Production Stage Manager, James Harker, Stage Manager, Pamela Singer, Joan Allen as Bette Brennan, Patricia Falkenhain as Margaret Brennan, her mother, Bill McCutcheon as Paul Brennan, her father, Mercedes Ruehl as Joan Brennan, her sister, Kathryn Grody as Emily Brennan, her sister, Graham Beckel as Boo Hudlocke, Bill Moor as Karl Hudlocke, his father, Olympia Dukakis as Soot Hudlocke, his mother, Richard B. Shull as Father Donnally/Doctor, Christopher Durang as Matt, Note: During the final week, Dalton Dearborn and Ann Hillary played Karl and Soot. Now he is one of the masters. Bette and Boo have one child, Matt, who narrates the story of his parents' marriage, children, divorce, and so on that ultimately leads to their downfall and eventually death. Watched this at KCACTF, region VII in 2010. Correct the capitalization in each sentence. Hands down. And laugh. extraordinarily delicate black-comic art balancing, modulating, controlling the giddiness of "Bette and Boo" is a sympathetic, wondering sadness. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. But ''Bette and Boo'' is a searing tour de force with no respect for babies, let alone adults. Their son Matt (Skippy) is the narrator for many of the scenes, sometimes commenting on events in which he could not have . Durang, Christopher. Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Marriage of Bette and Boo The dark humor in this play can be very funny. His angriest and most mature work. The Marriage Of Bette And Boo Author Christopher Durang Year Written 1985 Original Cast Bette Brennan - Joan Allen Margaret Brennan, her mother - Patricia Falkenhain Paul Brennan, her father - Bill McCutcheon Joan Brennan, her sister - Mercedes Ruehl Emily Brennan, her sister - Kathryn Grody Boo Hudlocke - Graham Beckel A brilliant and satirical dissection of the modern American family, the play is. Solo! 200 views, 1 likes, 1 loves, 11 comments, 28 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from AngThe: PANO PA BAGONG RAN NANAMAN FIERCE RAN EP9 BETATEST CHECK NATIN (Gosh, I sound like Sister Mary Ignatius explaining the Immaculate Conception.) Get help and learn more about the design. The play centers around Bette and Boo, who at the outset of the play have just gotten married. Boo is a problem drinker whose alcoholism worsens throughout the play until it tears apart the titular marriage. Reared in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Christopher Durang spent his childhood acting out plays that he based on television and movie characters. Then Bettes family includes a cheerful dominating mother who refuses to let anybody talk about anything, and a super-sensitive sister Emily who apologizes all the time, and a bitter sister Joan with whom Bette is competitive. It is unsaid what becomes of their parents, but Bette's sister Emily remains with a now much older Matt. I cant solve it because its entered popular culture but Bette Davis name was Bet, one syllable, Davis. [PDF] Production Promptbook For Christopher Durangs The Marriage Of The entire cast of this production gave wonderful performances, the sort that makes authors grateful. And cast members Mercedes Ruhel and Olympia Dukakis both won Oscars in the years following, Mercedes forThe Fisher King, and Olympia forMoonstruck. Please make sure JavaScript is enabled and then try loading this page again. They sit at Bette's bedside, as she has now caught a deadly disease. He didnt say anything. Definitely a dark read, and one to check out if you want to read all the Durang cannon. Performed against blood-red walls with a minimum of props, the tale's 10 characters initially enact the titular pairing of lovebirds Bette and Boo. The play, which earned an Obie, enjoyed critical and popular success and has been viewed as an important breakthrough in Durang's career. Interview: Jesmille Darbouze on Her Role in A Dolls House on Broadway, Working Without Props and Why She Almost Stopped Acting, Interview: Lilah Fitzgerald Talks Dream Come True Roles in Monster High and Lucky Hank, Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk Shrinking, Finding Actors and More. The play is set in various areas that highlight the relationship of Bette and Boo. Bette is heartbroken. TV best bets with Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, Zac Efron, Bette Chris Appleton and Lukas Gage made their love permanent. This leaves Bette hopeless, and causes the story to only go downhill from there. Bette