Running in Sunday's Arts & Leisure. With a great photo.
Eight women experienced at working the New York stage: standing from left, Janet McTeer, Harriet Walter, Jane Alexander, Allison Janney and Alice Ripley; seated from left, Tovah Feldshuh, Angela Lansbury and Liza Minnelli.
Forget the Ingenues, Cue the Grown Ups
Links not working, but that's a wonderful photo.
Should be working now.
Also, there's a terrific related Women on Stage audio slide show.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/05/24/theater/20090524-patricia-cohen-women-on-broadway-multimedia/index.html
Wonderful article, with valid points about the lack of worthwhile roles for older women in Hollywood.
That was a great article, and really got me thinking about how great it has been to have all these wonderful actresses on Broadway. I hope the trend continues.
Thanks for the link!
this was definitely an interesting article, but I wish they'd even gone back a few years to talk about, like, Margaret Johnson in Light in the Piazza and the Edies in Grey Gardens as fabulous new roles for women over 40. this is definitely a trend that's getting stronger, though. thank goodness.
Incidentally, the laughter in that photo happened after Harriet Walter had finished telling a story about an elderly patron at Mary Stuart with an infrared hearing device saying very loudly to his wife, "THIS ISN'T BLITHE SPIRIT! WHERE THE HELL IS ANGELA LANSBURY?"
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Once again, I have to wonder who writes these articles? Obviously nobody with a sense of theater.
How can an article like this be written and ignore Marian Seldes? Seldes was in the Guiness Book of World Records as being a performer who had performed the most continuous performances in a show (was it 4 years straight?). I think she was 50 at the time. While not currently on Broadway, she is in an off-Broadway show based on some Dorothy Parker writings. I think she's somewhere around 80.
I realize that they feel these articles need to be sexy and describe big names like Sarandon, Lansbury, etc. but the article also ignores the work of many other over-40 actresses.
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