John Garcia
A famous movie star chanteuse whose shining
stardom is now but a flicker tries to find her voice again.
She has two children. One a son who dabbles in drugs and who
was recently cast as "Ado Annie" in a college production
of OKLAHOMA. The other a daughter who despises her mother,
but loves her father….maybe a little too much. This
once well-known star also has a gigolo lover who apparently
has the loc ness monster between his legs. Finally she is
married to a man who heads a movie studio and has bad constipation.
Oh yea, and he cannot stand her.
No, I'm not talking about Brittney Spears future.
These are the characters that come to life in the comedy DIE,
MOMMIE, DIE!, written by Charles Busch and now having its
regional premiere with Uptown Players.
The play actually was supposed to premiere a
few seasons ago at Uptown, but due to some unresolved legal
issues surrounding the release of the movie version of the
play, they had to pull the rights away from any theater company
to produce it.
Busch is one of the most celebrated playwrights
living today. But what sets him apart from the likes of Tony
Kushner, Richard Greenberg, Neil Simon, and others is that
he usually plays the leading role in his plays. Oh, and these
roles are all female. His career started off Broadway with
several hits, including VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, which ran
for five years and became one of the longest running hits
in Off Broadway history. Busch is not a drag queen at all.
He completely turns himself into the heroines or dames in
distress that he portrays in his plays. Busch would have his
Broadway success with his play, TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE,
which earned him a Tony Award nomin- ation.
DMD takes us into the world of Angela Arden,
a once famous movie star singer who is slowly regaining her
voice and confidence to try singing in public again. She has
two children, Lance and Edith. The son adores his mother while
the daughter cannot stand her. Angela is married to a very
angry and bitter man-Sol Sussman-who runs a movie studio that
keeps churning out flops. Circling around Angela's world as
well is a male lover named Tony Parker and a religious fanatic
for a maid whose name is Bootsie.
In this play there is murder, drugs, sex, betrayal,
backstabbing, rumors, a cracked singing voice, and one hell
of a hemorrhoid medication. As you can see, not your basic
paint by number play here.
Director Andi Allen certainly did her homework
with this production.
She must have watched allot of those old movies from the period
to get the vibe, mood, and tone just right for this piece.
You can see where she added careful detail to make us feel
as though we are watching one of those classic films, but
with camp thrown in. She wisely has her cast emoting and posing
just like those movies. From a long walk to a chair and then
simply just pose there, to the quick double takes out into
the audience as though the camera was set there.
The staging and blocking created by Ms. Allen for this comedy
is perfection.
One of the funniest staging pieces is that concerning
Tony Parker, played by Cameron McElyea. He is shorter than
Coy Covington (Angela) and Jim Johnson (Sol). So when it came
to scenes involving lovemaking or confrontation, Allen constantly
had McElyea blocked on the upper level to do these scenes,
allowing him to be face to face with them.
This resulted in some loud laughter in the audience. Ms. Allen
has directed all of Mr. Busch's plays at Uptown, each one
a major success.
She can add this one as well to that glowing list. She clearly
under -stands Busch's voice, themes, and subtext. She knows
when to reel in the camp to keep it real. Ms. Allen's direction
here is again highly impressive.
The production elements for this production
are just outstanding.
Wade Giampa's scenic design screams 60s/70s
chic. He has designed for the Sussman house the look of those
long ago kitschy Beverly Hills mansions. It has rock walls,
a protruding maple wood centerpiece, and the sunken living
room space. There is even a curved staircase that is covered
in white shag carpeting for that added touch. The set is so
believable in period, you half expect Charles Nelson Riley
and Brett Summers to come over and join Angela for a cocktail
after taping MATCH GAME.
Suzi Shankle must have raided the closets of
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS for her fantastic costumes. She has found
materials and fabrics that fit the period like a glove. There
are loud prints, short mini skirts, lace, chiffon, and polyester
galore! The costumes created for Angela are in particular
ravishing to look at. There are some gorgeous frocks here!
There is a black gown of crepe and velvet sprinkled with rhinestones,
a beautiful opening scene costume that would make Auntie Mame
jealous, and a hilarious surprise for the funeral costume.
Shankle also has created a light blue gown of chiffon that
I swore I saw on one of the survivors from the 1972 version
of THE POSIDEON ADVENTURE. Ms. Shankle knows costuming, and
with this production she indeed shows her amazing gift, skill,
and knowledge.
