A fun night at the theatre - not a masterpiece, but swift, funny, and poignant, and especially interesting to movie buffs. Sue Mengers was such a larger than life character that it's a wonder she hadn't been dramatised before; of course, the fact she only died in 2011 would have had something to do with it.
The story is set in 1981, before a Mengers dinner party. Mengers was famously exercise-adverse, so Logan has most of this with her on the couch - a person is invited out of the audience twice to pour her drinks, which is a great trick to keep things lively. She's just been sacked by Barbra Streisand and is waiting for a call. It helps if you know that in real life Mengers soon wrapped up her agency work (although she did make a late 80s comeback.)
I thought more would have been made of Mengers relationship with husband Jean Claude Tramont, particularly with all the references to "knowing the spouse". But we do get plenty of Steve McQueen and Ali Magraw, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Peter Bogdanovich and Cybil Shepherd, and Barbra.
Production wise I saw this with Miriam Margoyles in the role. Her acting was fine - accent, look, feel.... but she lacked the energy and pizzaz that Bette Midler would have brought. Maybe Judy Davis would have been more ideal.
No comments:
Post a Comment