Was the Maggie Smith impersonation written because of Kristine Nielsen?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 2:56pm

Question-was the Maggie Smith impersonation written for Nielsen because it was something Durang knew she did amazingly. She kills that impression and it brings down the house (and sometimes her co-stars). It is responsible for the laughs in a good chunk of the show.

I just feel that other actresses may have trouble with it and its vital to the piece.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 2:58pm

Yep. Nielsen & Durang are old friends and she's done the impression for him for years so he wrote it into the script. I told her she kind of F*CKed over every single actress who's ever going to do the part after her.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:01pm

I was thinking it might secure her some nice work if she can get booked into many of the regional productions. It would be a huge selling point.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 8:18pm

She could also do whole plays as Maggie Smith. When I was a teenager, I saw Maggie Smith do Private Lives with her husband at the time, Robert Stephens (Toby Stephens's dad).

I would pay good money to see Kristine Nielsen as Maggie Smith in Private Lives.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 10:06pm

I wonder how her understudy did in the role, if she ever went on.