'Sex' talk
MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer, 06/01/2003
When Wilemon auditioned, she "wore a pair of form-fitting jeans and a nice red sweater that's definitely form-fitting," she said. "I was going to show off my goods." STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
Actress will try to channel Mae West in sultry, sexpot role
In trying to cast the main character in Mae West's famed 1926 stage play "Sex," director John Cruncleton was convinced he needed a cross-dresser.
The play was a sensation in '20s New York, running for a year until the sexpot was jailed on obscenity charges.
The complaints weren't that West was playing a prostitute, but that she refused to condemn the woman's actions.
The character of Margy Lamont, a Montreal madame who unapologetically climbs the social ladder wrong-by-wrong first to become a nightclub singer and then the mistress of a Connecticut estate, is, essentially, a stand-in for West herself.
West was heavily immersed in the drag scene after having started out in burlesque. Cruncleton seriously toyed with the idea of hiring a drag queen for the portrayal because, in his mind, Mae West was a drag queen with real parts.
"We just didn't feel that like we could find someone who could pull off that type of sexuality, that sort of Mae West thing. It's just not prevalent in these days of... noodles with spaghetti straps on," said Cruncleton, whose Theater Club production opens Thursday.
"I still think about the final line of the play: 'I'm going straight.' That would have been mighty sweet if we'd actually had a cross-dresser."
But then the auditions took place, and the director found his Margy. He didn't know the young redhead, but she had the voice, the curves and the body language to support it.
"We had 25 women come out for this, and nobody rang the bell even close except for her. She was immediately noticeable, and that voice; when she started delivering the lines, she just had the sass."
Sara Wilemon loved the idea of appearing in this old play by West, famed for penning her own material. The lame lines delivered by the vaudeville pros weren't nearly as good as West classics like, "A hard man is good to find" and "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?" and "When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."
But the 24-year-old redhead, who had never before acted in a play, hadn't considered taking on a lead role that would put her in nearly every scene.
"I had looked in the character list and saw this prostitute named Red. I have red hair, and I thought, 'Hey, a shoo-in, this probably only has a couple of lines. I'll start out small, it's perfect,'" Wilemon remembers saying.
But at the audition, Cruncleton had her reading for the part of Margy.
Wilemon is glad now that she highlighted her physical assets for the audition.
"I have long, red hair, so I teased it up real big. I wore a pair of some form-fitting jeans, and a nice red sweater that's definitely form-fitting. My thinking was, 'If I'm going to go in there, and if I'm going to play a prostitute, then I need to be a bit reminiscent of one.' I was going to show off my goods.
"(West) was actually more robust than I am, but I'm what a fashion magazine would describe as voluptuous - in a nice way. I do have hips and a waist and a bust.
"Even in the times of the '20s and the '30s, (West) didn't come close to the fashion of the day, and I can really respect that. She didn't care that she wasn't this waif, like now – how what we're told is beautiful is this figure of a 10-year-old boy," Wilemon said.
"I don't look like that, and I'm never going to look like that, so I like that (West's thinking). It speaks to me."
For all her admiration of the star, she won't try to impersonate the iconic West. No blond wigs and no accent for this self-described "neophyte to this whole theater stuff."
"Nobody can do Mae West, but I'm having some fun, studying her movements ... (the way) she walks and talks, and then comes to a stop and turns to the audience and delivers this great line," she said, laughing.
"I'll be thinking of her and trying to channel the spirit of Mae occasionally with the hips and the looks."
Michael Smith 581-8334, michael.smith@tulsaworld.com
Theater: "Sex"
Who: Theater Club presents Mae West's 1926 comedy
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also 8 p.m. June 12-14
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $8, may be reserved by phone at 857-9154 or email at www.theatreclubtulsa@yahoo.com