Three Servings of Misery

Back in October, I read Misery by Stephen King for one of my book clubs.  I wrote a review here, but overall it was a horrifying story.  Completely and utterly horrifying.  So, I did what any logical person would do. I signed up for two more servings!

That's right, I went to see the Broadway performance featuring Laurie Metcalf and Bruce Willis with my lovely husband who gifted me tickets at Christmas.  And then we followed it up with a re-watch of the movie starring Kathy Bates a couple weeks later.  Turns out the play followed exactly the same script as the movie.

Like pretty much every other scenario in the history of ever, the book was best. Easily. The book spends so much time inside the mind of tortured writer Paul Sheldon and there really isn't a great way to capture that on stage or screen.  The wackiness and evil of Annie Wilkes is thoroughly shown in all three formats - there is no escaping (literally!) her insanity!

Needless to say, Laurie Metcalf as Annie completely stole the show.  She was great.  Bruce Willis was pretty disappointing.  I had read previous to seeing the performance that he required an earpiece and/or off-stage teleprompters to help him with his lines.  Honestly, one of the main reasons I wanted to see it was to determine if it was noticeable.  It wasn't, but he didn't really have many lines at all so I spent most of the time wondering what in the world he couldn't remember!  Thankfully, Laurie Metcalf was there to swoop in and save the day!

The show wasn't our favorite, but we watched from across the street as the two stars departed the theater.  Laurie Metcalf signed a few autographs and then charged over toward our side of the street only to hail her own cab and head home.  We were in awe - what a bad mamma jamma!! True to form, Bruce Willis wasn't nearly as impressive in his exit.

Andrea :)