Michael Campbell's lighting design once again
proves that this guy knows how to light a play brilliantly.
I first saw his talents with AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER at ICT,
and here again he shows his vast scope of talent. He avoids
dull, beige lighting, and instead floods the set with vibrant,
rich color. Watch the magic he creates for the halluci -nation
scene. But what I really do admire about his lighting is how
he can focus and use light to single out a moment, a facial
expression, or emotion. He also designed some marvelous lightening
and the flashbulbs of paparazzi. His attention to detail here
is faultless.
Coy Covington heads the cast as "Angela
Arden", the once famous movie star singer who is slowly
regaining her voice back. She seems to struggle with a key
change that makes her sound like a frog getting an enema.
Covington commands the stage with dazzling stage presence
this is wrapped in sublime comedic timing, pace, and delivery.
He can say the simplest line and have the audience rolling
in laughter. You cannot teach subtext comedy like that folks;
it's a gift, which Covington has in abundance.
This is not a "drag" role by any means.
Any man can put on a dress and be funny, it takes a damn good
actor to make the audience forget he's a man and truly believe
in him as a woman. That is Covington from beginning to end
in this performance. He's more woman than some other actual
women I've seen on stage! You honestly forget he's a male
with his carefully detailed work. His walk, gestures, facial
expressions, voice, & mannerisms all carry a delicate
feminine overtone. Covington brings into his characterization
components of such Hollywood divas as Barbara Stanwyck, Joan
Crawford, Susan Hayward, Faye Dunaway, and Bette Davis. Hell,
he even throws in a little Mama Rose to boot! Mr.
Covington provides a comedic tour de force performance here.
Jim Johnson easily delivers the funniest performance
I have seen him give in a long time. He has fashioned on him
a nose that looks like he ripped it off a Toucan and a horrifying
comb over that would make Donald Trump lend him one of his
back up pieces to cover it up. Now add some Buddy Holly glasses,
a booming bass voice, a Jewish dialect, and some hilarious
facial expressions and you have a scene stealing performance
coming from this immensely talented actor.
Johnson portrays "Sol", a Jewish man
who owns a decaying movie studio and who has such awful constipation
you're surprised he doesn't come on stage with a porcelain
toilet attached to his rear end. Johnson uses his comedic
tools to build a solid, satisfying, and hysterical performance.
Also providing major laughs within the evening
is Cameron McElyea as the seducing stud with the huge qua-qua,
"Tony Parker". Is it just me or does McElyea sort
of look like a young Robert De Niro in CAPE FEAR in this production?
McElyea has a smoldering aura that is topped off with seductive
facial expressions that resemble a porn star's come hitherto.
There is much discussion and reference to his character's
… um… "hoo-hoo" that McElyea uses to
hysterical effect. His comic timing, pace, delivery, and facial
expressions are in complete sync with his acting craft that
create a rip roaring performance.
Rounding out the cast of whackos who also provide
terrific perform -ances are Chad Peterson as "Lance Sussman";
Leslie Patrick as "Edith Sussman"; and Nancy Sherrard
as "Bootsie".
Peterson's character is the stoned hippie son
who adores his mother but loathes his father. Oh and he's
gay, which doesn't sit well with his hook for a nose father.
Peterson bounces with zany, frenzied energy and keeps his
character floating on a pot swirling cloud resulting in a
mirth provoking performance.
Ms. Patrick is the sex kitten daughter of the
Sussmans. She loves her daddy (but maybe in the wrong way!)
and purrs whenever he's the room.
For added fun, the actress teeters on some rhinestone-incrusted
heels that you know came from Cha-Cha Di Gregorio, who is
the best dancer at St. Bernadette's.
As "Bootsie", Nancy Sherrard creates
an amalgamation of Margaret White (Carrie's mom), Mrs. Garrett
from FACTS OF LIFE, and Rosemary Ackerman from SERIAL MOM.
In fact, She actually does sort of resemble Mary Jo Catlett,
the actress who played Rosemary in the film. Sherrard throws
out religious quotes from out of thin air, as though she was
flinging out confetti from a Billy Graham grocery bag.
