Mimi LeDuck

Last Tuesday I went to see a preview of Annie Golden's new musical, Mimi LeDuck. Okay, it's off-broadway, but it's still Annie Golden, and she's always worth seeing no matter what she's doing.

And I'm not just saying that because Annie herself gave me the free ticket. (One of those friend of a friend deals.)

Go and hear her sing. Her voice is some sort of miracle, you know? Unfortunately, the material does not live up to her voice. She really needs a musical written just for her. Somewhere along the way, she seems to have fallen in between the cracks -- the wrong look, the wrong age, the wrong time. With her voice, comic timing and stage presence, she should have been a big star. A big, big star.

So back to the show.

The producers exhumed Eartha Kitt to play the landlady of the boarding house. I have to admit being a little worried that CatWoman was going to use up her last life and drop dead onstage, but that worry was only surpassed by my concern that Tom Aldredge (aka Hugh DeAngelis, Carmela Soprano's father) would expire before he could catch her, and there would be a heap of elderly mouldering flesh onstage and the 2nd half of the story would be ruined.

(Well, maybe that would ruin it for some people. Probably not for me. Me, I loved the suspense of watching Eartha wobble a couple of times on her high red heels, wondering if the cast could improv a broken hip into the plot.)

The high point of the night, besides the Eartha cliffhanger, was meeting an actor from my very favorite musical of all time, 1776. William Duell played McNair, the Congressional custodian. Out of nostalgia, I went home and watched the DVD again. Verrrry interesting, if you watch in the context of our current administration.

So, anyway. I did love the theme of Mimi LeDuck -- casting off your humdrum life to follow your heart and your dreams. It was very, very relevant to me and where I am in my life. But, alas, the songs just didn't live up to it. There wasn't that one song that sticks with you.

I'm the biggest, most sentimental sap on the planet (besides my dad), so if a musical doesn't jerk my tears at least once, then it's just not working.

Final Analysis: For die-hard Annie Golden fans only. Book & music need work.