Die, Mommie, Die!

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Die Mommie Die!
Directed by Mark Rucker
Produced by Dante Di Loreto
Anthony Edwards
Bill Kenwright
Written by Charles Busch (play, screenplay)
Starring Charles Busch
Jason Priestley
Frances Conroy
Philip Baker Hall
Stark Sands
Music by Dennis McCarthy
Cinematography Kelly Evans
Editing by Philip Harrison
Distributed by Sundance Film Series
Release date(s) October 31, 2003
Running time 94 minutes
Country USA
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Die, Mommie, Die! is a 1999 comedic play written by Charles Busch, who also plays the lead role (in drag). Partly spoof and partly homage, it draws heavily on the tropes and themes of American "Grande Dame Guignol" movies from the 1950s and 1960s that featured strong, sometimes dominating female leads, such as those by Bette Davis (Dead Ringer), Joan Crawford( What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), and Lana Turner (Portrait in Black). It was adapted for film in 2003 under the same name; Charles Busch wrote the screenplay and it was directed by Mark Rucker. Busch's 40+ costumes were designed by Bottari and Case, his longtime costume designers who are award winning New York theatre costume and set designers

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie opens with Angela Arden (Charles Busch) kneeling in front of her twin sister Barbara's grave. Angela is a lounge singer who is attempting to resuscitate her floundering career. She's unhappily married to her movie-director husband Sol Sussman (Philip Baker Hall), who is always constipated. They have two children together–Lance (Stark Sands), who is effete and simple-minded, and Edith (Natasha Lyonne), a "daddy's girl" who is openly contemptuous of her mother. Also living in the house is the snoopy maid Bootsie (Frances Conroy), who is infatuated with Sol. Bored and unhappy, Angela begins cheating on her husband with Tony Parker (Jason Priestly), a tennis playing "lothario" and failed actor who is reputed to be well endowed.

Sol finds out after hiring a private detective to follow Angela around. He confronts her about it but he refuses to divorce her. Instead, he give her "life in prison". Not only does he cancel all of Angela's credit cards, he forbids her from performing at an engagement in New York, destroying the contract before she has a chance to sign it. Feeling trapped and eager to get her hands on her husband's money, Angela poisons an ever-constipated Sol with an arsenic-laced suppository.

Despite the fact that Angela receives virtually nothing in Sol's will, her children, along with the maid Bootsie, begin to suspect Angela's involvement. And the suspicious circumstances of Sol's death bring old questions about Angela's sister's untimely death to light. Edith–and later Lance–hatch a plot to get her to confess. Meanwhile, Tony Parker successfully seduces both the children, taking an unusual interest in the details surrounding Aunt Barbara's death. The children eventually get Angela to confess her crimes by lacing her drink with LSD.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Catchphrases

"You've slipped into my life as easily as vermouth into a glass of gin... quickly and just a bit too smooth" Charles Busch as Angela Arden

[edit] DVD

The region 1 DVD was released on June 29, 2004.

[edit] New York premiere

In 2007, the play is being produced in New York for the first time. It will open for previews on October 10 at the New World Stages Off Broadway. The official opening night will be October 21, 2007. The cast will include Charles Busch recreating his original roles, Van Hansis (of CBS television's As the World Turns), Bob Ari, Chris Hoch, Ashley Morris, and Kristine Nielsen. The run is closed, and scheduled to end in January 2008.

[edit] External links