Thursday, June 26, 2014

Lindsay Lohan to Debut in West End Production


Well, this was a surprise in stage news today!

It was announced today that Lindsay Lohan will star in a West End production of David Mamet's Hollywood satire, Speed-the-Plow.  What does everyone think of that casting choice?  The last time the play was produced on Broadway, Jeremy Piven abruptly left the production and had to be replaced.  Both Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy stepped in to play the part through the run.  

Lohan will play Karen, a producer's secretary who is filling in for a short time.  Karen is also relatively new to the Hollywood game.  The original production opened in the early summer of 1988, and it starred Joe Mantegna, Ron Silver, and Madonna as Karen.  Were people just as flabbergasted by the news of the Material Girl's Broadway debut as they are about the news of Lohan?  The New York Times' Frank Rich gave Madonna a good notice in his review:

"It's a relief to report that this rock star's performance is safely removed from her own Hollywood persona.  Madonna serves Mr. Mamet's play much as she did the Susan Seidelman film Desperately Seeking Susan, with intelligent. scrupulously disciplined comic acting.  She delivers the shocking transitions essential to the action and needs only more confidence to relax a bit and fully command her speaking voice."  

Not a bad notice for someone whose film performances are regarded with snickers and jokes.  Perhaps Lindsay Lohan, once considered one of the better actresses of her generation, will pull it off?  I've always liked her on screen (even in the dreadful The Canyons), so I'm going to say the glass is half full.  Or at least the garbage can is half full.  


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