THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF
LEENANE
If what you want is an intense drama revolving around manipulation, control and
revenge manifested in the most horrific forms, punctuated with in-your-face
vulgarity, then don't miss the award winning The Beauty Queen of Leenane written by 27
year old play writing genius, Martin McDonagh.
This is an incredible production, magnificently directed by Ms. Garry Hynes acted to
a fault by Marie Mullen, Anna Manahan, Brian F. O'Byrne and Tom Murphy.
There is nothing
funny about the production, although as with any horrific event, black humor
surfaces in subtle ways - in the stir of a teaspoon or the brand of a cookie.
Only in this play a cookie is a biscuit because for all intense purposes the
play is
delivered in a foreign language. The strong Irish brogue encapsulates the rural setting,
punctuating the desperate, manipulative personalities.
One can only speculate how this play
would be received if the setting and accent were Brooklyn, or New Jersey. Even the producer,
Rocco Landesman, admitted that he struggled with the accents, and for the first ten minutes
thought he was listening to a foreign language.
Many of the people sitting around me could only make out a word here and there.
That may be the reason why the repetitive, strong vulgarity passes through the ears
and over the heads of the audience.
The "F" word is used almost 100 times.
There is also an extremely vulgar expression that is said over 25 times.
A woman sitting behind me confided that the reason she liked the play was because
she knew she was suppose to.
Hopefully, most theater goers will like the play because they appreciate incredible
writing with maniacal twist and superb acting. Marie Mullen as the daughter and Anna Manahan
in the role of her
mother are awesome.
Manahan first appeared on Broadway in the 1968 production
of Lovers co-starring with Art Carney, for which she received a Tony nomination.
Mullen is co-founder of the Druid Theater Company in Galway.
All of the actors created their roles in the original production and have been playing their
parts for two years, bringing them to Broadway via runs in Galway,
London and Sydney. The intense performances have emotionally and physically
affected the cast. The stars admit to having nightmares and backaches.
This play is not for children or the emotionally immature. The production is brilliant.
It is also vile.
KENNY ROGERS' NEW FACE
What A Difference A Close Shave Makes
 |
Kenny Rogers, the man with the whiskey voice, appears to be the man with the new
face.
In the press release issued by the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton touting Kenny's
performances beginning July 3rd, the enclosed photograph didn't look anything like
the singer - to the point that I called the hotel's PR office thinking they might have
oopsed and enclosed the wrong photo.
They said they felt same way when they saw
the photo and called Kenny's manager, who assured them that the new mug shot is
that of Rogers.
He's shaved off his sideburns and by the look of the picture that isn't
all that's happened to his face.
"We're calling it the softer, more gentle Kenny
Rogers," explained the hotel's PR gal.
MORE NEW LOOKS
Joan Lunden, formerly of Good Morning America came to Vegas to push the
plunger that sent the Aladdin Hotel into an imploded dust pile.
That event cost $2
million, used 370 pounds of dynamite and took 20 seconds.
The rubble heap had
originally opened as the posh Tally-Ho Hotel, of little lasting memory, except perhaps to myself
and Elvis Presley.
My water broke and I went into serious labor in the Tally-Ho's casino. I'll never
forget the look on the security guard's face as he came running. They cleaned the
carpet, built on an addition and renamed the joint the Aladdin. Besides my almost giving birth
under a crap table, the Aladdin is where Elvis Presley married his beloved Priscilla on May 1, l967
in Room 246. Though Elvis left the building and marriage, the room remained the Elvis Wedding
Suite.
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GOSPEL HALL OF FAME
Elvis Presley and The Jordanaires
 |
The Jordanaires, who backed Elvis on his records from 1956-1970, are starring in
Las Vegas at the Gold Coast Hotel, putting on an excellent show full of wonderful
songs and delightful antidotes.
Recently inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame, they
have only fond memories of Presley. The group has stayed in touch with Priscilla.
