"Forbidden Broadway" spoof of "Night Mother" w/ Edie Falco?

[EthelMinnelli]

Posted: 5/14/09 at 2:47am

Question about a joke in the spoof of Edie Falco in "Night Mother" on the recording of "Forbidden Broadway SVU".... Brenda Blethyn (played hilariously by Jennifer Simard) comes out and talks to Edie and at first has a British accent. She then says "I'll switch to a rural twang and get your father's gun...". She then has the Southern twang for the rest of the number. What exactly is this joke/accent change in reference to?? I saw the show, but for some reason, I just don't get it.
Updated On: 5/14/09 at 02:47 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/14/09 at 3:30am

Blethyn is British. The character is supposed to have a Southern American accent. A lot of the critics complained that Blethyn failed at capturing the accent and she sounded more like she was from Wales than the deep American South.

I personally disagreed with this. I thought her accent and performance were exceptional, and I never would have known she was British if someone didn't tell me.

Falco, on the other hand, failed at the accent, and her performance was terrible.

It was a shame, because it is such an important play, and rather than cast the right actress as Jessie, they let Edie Falco use the revival as her own vanity project.