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Lucie/Mame


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Lucie plays Sally Cato in a 2003 all star reading of Auntie Mame.

Cast:

Mame: Charles Busch

Vera: Marian Seldes

Beau: Anthony Edwards

Mother Burnside: Rue McClanahan 

Brian O'Bannion: Charles Shaugnessy

Agnes Gooch: Swoosie Kurtz

Nora Muldoon: Alison Frasier

Ito: BD Wong

Doris Upson: Beth Howland

Claude Upson: Charles Kimborough

Mr. Babcock: Dylan Baker

Ralph Devine: Michael Berresse

Older Patrick: Chris Sieber

Pianist: John McDaniel

Narrator: Valerie Harper

 

 

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This was in New York. I wish I had seen live!  I remember the reviews said at intermission everyone was buzzing about how fantastic Lucie looked. I did see this tape at the Lincoln Center Library several years ago. This performance is a laugh riot, particularly Marian Seldes as Vera. I ended up seeing a later Charles Busch reading of All About Eve with Lucie and Larry as Karen and Lloyd Richards. 

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16 hours ago, HarryCarter said:

This was in New York. I wish I had seen live!  I remember the reviews said at intermission everyone was buzzing about how fantastic Lucie looked. I did see this tape at the Lincoln Center Library several years ago. This performance is a laugh riot, particularly Marian Seldes as Vera. I ended up seeing a later Charles Busch reading of All About Eve with Lucie and Larry as Karen and Lloyd Richards. 

Thanks, Jimmy! Yes, I've only watched a few minutes at this point but it's easy to see Seldes is a definite highlight of the show. 😎   I've attended many of these "all-star cast" staged readings over the years, which were carried off with various levels of success....sometimes the casting just wasn't right or one or more of the cast didn't seem very "prepared" (despite the fact that they're basically "acting" by reading right from the script!), but this one looks like it's definitely one of the better, more successful ones.

Ironically (yet appropos, I suppose?) it was attending a staged reading of "The Women") in Palm Springs several years ago featuring our beloved Carole Cook, Kaye Ballard and our own Lucie Arnaz that was largely the catalyst for me then deciding to relocate to The Desert.... here's an excerpt about that show, from https://www.palmspringslife.com/performance-a-bigger-better-stage/

"Coyote StageWorks also offers a Play Dates program, enabling underserved populations such as students and seniors on fixed incomes to experience live professional theater at little or no charge. On March 10, 2013, actor/writer Laurence Luckinbill will present, free of charge, his critically acclaimed one-man play Clarence Darrow Tonight!

Perhaps the company’s most anticipated event is its one-night-only gala benefit staged reading of Clare Booth Luce’s caustically funny The Women on Jan. 19, 2013. An all-star cast will show its support for Coyote StageWorks’ mission and Yates’ goal of launching a Palm Springs theater festival.

Nationally and locally known participants scheduled to appear include Lucie Arnaz, who says, “I can’t wait — not only for getting to help keep a valuable sandbox alive for actors like my husband, Larry [Luckinbill], and I to play in, but also for an entire evening of trying to steal scenes away from the likes of Michele Lee, Kaye Ballard, Charles Busch, and Carole Cook. What could be more fun?”

“I adore Chuck Yates and am crazy about Palm Springs,” says Busch, a playwright himself. “And I’m mad for The Women, so it was destiny that I should be involved in this benefit reading.”

Others on the bill include Nancy Bleiweiss-Nevil, Mary Jo Catlett, Mo Gaffney, Helene Galen, Beth Grant, Barbara Keller, Vicki Lewis, and Stefanie Powers*.

“I feel so enormously privileged and really excited to be a part of Clare Booth Luce’s brilliant play,” says Keller, a museum trustee. “Everything about this event resonates with me. It’s the Annenberg! It’s a benefit! The cast is amazing!”

:HALKING:

*No mention of Florence Henderson, whom I remember/thought also appeared in this production but with how my memory is lately, I may be thinking of a different production, albeit still / yet another "star-studded" staged reading production. 

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Re: Auntie Mame.  This is great fun!   I saw  "The Women" in Palm Springs with Charles in the Norma Shearer role.  Lucie excelled in the Roz Russell part as did Carole Cook as the countess (? I think).   I attended after-party and stuck my foot in my mouth trying to compliment Charles on his portrayal.  What I meant by "Norma Shearer is probably rolling in her grave" was the idea that a man would take her part 70 years later and be great in it.   I think it may have come out wrong, but that didn't occur to me until later.  When will I ever learn to stuff a sock in it?

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