Bass singer Ray Walker said that it was only last October that Priscilla confided to
them that since the day she and Elvis divorced, he called her every single day.
Sometimes they'd stay on the phone for two or three hours talking.
According to
Walker, The King of Rock and Roll viewed Priscilla as his most trusted confident and sought her
opinion on everything.
The last time Elvis called Priscilla was the day before he died.
NOT ASHAMED TO LIKE
IT
I still think Broadway's new musical High Society is charming and delightful. I
don't understand the validity of comparing this musical production to the brilliant
play which starred Katharine Hepburn. Besides, over ninety percent of the people
who saw the original stage play are dead of old age. Is a comparison to a l936 play
and a new l998 musical fair? This is a production where you can leave your cares at
the door upon arriving, exit with a smile on your face, and a week later find yourself
still humming the score. That's a healthy kind of escapism, perfect entertainment for
everyone.
LORNA LUFT Liza Minnelli's
estranged half-sister, will host a salute to their
mother Judy Garland, June 16 and 17, at Carnegie Hall.
On the bill are Elaine
Stritch, Weslia Whitfield, Jerry Herman, Comden and Green,
Las Vegas regulars
Jack Jones, Alan King and Vegas resident Robert Goulet.
Garland's long time
arranger-conductor, Mort Lindsey, will conduct the overture. Tickets are $18 to
$75.
THIS AND
THAT
DESI ARNAZ, JR. reunited with
his
ex-wife Linda Purl to perform Love Letters
directed by Stephanie Zimbalist, in Boulder City, Nevada in a benefit for current
wife Amy's non-profit Boulder City Ballet Company. The only other time
Arnaz
performed in Love Letters was four years ago, co-starring with his former fiance,
Liza Minnelli. Amy is secure in her marriage to Desi and likes all of
her husband's
ex-loves.
THEY PARTIED ALL NIGHT LONG When George Segal, star of Just
Shoot Me
discovered his wife, Sonya, had never been to Las Vegas, he used Don
Rickles
appearing at the Desert Inn as the opportunity to show his bride the bright lights of
Sin City. Accompanied by their best friends, Paula Prentiss and Dick
Benjamin, the
foursome hopped a plane for Vegas, caught barbed tongue Rickles' show, stayed up
all night sightseeing before flying back home.
THE WALK THE PLANK WEDDING CHAPEL
at Treasure Island Hotel a frigate and a pirate ship - with sailors aboard -
battle it out every 90 minutes in a free show.
Cannons boom, smoke and fire engulf
the scene and the captain goes down with his ship.
What more could a happy couple
want than for this to be the place where the groom walks the plank.
The hotel has
now turned the frigate, the H.M.S. Royal Britannia, a replica of an 18th century
sailing vessel, into a wedding chapel of sorts.
Couples can take the plunge aboard
the ship, which floats in an artificial bay in front of the hotel.
Three times a day the
Britannia becomes the love boat, complete with a ring-bearing pirate who swoops
down from the crow's nest.
Wedding packages start at $3,000.
Pirate attendants
cost extra.
NEXT DOOR AT THE MIRAGE HOTEL Siegfried and Roy threw a
surprise 50th birthday party for Gildah their ceremonial Thai elephant, who is provided
for in a
trust should the magicians disappear.
The birthday girl is one of less than 50,000 Asian
elephants roaming the earth today.
The press took the cake while the pachyderm, who weighs six
tons, pigged out on bananas and watermelon.
The elephant was well behaved but
Siegfried sat
on his $7.50 sunglasses breaking them along the nose bridge. The master illusionist wasn't able to
make them reappear whole until he conjured up the super glue from the bottom of my purse.
Anxious to get back to the birthday party, Siegfried put the sunglasses back on before
the super
glue was set, almost gluing the sunglasses to his forehead.
Copyright: May 10, 1998 all rights reserved.
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Next column Monday, May 17, l998
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