Mimi le Duck
Encyclopedia
Mimi le Duck is a musical
with book and lyrics by Diana Hansen-Young
and music by Brian Feinstein. Mimi Le Duck premiered at the Adirondack Theater Festival in 2004, followed by a run at the Fringe Festival that same year. The musical opened on November 6, 2006 Off-Broadway
at New World Stages. Directed by Tom Caruso, the cast featured Tom Aldredge
, Candy Buckley, Robert DuSold, Allen Fitzpatrick, Annie Golden
, Ken Jennings
, Marcus Neville and Eartha Kitt
, with musical staging by Matt West. The production closed on December 3, 2006 after 28 previews and 30 regular performances.
The musical had scenic design by Tony Award
-winner John Arnone; costume design by Tony Award-winner Ann Hould-Ward
; lighting design by David Lander
; and sound design by Tony Smolenski IV and Walter Trarbach.
The plot follows Miriam (Golden), a discontented Mormon
housewife from Ketchum, Idaho
, who, in a moment of desperate inspiration (and a visit from the ghost of Ernest Hemingway
), packs her bags and moves to Paris
, leaving behind her husband and her successful career as a painter of duck canvases for QVC
.
Frank Scheck of the New York Post
wrote:
Larry Worth of The Hollywood Reporter
wrote: "Accordingly, in the spirit of a show where bad puns and hoary platitudes rule, maybe it is fitting that "Mimi le Duck" brings new meaning to foul play."
Variety
s was similarly unimpressed stating: "How do you say 'vanity production' in French?"
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with book and lyrics by Diana Hansen-Young
Diana Hansen-Young
-Early life:Born Diana Hansen in Bellingham, Washington in 1947, she was the eldest of 6 children born to Audrey and Wally Hansen. Of her childhood there, she says "I was born into a community of depressed, Mormon Swedish farmers, who put away winter black on Memorial Day in favor of summer navy...
and music by Brian Feinstein. Mimi Le Duck premiered at the Adirondack Theater Festival in 2004, followed by a run at the Fringe Festival that same year. The musical opened on November 6, 2006 Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at New World Stages. Directed by Tom Caruso, the cast featured Tom Aldredge
Tom Aldredge
Thomas Ernest "Tom" Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor.-Life and career:Aldredge was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Lucienne Juliet and W. J. Aldredge, a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps...
, Candy Buckley, Robert DuSold, Allen Fitzpatrick, Annie Golden
Annie Golden
-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Golden began her career as the lead singer of The Shirts . During the early 1990s she performed as part of the duo Golden Carillo with Frank Carillo. They released three albums,Fire in Newtown, Toxic Emotion, and Back for More. She then returned to The Shirts...
, Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings (actor)
Ken Jennings is an actor most famous for his 1979 role as Tobias Ragg in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street...
, Marcus Neville and Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
, with musical staging by Matt West. The production closed on December 3, 2006 after 28 previews and 30 regular performances.
The musical had scenic design by Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winner John Arnone; costume design by Tony Award-winner Ann Hould-Ward
Ann Hould-Ward
Ann Hould-Ward is an American costume designer, primarily for the theatre and dance. She has designed the costumes for 19 Broadway productions . She won the 1994 Tony Award for Beauty and the Beast....
; lighting design by David Lander
David Lander
David L. Lander is an American actor, comedian, composer, musician, and baseball scout. David is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.- Biography :...
; and sound design by Tony Smolenski IV and Walter Trarbach.
The plot follows Miriam (Golden), a discontented Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
housewife from Ketchum, Idaho
Ketchum, Idaho
Ketchum is a city in Blaine County, Idaho, United States, in the central part of the state. The population was 3,003 at the 2000 census. It is in the Wood River Valley, adjacent to Sun Valley; the two communities share many resources and both sit in the same valley beneath Bald Mountain, with its...
, who, in a moment of desperate inspiration (and a visit from the ghost of Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
), packs her bags and moves to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, leaving behind her husband and her successful career as a painter of duck canvases for QVC
QVC
QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
.
Critical reception
The show received some of the worst reviews of the 2006-07 season. Neil Genzlinger's review in the New York Times was dismissive, focusing on the legendary status of Eartha Kitt, who plays but a minor role, stating that she was "really [the] only one character worth mentioning". The review went on to say that:
"[a]ssorted other characters materialize, all laboriously wacky. Diana Hansen-Young, who wrote the book and lyrics (the music is by Brian Feinstein), may be the kind of person whose idea of “outrageous” doesn’t go much further than Milton Berle."
Frank Scheck of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
wrote:
"As has become depressingly common lately in musicals, the score by Brian Feinstein (music) and Diana Hansen-Young (book and lyrics) is utterly generic and forgettable, failing to bring any life to the insipid scenario."
Larry Worth of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
wrote: "Accordingly, in the spirit of a show where bad puns and hoary platitudes rule, maybe it is fitting that "Mimi le Duck" brings new meaning to foul play."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s was similarly unimpressed stating: "How do you say 'vanity production' in French?"