Monday, March 22, 2010

The Cherry Sisters Revisited


The Cherry Sisters, a favorite vaudeville act of ours, have been immortalized in a play by Dan O'Brien, The Cherry Sisters Revisited, now playing at Actors Theatre Louisville as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Read Jeffrey Scott Holland's review of it on Louisville Mojo by clicking here.

Oscar Hammerstein, desperate for something new to rile the rubes in his jaded Broadway audiences, deliberately booked the Cherry Sisters - who were already infamous for their inept lack of (consensus) talent. He knew the spectacle of their failure would make for some good - if cruel - entertainment at the expense of the women's dignity. In other words, Hammerstein was doing a sort of Cabaret of the Nameless routine even before the Germans.

Thursday, March 11, 2010