plays Mona will be held up and compared to Sandy Dennis, who was one of the most unique actresses to have ever lived. So there would have to be a very fine line of not impersonating her but also not straying too far away from the "quirkiness" (if that's even the right word) that makes Mona such a brilliantly written role.

[lovebwy]

I like when Cher makes fun of Sandy Dennis's way of speaking in the movie. "Ah ah ah, I just wanna say ah ah ah"

[Jordan Catalano]

cool.

[AC126748]

I'm in love with the idea of MLP as Mona. I could see Carla Gugino as Sissy.

[Jordan Catalano]

Yeah, MLP is the only person I could even remotely imagine in the role if it were to come back.

And Angela Lansbury as Juanita, obviously.

[logan2]

Forget MLP, Amanda Plummer IS the perfect Mona.

"It just makes me, ah ah, sick to my, ah ah, stomach, to think that people can be so, ah ah ah, cruel".

When I first heard that, at the Greenway art house theater in Houston, Tx, it devastated me. I knew it was an incredibly funny moment, the whole theater erupted in laughter, but my heart broke a little more for Mona.

My all time favorite line: "Yes, but I managed to rise above the attitudes of this town, while you laid spread over a gravestone and took them inside you." I mean, C'MON!


Maybe MLP could play Edna Louise.

[lovebwy]

I would agree it's a guilty pleasure. Kind of Tennessee Williams lite. But Cher is very good, and Kathy Bates is too.

[DDJJYY]

There will be a celebrity staged reading of this play in Los Angeles, directed by Laura Innes.