OK, so Roundabout is doing the William Inge classic, "Picnic" again, which begins previews on December 14. I may have to go, because I have never seen this on stage. My prime exposure to the piece was those annual ABC-TV 11:30 PM telecasts each Labor Day Weekend, during the Sixties and Seventies.
Which was quite awhile ago; more than even I care to admit. But, have you heard the latest about this production??????
Mare Winningham, pictured above, is playing Flo Owens, mother of Madge. For my girls who know the movie, that is the Betty Field role.
Can you believe it??????? I remember when Mare was a young actress!!!!!! I remember her playing Jennifer Jason Leigh's sister in "Georgia." And now she is playing Madge's mother?????? It almost bears out Flo's most famous admonition to her daughter.
"FLO: A girl doesn't have long to be pretty. Just a
few years, where she is the equal of kings, and can
walk out of a shanty like this, and marry a husband,
who will keep her, and care for her.
MADGE: But, Mother! I'm only eighteen!!!!!!!!!!!
FLO: And the next Summer you will be nineteen, and
then twenty, and then twenty-one....(pause, as
if the horror is indescribable) and after that, forty!
Things have come a long way, haven't they, darlings????? To think of turning 40 as a horror????? Well, it was in Flo's time. But I am more shocked that Mare is considered old enough now to play Flo.
Marvel, whom I just loved in "The Little Foxes," and "Other Desert Cities," is going to play the spinster schoolteacher, Rosemary Sydney. Which my girls know is the Rosalind Russell role. "Picnic" was reworked by Inge years later into something called "Summer Brave," because, in its earlier incarnation, called "Front Porch," the play was originally about Rosemary, who is based on Inge's sister. Now, we all love Roz in the film, but, let's face it, she played it too much like...Roz, to the point where she camped it up to where the tragedy of her spinsterhood was completely lost. Judging from the photo above, Elizabeth will bring something darker and real to Rosemary which I, for one, am looking forward to seeing. And, if the producers are smart, when the contracts run out on the actors currently on Broadway now in "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" they should look Elizabeth's way, because I sure as hell could see her playing Martha. Not that Amy Morton is anything less than brilliant, but if anyone could step into those shoes, Elizabeth is a shoo-in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would you also believe that Ellen Burstyn--yes, Ellen Burstyn!!!!!--is playing the comparatively small role of Helen Potts???????? Hard to believe this vibrant actress is old enough to be considered for that role (which Verna Felton practically made hers in the movie!!!!!!!) so it will be fascinating to see what Burstyn does with it. She will make the most of Helen Potts, you can count on that.
Reed Birney is playing Howard Bevens (the Arthur O'Connell role) and one hopes, with Marvel as Rosemary, their scenes have a darker tinge than the campy ones of the film!!!!!!!!
The young folk--Hal, Millie, Madge--are played by people I never heard of--Sebastian Stan, Madeline Martin and Maggie Grace. If any of you girls out there know more about them than I do, be sure to let me know. The history of their roles indicate they have legendary shoes to fill!!!!!!!! And can they?????????
But Mare Winningham!!!!!!!!!!! I still cannot get over it!!!!!!!!!
If she is playing Madge Owens, I must be ready to play Grandpa in "You Can't Take It With You."
I don't think so!!!!!!!!! Not till I have played the leads in "Funny Girl" and "Gypsy!"
Here I am, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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