I went to see Blithe Spirit last night, and I absolutely adored it. I essentially only went for the chance to see Angela Lansbury live, but ended up totally loving the show too. She is excellent, but the really great one in this is Rupert Everett. He is astonishingly hilarious.
I went to the stage door after and got autographs from Lansbury, Everett and Christine Ebersole. They were all extremely, extremely friendly and Angela Lansbury was so, so sweet. "Keep coming to the theater," she told me. "I still do!"
Having a chance to see a legend like Lansbury really got me thinking (in a similar way to the first time I saw Patti LuPone live) about the nature of theater and how the best part about it is also the biggest bitch about it. Now Lansbury has been great film actress (3 Oscar nominees) and I can go watch any of those performances any time I want. But I have so much more desire to see something like her Mrs. Lovett in the original cast of Sweeney Todd, or her take on Mamma Rose in the 1974 Gypsy revival. But I'm just not going to be able to. Ever. It's kind of depressing. I mean, the same goes for some of LuPone's other great roles (Reno in Anything Goes, Mrs. Lovett in the 05 Sweeney, and Evita), but the performance I saw (LuPone's Mamma Rose) is going to go down as one of her greats, one of her trademarks. As amazing and hilarious as Lansbury was as Madame Arcati, it's sort of an afterthought to her illustrious career. I'll never be able to see those roles that define her. Like I said, kind of depressing.
I have a really strong desire to go watch some Murder, She Wrote right now.
Updated On: 3/7/09 at 10:28 AM
