Mildred Fierce – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Photos by Michael Von Redlich
Winner of the 2013 Elliot Norton Award for Best Play/Musical
, Mildred Fierce is a crazy, colorful musical parody of Joan Crawford’s Oscar-winning 1945 film drama, Mildred Pierce.
Glamorous drag queen Varla Jean Merman stars in this Gold Dust Orphans production as its title character — a loving mother, neglected wife, and phenomenal baker, who is literally and figuratively the sole “breadwinner” of her family. When Fierce’s unemployed, cheating husband leaves her to raise their two daughters on her own, she joins the workforce in order to keep her family afloat.
In a hilarious yet heart-wrenching journey filled with scandalous twists, Mildred Fierce struggles to strike it rich in the food service business in the hope of fulfilling the infinite material wants of her scheming, money-hungry daughter, Veda (played by Penny Champayne), for whom Fierce unwittingly sacrifices everything — from her fortune to her wits — by the play’s end.
Bolstered by witty wordplay and jocular musical numbers, the outrageous production presents the wacky, naughty tale of an ambitious and passionate woman whose priorities are at times out of sort, but whose heart is always in the right place.
Recommended if. . .
- You enjoy farcical, slapstick, and unconventional theatrics;
- You admire a man who can strut his stuff in heels better than any lady you know;
- You applaud dark, comedic plots packed with sexual innuendos;
- You’re looking to entertain anyone except children, the Pope, and super conservatives; or
- You take pleasure in watching boisterous, dynamic, and completely unrestrained characters go wild on stage; and
- A little actor and audience interaction doesn’t bother you.
LOCATION
Theatre 80
80 St. Mark’s Place
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
1 hour 30 minutes, 1 intermission
TICKETS
$25 – $35 (click here for tickets)
DATES
Performances on Saturdays and Sundays through October 27th
NEWS & REVIEWS
News
Youtube
Interview with Varla Jean Merman
New York Times
There Is Nothing Like This Dame
Out
If you want to see a woman suffer, go to Theater 80 St. Marks for Ryan Landry’s Mildred Fierce—a zippy, funny spoof of the old melodrama about the hard working mother continually forgiving her spiteful, social climbing daughter.
Reviews
New York Times
Mildred Fierce, a musical spoof of — really, do I need to tell you? — opened on Saturday night at Theater 80 on St. Marks Place. It’s the kind of goofy, bawdy, anything-goes diversion that might kick off a festive night on the town in that popular gay resort destination.
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Book and Lyrics by Ryan Landry
Directed by James P. Byrne
Featuring Varla Jean Merman, Penny Champayne, Grace Carney, Chris Loftus, Olive Another, R.J. Manley, John Pirroni, Ryan Landry, and William York