Who remembers WOMEN BEHIND BARS?

[morosco]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 4:04pm

Saw a production of Tom Eyen's Women Behind Bars directed by Ron Link in San Fran in the early eighties. Starred Lu Leonard as "The Matron". A rioutously over the top campy production parodying those women-in-prison movies. Hysterically funny. The original production off-Broadway starred Divine. I wonder if it would be a hit today? Would love to see it made into a musical.
Updated On: 3/17/07 at 04:04 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 4:08pm

Absolutely loved it!

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 4:19pm

Anyone think it could be a musical?

[cooperross]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 4:22pm

I saw it in L.A. in the early 80s..started at a small theatre here then moved to, of all places, The Roxy on the Sunset Strip.

Ran for quite awhile..in addition to Lu Leonard [R.I.P] it also featured Brandis Kemp as Louise, Adrienne Barbeau as Gloria, Deborah Harmon as Blanche and Jennifer Holmes as Mary.

It ran for awhile..after Barbeau left Sally Kellerman played Gloria, and other cast changes included Susan Barnes as Louise and Linda Blair as Mary.

[yes..I saw it quite a few times....]

Updated On: 3/17/07 at 04:22 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 5:31pm

Coincidence.
'Women-in-Prison' Musical Slammer! to Play FringeNYC

[Wicked63]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 9:57pm

It was done in london in the mid 90s in a very cheap production in a small theatre in the basement of a bar. It had fantastic reviews and extended its run. On the same theme of women behind bars, a major new musical called 'Bad Girls' opens in Londons West End in August. This show is based on a very successful TV show.
Theres obviously a market for shows with 'women beind bars' out there. In the late 90s there was yet another musical called 'Prisoner Cell Block H' that had a successful limited season in the West End at the Queens Theatre.
PS in the London WBB all the inmates were played by drag queens!
Updated On: 7/6/07 at 09:57 PM

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 10:05pm

And there's the delightfully campy movie "Reform School Girls" starring Pat Ast and Wendy O. Williams.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 10:53pm

Oh wow. I saw that in SF at the Alcazar. I thought no one else would remember.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 10:56pm

We may have sat next to one another Mr. Tuttle. I was at one of the late shows billed as "Wild Midnight Jail Break".

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 10:57pm

Oh i thought this was the title of the Paris Hilton Lifetime Movie

[morosco]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 11:15pm

[Wicked63]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 11:17pm

I love old theatre posters.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 11:18pm

I don't approve of women behind bars. It only leads to indecent behavior amongst the patrons they serve.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 1:08am

oh, my... this question does take me back... it was may of 1975, what a wonderful birthday... i remember those nights sleeping on the murphy bed on the stage at the truck at warehouse theatre with t... um... never mind

~

Updated On: 7/11/07 at 01:08 AM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 1:10am

I LOVE this play.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 6:35am

One of my very first pieces of professional design, for a small company in Vancouver. What a wonderful script -- but then Tom Eyen is really a neglected genius, IMHO. His Why Gilda is so Grey is a demented piece of writing -- as is the rest of the "Sisters" trilogy.

But, a musical? Sorry, no. The original is a great satire of a standing film format, and to musicalize it would just add a slather of gild to an already lovely lily.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 6:42am

completely agree with you, sean.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 6:44am

"to musicalize it would just add a slather of gild to an already lovely lily."

That sounds really pretty, though.

[alterego]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:32am

Now this is weird...today I was sorting through a pile of papers and out onto the floor dropped the script for WOMEN BEHIND BARS. I had completely forgotten I had it, and now here you all are talking about it. Spooky.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:34am

you're not thinking of turning it into a musical now, are you?

[alterego]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:38am

No lol, it's best left as it is. There was an Australian production in Sydney in the early 90's, but it was a flop. It opened in a 700+ seat theatre, probably an unwise decision.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:48am

LOL, yes, it probably was! how could you get Sydney's 2800 most hardcore queens to keep coming back to see the show again and again that often?

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 9:59am

ah... well... i just thought of a few answers to that question, didn't i?
lol

[TimeSuckage]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 1:38pm

"I saw it in L.A. in the early 80s..started at a small theatre here then moved to, of all places, The Roxy on the Sunset Strip.

Ran for quite awhile..in addition to Lu Leonard [R.I.P] it also featured Brandis Kemp as Louise, Adrienne Barbeau as Gloria, Deborah Harmon as Blanche and Jennifer Holmes as Mary.

It ran for awhile..after Barbeau left Sally Kellerman played Gloria, and other cast changes included Susan Barnes as Louise and Linda Blair as Mary.

[yes..I saw it quite a few times....] "

Probably saw you there, I saw it at the Roxy about 5 times, it became the thing to do on Sat nights. Lu Leonard was awesome!

I directed a production of this in college. They wouldn't let us do the nudity, but everything else we got away with.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 5:18pm

I have to say, the first time I saw Adrian Zmed's entrance at the T&W in NYC, I found it hard to catch my breath for a while. (well, i was 20... that happened a lot back then.)