and Boo marry and set about having the large, happy family that Bette always dreamed of. Amongst the chaos fighting, both must deal with their wacky families: Bettes mother and father, who suffered a stroke and now speaks in unintelligible gibberish; Boos sadistic father, fond of calling his long-suffering wife the dumbest woman in the world; Bettes sister, ridden with anxiety and constantly apologizing for everything; the family priest, fond of impersonating bacon. Believe me it wasn't my direction. ), a master of comedy with a mordant, absurd and often heartbreaking edge. The play is in two acts, and for the most part, the happy occurrences all begin and end in Act I. I dont like the cello, its too much work and besides, keeping my legs open that way made me feel funny. Conveyed in a series of dazzlingly inventive interconnected scenes, the play moves on through three decades of divorce, alcoholism, madness and fatal illness while Matt grows up and tries, without much success, to make sense of it all. Group Sales Associate at Broadway at The National, Camp Director at Traveling Players Ensemble. Ever. Boo is a problem drinker whose alcoholism worsens throughout the play until it tears apart the titular marriage. The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From 1-900-Desperate Women in a Playground Phyllis & Xenobia Desire, Desire, Desire Medea One Minute Play John and Mary Doe Diversions The Nature and Purpose of the Universe 'dentiry Crisis Death Comes to Us All, Mary Agnes Titanic The Actor's Nightmare Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You A loving man who has been rendered unintelligible by a stroke. A brilliant and satirical dissection of the modern American family, the play is Durang's most autobiographical work. The Marriage Of Bette And Boo. Family Drama 'Bette and Boo' Hits Home - The Harvard Crimson My favorite play by Durang. Please read this play. The humor was forced and lame & I ended up attempting to speed read through the last 20 pages or so, just to be done with the thing. Durang, Christopher. Her father seems probably sweet, but due to a stroke nothing he says can be understood. By the time I wrote my play, because of Bette Davis nickname of Betty, most people came to believe that one of the ways to spell Betty is Bette, or Bett-e. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format. She understands that she has problems with her family, and thinks it wise to consult Father Donnally, a Roman Catholic priest, for an answer to all the madness. Bette is an airheaded Catholic girl, who's got no real knowledge of the world. The Marriage of Bette and Boo Kindle Edition - amazon.com Maximizing the flaws in each of the characters, the overall theme is the contrast between outward appearance and reality of family life. Though they never reach Matts level of realism (and even he is decidedly and delightfully odd), their failures as people become comprehensible and therefore sympathetictheyre victims of their own humanity. Although long divorced, Boo has continued to care for Bette. Soot, however, is a noticeable pushover who lets Karl torment her whenever he feels it necessary. The Marriage of Bette and Boo, first produced in 1973, was rewritten to open at the Public Theatre in 1985. New York Shakespeare Festival (Joseph Papp, President) at the Public/Newman Theatre in New York City . (Dukakis, Moor, Beckel), Matt tries to decipher the garbled speech of the divorce lawyer. Complete the following conversations that you overhear in school. Bette solemnly wants a normal life filled with love and respect with her husband Boo, but unfortunately Boo cannot give that to her. The main conflict of the story begins when Bette announces she is pregnant with Matt. (Durang, Allen, Beckel). Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! I think He punishes them in general for no reason. You always had a good sense of humor, Bette says. Soon, the joyous birth of their son Matt occurs, but that joy is short-lived as what follows in their married life rarely brings Bette and Boo . This presents or depicts what a loving husband would go through in this certain situation, and the hospital bed presents these emotions in a more mature manner than in any other setting. "Bette and Boo" presents the story of a young couple in the 1950s and follows the breakdown of their idyllic marriage, as told by their adult son. The Marriage of Bette and Boo. (Acting Edition for Theater Productions