Drag performer Amanda Reconwith is about to make her South Florida debut in a new production of Charles Busch’s hilarious funny play Die Mommie Die. Partly spoof and partly homage, it draws heavily on the tropes and themes of American “Psycho-biddy” films and plays from the 1950s and 1960s that featured strong, sometimes dominating female leads, such as those by Bette Davis (Dead Ringer) and Ethel Merman (Gypsy). It is such a must-see for anyone (and everyone) who adores those camp old dames
Reconwith plays Angela Arden a failed lounge act singer who is rooted in the past, the role that Busch himself played in the original production and in the movie adaption that followed. Angela is is trapped in a hateful marriage with film producer Sol Sussman, and is desperate to find happiness with her younger lover, an out of work TV actor, Tony Parker. She murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository, and that’s when the hysterically funny and bizarre plot gets wilder by the minute, especially when Angela’s disturbed children want to avenge their father’s death
Directed by Ed Sparan, the talented cast in this very spirited also include Peter Gordon, Harry Redlich, Laura Finley, Tyler Kane and Lory Reyes.
EMPIRE STAGE 1140 North Flagler Drive Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 09/13-09/30 http://www.empirestage.com
Labels: 2018, culture, drag, Fort Lauderdale, play
