neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Die Mommie Die!
	Mark Rucker Charles Busch, Natasha Lyonne, Jason Priestley, Frances Conroy, Philip Baker Hall, Stark Sands 2003		Grande dame of drag/camp playwright Charles Busch received wide critical acclaim for his "straight" play "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife," which didn't feature the author in a female role or even on stage. But that didn't quash his desire to don a dress and lampoon Hollywood archetypes. His witty, knowing parody "Die Mommie Die!" — spoofing "women's pictures" from the '40s to the '60s, especially those crime melodramas with aging divas — began life as a stage play, the same route taken by the film version of Busch's surf-movie burlesque "Psycho Beach Party." Going for wacky, loving tribute rather than caricature in "Die Mommie Die!," Busch channels Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford and other screen queens in his portrayal of has-been singer Angela Arden. Angela, with a Hollywood lifestyle of empty luxury, is tortured by her memories of faded success. She lashes out at her husband (Philip Baker Hall), an in-debt producer; she strikes up a sexual liaison with a young, handsome gigolo (Jason Priestley); and she bickers with her daddy-obsessed daughter (Natasha Lyonne), flaming gay son (Stark Sands), and carping maid (Frances Conroy). Though murder is afoot, Busch's performance as Angela is the real killer.