Whenever the irreplaceable author/drag performer Charles Busch writes or stars in a play, attention must be paid. When he stars in a play of his own creation, even closer attention must be paid. And when he co-stars in a new play of his own creation alongside one of the fiercest biologically-female divas of the stage and screen -- well, color me there!
Busch's The Third Story is now receiving its New York premiere at MCC Theater after a run at the La Jolla Playhouse, and the big news about this production -- in case you haven't heard -- is that Kathleen Turner has joined the cast.
"The play tells three stories in three different theatrical styles," say the author. "One of the stories is about a mother/son screenwriting team in the '40s, played by Kathleen and Jonathan Walker. Intercut with their story are scenes from the movie they ultimately will write, about a queen of the mob and her son. I play the queen of the mob. The third story is a fairy tale that the screenwriter had told her son when he was a kid; in that one, I play an old witch in a forest.
"I've never had the experience of doing a play first out of town," says Busch. "With my last couple of plays, after they were over, I would do post-mortems and think about changes I might have made if I'd had more time. My agent put out feelers to some of the regional theaters, and the La Jolla Playhouse bit; they commissioned me to write this play. I've done extensive rewrites since we opened there, and the design scheme for the New York production is completely different from what people saw in La Jolla."
So, how did Miss Turner become involved in the project? "The role of the woman screenwriter was originally based on my aunt," Busch tells me. "Mary Beth Peil played the part in La Jolla, and she was perfect for it as written. But then I started to rethink the role as a more garrulous, hard-drinking broad -- which is Kathleen Turner, not Mary Beth Peil! From what I understand, Kathleen had called Bernie Telsey at MCC about an idea she had for another project, and he asked her, 'Would you consider doing a play Off-Broadway?' She read my play and then she asked to meet with me and Carl Andress, our director. We went to her apartment and she said, 'Fellas, I'm intrigued, but not hooked.' But we talked for awhile, and she signed on the next day. We're so glad to have her."
[END]
