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Die Mommie Die! Reviews
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EXIT LAUGHING Review by: Beth M, Jan 14, 2008 |
MAN IN DRAG: Charles Busch’s Die Mommie Die
(which ended its run at The New World Stages on Sunday January 13)
By Beth Mandelbaum
I have to say that my husband and I both thought that Die Mommie Die was one of the funniest shows that we can remember seeing in a long time, and thought that it was absolutely terrific!! I had seen three of Charles Busch’s plays (actually two plays and a musical) and loved them all: The Tale of ... read more the Allergist’s Wife, Taboo, for which he wrote the book, and last season’s Our Leading Lady presented by the Manhattan Theater Club. But this was my first introduction to Mr. Busch as a performer, a brilliant “drag” artist par excellence.
Our front row center seats (purchased with a discount from Broadwaybox) were such a treat. I found Mr. Busch to be absolutely fascinating to watch: I could see every facial mannerism, every bit of motion and emotion, and of course I could see every detail of his/her amazing attire.
I had not read any detailed reviews of this show before seeing it, so I have to admit that I was only very vaguely aware that Die Mommie Die is a spoof of old (1960’s) thriller movies and that his character, Angela Arden, a former actress and diva whose stardom has hit the skids, is based on such divine actresses as Susan Hayward, Lana Turner, and Bette Davis. I am sure that I have seen such movies, but not since they first came out (which will inevitably “date” me!). Mr. Busch seems to be “channeling” these incredible women. (I learned these facts from skimming a few reviews afterward.)
But I think that it is a strong testament to this play that we found the whole delightfully wild and crazy story to be a riot, even without knowing the film contexts and references. To us, it was hilarious on its own!!!
The plot details are almost impossible for me to describe without having a big grin on my face. Angela Arden, now fallen far from stardom, is very unhappily married to a very sleazy, mean spirited film producer, Sol Sussman, whose own career is also in deep trouble.
To cope with her loveless marriage, Angela spends a great deal of time with a much younger man, Tony, an out of work TV actor now turned tennis coach, and Angela is always having lessons. But once Sol finds out about their affair, he blackmails Angela with photographs. Angela’s plans to escape from Hollywood with Tony to Greenwich Village, and to try to make a comeback by singing in the Borscht Belt, are now prohibited.
A very important plot detail is that Sol is always constipated! Angela’s revenge: putting poison on a very large, missile like suppository that was prescribed for his constipation and which she inserts with a combination of anger and power (and perhaps a touch of glee!).
I should mention that Angela and Sol have two children, Edith and Lance (a great 50’s name!), both of who are hilariously oedipally attached to their opposite sex parent. We find Edith wearing the shortest skirt imaginable, and literally jumping onto her father, wrapping her long bear legs around his waist, when he returns home from a failed business trip.
And Lance, who likes to dress in his mother’s clothing and red wig and sing to her old records, is said to have become peculiar and strange as a result of Angela’s unwillingness to stop taking her psychiatric drugs during her pregnancy. After Sol’s death, Edith becomes completely convinced that her mother has murdered her father; and eventually, Lance goes along with his sister’s hypothesis. The two children decide to put LSD (the play is set in 1967) in their mother’s coffee, to see if they can induce a confession. And it becomes their mission to avenge their father death by killing their mother. And a confession they do get, but it’s not about the murder of Sol. And I will stop here!!
The story is intended to be a very much a tragic melodrama with elements of detective type films, and |
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Die Mommie Die! Review by: Tom Bestor, Jan 2, 2008 |
Families don’t come more dysfunctional than the Arden-Sussman clan, especially when they are headed by a matriarch like Angela Arden, a boozy, washed-up chanteuse and TV star whose skyrocketing career began to sputter, fizzle and eventually tumble back to Earth when her twin sister died under mysterious circumstances.
“Die Mommie Die!” was written by Charles Busch (writer of the excellent “Tale of the Allergist’s Wife”), and ... read more he takes the leading role of Angela Arden. Busch is one of the best drag artists currently working, but one has to like drag for this show to work. “Die Mommie Die!” is a melodrama featuring buckets of bitchiness, resentments and revenge, gay subplots, murderous children and trailerloads of trashy behavior. (Even though the story takes place in Beverly Hills.)
I’d seen two of Busch’s previous works, which I enjoyed much more. “Die Mommie Die!” (adapted from Busch’s film of the same name) however, is only for the diehard camp/drag fan.
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A Great Night at the Theater Review by: stella, Dec 3, 2007 |
A must see show, excellent cast & production, haven't laugh so much in ages, there was 4 of us on holiday from the UK & all agreed that out of the 5 shows we saw this was top of our list. Young Frankenstein was on the bottom.
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| * Review is an opinion of a BroadwayBox user and not that of BroadwayBox.com and BroadwayBox, Inc. |
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