I saw and enjoyed Claudia Shear in her play Dirty Blonde , ( at the West Yorkshire Playhouse , in Leeds , West Yorkshire England ) but I think there may be more mileage in the original Dirty Blonde herself Miss Mae West!
How I wish someone would come up with a musical based on the life of Mae West. I have always loved this larger than life lady , a great wit , and an emancipated dame many years ahead of her time!
I would love to see Bette Midler in the role of Miss West!
Charlotte Chandler has just written a new biography of Mae West which comes out in February 2009 from Simon and Schuster , and I look forward to reading this when it hits the bookstands!
I really do hope that even as I type this some talented playwright is writing something along these lines , and this happens one day sometime really soon!
There was never anyone like Mae and there will never be anyone like Mae. Her movies continue to delight and any attempt to make a musical about her will run into in-your-face comparisons with the real McCoy.
Yeah - I did one a few years ago which was about Mae up until the point she got famous. We had a guy playing Mae - two other "multiple" roles and a "sextet".
It went really well - it was called "She's no Angel" and we did it for the '99 Marids Gras in Sydney.
I could dig up some demos if anyone's interested...