Re-discovering the Golden West

Mae West did many things in her long career, but perhaps her most notable achievement was the invention of Mae West. Claudia Shear makes this point in her seamless, three-actor hit, “Dirty Blonde” - A play with music. Nominated for seven Tony awards when it debuted in New York in 2000, “Dirty Blonde” carries us nimbly from present to past and back again as easily as flipping through pages of a movie magazine.

She was a “tough girl.” She didn’t get excited, she just got what she wanted - and Mae wanted nothing less than fame, fortune, and the adoration of the masses - especially men. It wasn’t always easy, but her gift for the quick double entendre and her unapologetic sexuality never failed her. From burlesque houses to accusations of vulgarity in vaudeville, Mae instinctively understood that there was no such thing as “bad” publicity. She started writing her own material, made it to Hollywood, and, so the story goes, saved Paramount from bankruptcy during the Depression with “She Done Him Wrong.”

“Dirty Blonde” follows her career from the early days to trembling old age, all brought to life on the strength of Emily Skinner whose take on West is nothing short of astonishing. Nor is this a cheap, obvious imitation. Skinner gets to the heart of the “real” Mae, the Brooklyn gal who “found what worked and froze it.” And she is never so good as when she is doing the elderly, slightly pathetic Mae, still made-up, still bewigged, sitting by her window listening to the tour bus guides point out her home.

It’s only right that an image carefully designed and guarded in life should be revered by a small but ardent following of otherwise quiet, nondescript folk. Here is where Skinner, playing a working actress named Jo, and Hugh Nees as Charlie, a film archivist, meet for the first time at Mae’s tomb on the anniversary of her death. Charlie, a gentleman of limited sex appeal but urgent secret cravings, has the advantage of actually having met and befriended the aging star. Jo, of course, is impressed, and the friendship gets off to its uncertain start.

Though Nees plays “and others” — men from Mae’s life including the judge who tried her on public indecency charges — the glimpse into Charlie’s private longing for that strong-minded, wit-snapping, sexually carnivorous woman adds an unexpected dimension to Mae West’s legacy. Female impersonators don’t always have to be men; if anything, Mae led the way.

The third column holding up “Dirty Blonde” is J. Fred Shiffman who glides effortlessly through his multiple roles — piano player, agent, producer, muscleman, and Frank Wallace, her first (some say her only) husband. (“I used to play The Palace, now I just play the ponies.”) His song and dance routine with Nees and Skinner in “Pose-ies” gives a whimsical nod to the “Pansy Crazy” of the period.

Under Jeremy Skidmore’s direction, complex changes in time and place blink to life with simple clarity before melting into the next. Set in Signature’s intimate Ark theatre, Daniel Conway’s scene and lighting design includes footlights, framed lighting, simple sliding scrims, an upright piano, and a brick wall against which period photos are projected, suggesting without duplicating the feel of early, transient American vaudeville.

Helen Huang’s costumes perform their competent day work on ordinary mortals, but turn spectacular when the job is to dress Miss West in glittering, hour-glass fitting fuchsia sequins and ostrich feathers.

It’s easy to come away from this sublimely compact hour and three-quarters performance with a tingling afterglow, but certain realities should be remembered. Mae West wasn’t a great beauty, she wasn’t even an actress. She was, however, an original; a funny, foxy, go-for-it woman who wasn’t intimidated by society at a time when society kept women in their place by intimidation. She was good at what she did, and she did the best Mae West imitation there ever was.

This column suggests that you go up and see her sometime — but make it sometime soon. It ends Oct. 4 and some performances are sold out.

Margaret Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches drama and English at CCHS.

Want to go?
What: “Dirty Blonde”
Where: Signature Theatre Arlington, Va.
Call: (703) 820-9771
Playing through Oct. 4