President Frank Underwood called me the other day to tell me about a play that I haven’t been paying much attention to: “The Parisian Woman.”
It’s a terrible title, but when FU calls, you listen.
If you don’t, you may find yourself on the subway tracks.
Beau Willimon, who created Underwood and his show “House of Cards,” wrote the play a few years ago. It opens on Broadway on Nov. 30 starring Uma Thurman.
Reportedly, the producers weren’t sure of Uma or the play until they saw her at a reading Willimon put together. Luckily, my Deep Throat — who was there in room 214 of the Watergate Hotel, where this all went down — had this to say: “The producers first saw Uma when she played [the main character] Chloe in an intimate reading two years ago, working with Beau and [director] Pam MacKinnon. Everyone in the room was struck with her — she was sexy, powerful, extremely funny and drop-dead gorgeous.”
If we go to war with North Korea, it’ll be Act III.
Despite its title, “The Parisian Woman” is set in Washington, DC.
(The title comes from some 1885 French play Willimon read, which probably no other American has, so forgive his pretentiousness.)
Thurman, as Chloe, is putting pressure on her lover to get her husband a high-level job in the US Government.
With all of its intrigues, it sounds like “House of Cards,” but Deep Throat tells me that Willimon is not doing “House of Cards” onstage.
What he’s trying to do is write a play about a powerful woman in Washington who, due to the shifting sands of our political shores, is trying to figure out where she stands — and how she’ll survive.
“The play is about how Chloe fights cynicism rather than submits to it,” Willimon has said. “The play is set in the here and now.”
He means what he says. Deep Throat tells me that Willimon will be updating the play weekly to keep up with current events.
Every time President Trump tweets something, Willimon will be putting it into the play.
If we go to war with North Korea, it’ll be Act III.
“He’s going to be writing as everything with Trump unfolds,” says a source. “The play is going to change from week to week.”
Sounds like fun to me, unless we’re nuked.
In the meantime, I must apologize to Uma Thurman. A few weeks ago, I made fun of her for not selling as many tickets as Amy Schumer has in the new Steve Martin play, “Meteor Shower.”
I have since been told that Uma is selling quite nicely — over $1 million so far. I stand corrected.
Thanks, FU, for all the details on “The Parisian Woman.”
And I trust that when Amy Schumer and Uma Thurman are vying for the Tony Award next year, you’ll tell me whom to push in front of the train.
Meanwhile, over in London, Stockard Channing is playing a formidable left-wing matriarch in a play called “Apologia.” She’s scornful of those who don’t agree with her — and she makes mincemeat of her children and their spouses at a family reunion.
In other words, she’s Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” — after George has died.
A lot of New York producers are going to London to see Channing in all her glorious viciousness.