Oscar and the Pink Lady- Angela Lansbury, Saturday 3/11 (Spoilers)

Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:39am

Absolutely amazing performance. I know someone else has posted on the Sunday show further down, which I haven't read yet, so forgive any redundancy.
PLOT SPOILERS:
Oscar and the Pink Lady is about a ten year old boy with leukemia named Oscar, and his relationship with "Grannie Rose" - his favorite of the volunteer candy stripers who work at his hospice. On December 19, Grannie Rose makes two suggestions: that he write to God about what he's thinking, and that he live each day as though it were ten years of his life. What spirals out of that is a heart-rending narrative of his curious, innocent faith and his "aging" - come Christmas Eve, he writes fondly about being in his forties and having a mid-life crisis, naturally leading up to his final letter to God, at the age of "110", on New Year's Day, before he dies.

Lansbury explained to the audience (a full house, at all of I think 120 seats) that she was testing the material to develop into a solo show. Clad in a loose black pants, a pink blouse, and a scarf, she showed all the chops that have made her a star. Over the course of ninety minutes, she took us through those last days of Oscar's life, playing him and all the characters. Now although Grannie Rose - a former wrestler turned candy striper with a keep-yer-chin-up attitude - is no doubt the perfect character role for her, the real revelation was her portrayal of Oscar. Since it was just a reading, no staging, just her and a music stand and a glass of water, there was no physicality to separate the characters. Yet she was able to perfectly convey the essence and spirit of Oscar with subtle pitches of tone, that brought the character to life just as well as if she were that ten year old boy.

Not much more can be said - a truly once in a lifetime event. We sat in the second row, and also had the opportunity to speak with her afterwards. She was a charming woman, urging some friends of hers there to drive safely, then later apologizing if she mumbled at times (she didn't).

Overheard: In attendance that night was Len Cariou's wife, who was sending along his regards. She asked Angela if she would be taking it to New York as a one woman show, and the reply was an affirmative one. So watch for it!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 1:50am

Wow, well if Lansbury feels up to developing a one woman 90 minute show, that should put to rest any rumours about her being "up" to doing 8 shows a week as Madame Armfeldt or maybe even THE VISIT. I think most of us were expecting her role in this to be fairly limited!

Posted: 3/13/06 at 2:31am

To add to the sheer..."whoa you're eighty years old but still doing that" factor.... she stood for the entire reading, except for about twenty minutes after intermission, and only took one sip of water at the very very end.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/13/06 at 2:33am

I wish I were in LA...