Naked in New York Again!
With Broadway facing falling ticket sales, promoters have decided to fall back on the one thing that always guarantees cheeks on the seats (and wadded up tissue under them), female nudity.
To that (rear) end, Mr Skin Hall-of-Famer Mary-Louise Parker will take the stage and do what she does breast!
Hedda Gabler, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s classic story of a neurotic woman who attempts to make a success of her husband with disastrous results, opens at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway this month with Weeds star Mary-Louise in the lead.
In playing the starring role, she will be joining a long list of actresses who have played Hedda.
The list includes some true stars of stage and skinema, including Ingrid Bergman, Annette Bening, Kelly McGillis, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, and Martha Plimpton.
Nudography has posted some of the play’s reviews that detail the nudity therein:
From the Newsday review:
Except for a couple of erotic flourishes - including a nonsensical opening shot of Parker's bare butt and breast - this is a stodgy and straightforward version of the Ibsen's pioneering mad-housewife classic.
From the Variety review:
"Rickson (the director) opens with the odd choice of placing Parker's Hedda asleep on an upstage day bed, lying bare-assed with her back to the audience and her dress hiked up around her waist."
From the Daily News review:
"As the lights come up, Hedda (Mary-Louise Parker) is seen curled up in her nightie on a daybed, her naked fanny in plain sight, thanks to a conveniently angled mirror in her new home."
For the sake of the Great White Way, Mr Skin wishes she had gone full-frontal.
As every promoter knows, thickets sell tickets!
