Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now reunites the original Tracy, Penny, and Amber of Broadway’s Hairspray at New World Stages, opening tonight! Read the reviews!
Tony Award-winner Marissa Jaret Winokur (What We Do in the Shadows), Tony Award-nominee Kerry Butler (Xanadu), and Tony Award-nominee Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde The Musical) will spend the evening not only telling stories about the show that launched all their careers but the many shows after— singing from the hits that made you fall in love with them.
The three have 16 Broadway shows and over 200 episodes of television between them from Beetlejuice to Big Brother … from Mean Girls to Legally Blonde The Musical… Dancing with the Stars to Beauty and the Beast … Wicked to Gypsy … and even the Country Music Awards!
Join these mamas – along with the Ramone C. Cortines School of the Visual and Performing Arts student choir – on a hilarious and meaningful musical journey about their origins, friendship, careers, and children! For many decades these three performers played teenagers on stage, now see the full-bloomed divas they have become, and the value of lifelong friendship. Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now is a night of Broadway music and
stories you will never forget.
David Finkle, New York Stage Review: Readers who may not be entirely polite might wonder which of the three strong singers has the strongest voice. The answer: each of them. All the more reason to catch their non-stop, often uproarious act.
Caroline Cao, New York Theatre Guide: The actresses’ tales collide in other clever ways. When Bundy and Butler reenact their childhood glory days as models and pageant queens, an envious Winokur was not as blessed with performance opportunities. (Winokur eventually ended up the only Tony winner among them.) Other mentions of less pleasant incidents from their lives, such as Liza Minnelli making an insensitive comment on Winokur’s body, open a critique of the theatre industry’s fatphobia, but this show feels such topics are meant for another time. At Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now!, we simply bask in the women’s glitter.
Adam Feldman, Time Out New York: There isn’t much to look at beyond the stars; the barely-there set consists of faux vanities and a screen for vintage pics and silly Photoshops. But the show’s DIY aesthetic is part of its charm. And while the script can be pat, and the medleys messy, the solo numbers prove that all three are more versatile than the molds in which they tend to get cast. Bundy shines as a physical comedian and mimic—her Celine Dion impression could get her booked on Titanique—and Butler’s enchanting version of The Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World” is a reminder that beyond her quirkiness and powerhouse pipes, she’s quite a moving actor. More than any individual performance, however, the show is notable for the women’s enviable camaraderie in a ruthless business that sometimes put them in competition with each other. You can’t stop the BFFs!
Average Rating:
80.0%
.
