Steel Magnolias (play)

Steel Magnolias is a stage play by American writer Robert Harling, based on his experience with his sister's death. The play is a comedy–drama about the bond amongst a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana.

The title suggests the "female characters are as delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel". The magnolia specifically references a magnolia tree they are arguing about at the beginning.^[1]

Synopsis

The play opens with discussion of Shelby's wedding day to her fiancé, Jackson, in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin at Truvy's in-home beauty parlour where the women regularly gather. It covers events over the next three years with Shelby's Type 1 diabetes and how the women interact at times with conflict but in the end resolved friends: Shelby's decision to have a child despite the complication that can result from the condition, Clairee's friendship with the curmudgeon Ouiser; Annelle's transformation from a shy, anxious newcomer in town to a good-time girl then repentant revival-tent Christian; and Truvy's relationships with the men in her family. Although the main storyline involves Shelby, her mother M'Lynn, and Shelby's medical battles, the underlying group-friendship among all six women is prominent throughout the drama.^[2]

Historical casting

Background

Based on the family experience of the play's author Robert Harling following the death in 1985 from diabetic complications of his sister Susan Harling-Robinson after the birth of his namesake nephew and failure of a family member donated kidney. A writer friend following the death advised him to write it down to come to terms with the experience. He did but originally as a short story to give his nephew an understanding of the child's deceased mother. It eventually evolved in ten days to a play performed Off-Broadway before being adapted for Steel Magnolias movie (1989).^[3]

Harling, maybe based on his short dry experience in the field of law ("not many laughs in Brown v. Board of Education")^[4] felt it important to include the way the characters utilized humor and lighthearted conversations to cope with the seriousness of the underlying situations. Harling wanted the audience to have a true representation of what his family endured during his sister's experience.

Production history

US Productions

The play originally opened Off-Broadway (with one set and an all-female cast although the voice of a male DJ on the radio is intermittent during the play with all male "characters" referenced only through dialogue) at the WPA Theatre, in New York City, on March 28, 1987, with Pamela Berlin as director.

The production transferred to the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 19, 1987, and closed on February 25, 1990 after 1,126 performances.^[5]Replacements during the original Off-Broadway run included Anne Pitoniak, Bette Henritze, Rita Gardner, and Maeve McGuire.

A US. National tour was launched in 1989. Marion Ross joined the tour as Clairee late in the run.^[6][7]

The play made its Broadway debut in 2005 and opened at the Lyceum Theatre, in previews starting on March 15, 2005 and officially opened April 4, and closed on July 31, 2005 after 23 previews and 136 performances. Directed by Jason Moore.

UK Productions

The premiere UK production opened in the West End in March 1989 at the Lyric Theatre; directed by Julia McKenzie.^[8]

It returned to the West End for a limited engagement at the Westminster Theatre March 30-April 9, 1990 in a production mounted by Rose Bruford College.

A tour of the show opened at the Theatre Royal Bath on 2 April 2012 and is scheduled to play at ten theatres including the Richmond Theatre in London during an eleven week run. Directed by David Gilmore.^[9]

International productions

Japan Production Staged by the Haiyuza Theatre Company from 14 November to 25 November 2007, in Tokyo, translated and directed by Hajime Mori. Cast: Mayuko Aoyama as Truvy, Kaoru Inoue as Annelle, Mayumi Katayam as Clairee, Midori Ando as Shelby, Atsuko Kawaguchi as M'Lynn and Minae as Ouiser.

Sweden Premiered November 16, 2008 at Vasateatern in Stockholm (with Robert Harling in attendance) titled "Blommor av Stål"; directed by Emma Bucht and translated by Klas Östergren and Edward af Sillén. The cast: Cecilia Nilsson as Truvy, Pernilla August as M'Lynn, Melinda Kinnaman as Shelby, Suzanne Reuter as Ouiser, Linda Ulvaeus as Annelle and Gunilla Nyroos as Clairee.

Ireland Staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin September 11–22 September 2012, Ben Barnes, director and on country-wide tour until October 19, 2012. The cast included Mischa Barton and Anne Charleston.^[10][11]

Screen Adaptations

Film

• Steel Magnolias (film)

The play was adapted as a film in 1988 and released in 1989, with a screenplay also by Harling and directed by Herbert Ross. The film was able to expand the story of the play with additional background stories and characters. Julia Roberts was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Shelby.

Television CBS-TV produced the two-hour Steel Magnolias sitcom pilot in April 1990 in Robert Harling's childhood hometown of Natchitoches LA, he as screenwriter with his script being a continuation of Steel Magnolias (play) and Steel Magnolias film (1989) following the death of Shelby. Thomas Schlamme directed; cast: Cindy Williams as M’Lynn, Sally Kirkland as Truvy, Elaine Stritch as Ouiser, Polly Bergen as Clairee and Sheila McCarthy as Annelle. Ultimately CBS passed on the series giving the pilot a single airing on August 17, 1990.^[12]

Steel Magnolias (2012 film)

• Steel Magnolias (2012 film)

The play was adapted as a television film in 2012 with an African-American cast set in fictional Chinquapin for a Lifetime TV production filmed in Atlanta, April 2012 (aired October 2012): directed by Kenny Leon and scripted by Sally Robinson. Cast: Queen Latifah as M'Lynn, Jill Scott as Truvy, Alfre Woodard as Ouiser, Phylicia Rashad as Clairee, Adepero Oduye as Annelle, and Condola Rashad as Shelby.^[13]

References

External links

• Steel Magnolias at the Internet Broadway Database
• Steel Magnolias at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Steel Magnolias at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Brief synopsis and history at dramatists.com