The pictures of her as the iconic sex symbol are stunning.
And when during a recent phone interview Sunny Thompson did her various Marilyn Monroe voices -- speaking in private, to the media, on screen and singing -- each sounded pitch perfect.
Thompson’s performances in the one-person play “Marilyn: Forever Blonde” have received rave reviews from L.A. to London.
Broadway World, for instance, wrote that it “amazingly captures the essence of Monroe.”
“All those thing are validating and confidence building, but at the same time you always know you’re only as good as your last show,” Thompson said.
“Ticket buyer deserves your very best every night, so the butterflies still come.”
“Marilyn: Forever Blonde” opens at Asolo Repertory Theatre on Saturday and runs through July 10.
Written by Thompson’s husband, Greg Thompson, the script consists entirely of Monroe’s words. There are also 17 songs from her films -- mostly snippets -- performed. It takes place at a photo shoot shortly before the star’s untimely death.
The show has been praised for capturing the many fascinating facets of the woman born Norma Jeane Mortenson -- the girl raised in foster homes before becoming a superstar.
“It’s a huge challenge getting the roller-coaster of her life and accepting some things in her life that weren’t that palatable,” Thompson said.
“She was a strong woman of the 1950s, but did what it took to get ahead, which meant sleeping around -- a lot,” Thompson continued. “She was quite frank about it. ‘No one ever got cancer from sex,’ that’s a direct quote.”
Greg Thompson wrote “Marilyn: Forever Blonde” in the 1980s before he met his wife. In 1996, he saw her doing a Monroe impression in wig and costume and suggested she read for the part.
Sunny declined.
“We got married in 2007 and the nagging persisted,” she said with a laugh. “He wore me down until I read a scene for him.”
The show would become a critical and commercial success in Los Angeles later that year.
“The whole first act is complete fun as she’s on her rise to fame,” Thompson said. “The way she looks at things just cracks me up.”
The second act addresses her famously failed marriages to one of the greatest baseball sluggers (Joe DiMaggio) and playwright (Arthur Miller). It also finds Monroe dishing on affairs with the likes of Frank Sinatra.
“She was so beautiful and witty and complex and sad and alone, not lonely, there’s a difference,” said Thompson, who spends two and half hours before each performance doing her makeup to look like Monroe.
Thompson thinks audiences will be surprised by the entertainer’s strength; Monroe’s superb sense of humor; and her underrated intelligence.
“You feel at the end of the play like you spent a couple hours in her living room,” Thompson said.
Sounds like a wonderful way to spend an evening.
Wade Tatangelo, features writer/columnist, can be reached at (941) 745-7057. Visit his blog at Bradenton.com./blogs.