As for problems in the production, there were
minuscule at best. A few flubbed lines and some pace issues
in the second act, but that comes with opening night jitters,
which will be long gone by their next round of performances.
Uptown Players has yet to produce a flat out
failure in their short six-year history. I've yet to walk
away from a show produced there being completely disappointed
or bored with. They bring the best talent in actors, directors,
and designers, and so on to mount superb, thoroughly entertaining
theater. This production is no exception.
DIE, MOMMIE, DIE! will have you grabbing your
sides from laughing so much that I strongly suggest you stretch
before entering the theater.
But hurry and get your tickets, because this show will easily
become another smash sold out hit for Uptown!
Who knows, maybe Angela Arden might even autograph
her Christmas album for you personally!
GRADE: A+
Review
Elaine Liner
No subtlety required for Uptown's Die, Mommy,
Die! There is no such thing as "too big" in a Charles
Busch play, and this production isn't just over the top, it's
exploding at the seams.
Uptown goes to town with plays like this—a send-up of
1960s Douglas Sirk-style movie melodramas starring a man as
the ultra-glamorous heroine. Only Dallas' own en traviste
expert Coy Covington could so delectably convey the Stanwyck-ian
allure of Angela Arden, an aging chanteuse cuckolding her
fat movie producer husband (Jim Johnson) with a slick-haired
but untrustworthy tennis pro (Cameron McElyea). Conspiring
to murder her are slut-alicious daughter Edie (Leslie Patrick)
and psycho-babbling son Lance (Chad Peterson).
Uptown couldn't do Busch plays if they didn't have Covington,
an actor who can convey in one twist of his perfectly lacquered
lips both menace and mockery. He has a cult of fans at this
theater, where he also played the female lead in Busch's similarly
movie-spoofy Red Scare on Sunset. In Die, Mommy, Die! Covington
earns rafter-shaking laughter with his exquisitely timed gestures,
precision-crafted head-snaps and, wait, just where is that
key light? Oh, there it is.
The plot of the show is too silly for words (rent the Bette
Davis movie Dead Ringers if you're spoiling for spoilers),
but the silliness is what it's all about (dig the LSD trip
scene, baby). Directed by Andi Allen, this one also boasts
the most lavish costumes (designed by Suzi Shankle) of any
Uptown show this season. When's the last time you heard a
crowd ooh, aah and applaud for a Schiaparelli-pink sheath
worn by a man?
Review
Arnold Wayne Jones
MOMMIE’ QUEEREST
The ’50s and ’60s were a golden age of overwrought
excess at the movies. Ross Hunter-Douglas Sirk potboilers
like “All That Heaven Allows,” “Imitation
of Life” and “Magnificent Obsession,” and
Grand Guignol classics like “Baby Jane,” not only
slathered on the soap thick as tomato paste, they kept actresses
like Joan Crawford, Lana Turner and Bette Davis employed well
beyond their prime. Collectively, they practically invented
camp, and in turn, invented the modern gay aesthetic.
Filmmakers, playwrights and TV shows from Todd Haynes to
Carol Burnett have exploited the parody potential of such
material, but none with such vigor as Charles Busch, and Uptown
Players’ production of his “Die Mommie, Die!”
captures the outrageousness of the humor and melodrama with
superb style.
Stealing bits of plot from “Dead Ringer” and
“Leave Her to Heaven,” it tells the plot of former
singing star Angela Arden (Coy Covington, channeling Davis,
Crawford and Susan Hayward in equal parts) to murder her movie
mogul husband (Jim Johnson) so she can marry her gigolo boyfriend
(Cameron McElyea, who slides across the stage like a human
oil slick). Her weapon of choice: Poison in an oversized suppository
that looks like a burrito from Chipotle.
The design is pitch-perfect — the set a mid-century
modern Hollywood Hills glamour pad full of leopard-print upholstery,
slate fireplace and shag carpeting on the stairs, the costumes
(lots of them) all go-go boots and and faboo eveningwear.
Director Andi Allen gleefully encourages her cast to chew
the scenery with delightful hamminess, but Covington (pictured,
with Chad Peterson) dominates the show. He’s patented
the tragic-diva act: The tortured woman who nevertheless always
manages to find her key-light. He can turn any line into an
announcement plump with meaning. Its yet another triumph for
him — and for lovers of high comedy done right.
— A.W.J.
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