The Victorian to present ‘Madwoman of Chaillot’

Staff report

Youngstown

The Victorian Players will present “The Madwoman of Chaillot” for a three-weekend run beginning Friday.

“Madwoman” is set in the Chaillot district of Paris, where a group of industrialists are planning to dig up the city to acquire the oil reserves beneath it. This outrages the Countess Aurelia, an aging idealist, who decides that she must stop the plan.

Directing the show at the Victorian will be Shawn Lockaton, whose previous outing at the Vic was last season’s “Death Takes a Holiday.”

The cast includes Tanja Temelkoff as Aurelia, with Gerri Sullivan, Bill Finley, Dawn Rogers, David Romeo, Alisha Kapcsos, Adam Jackson, Gary Deckant, Tierney Chesney, Caty Sacui and Amariah McIntosh.

Written by Jean Giraudoux, “Madwoman” was first performed in 1945 in Paris.

The first New York production of “Madwoman” opened in December 1948 and ran through January 1950. It starred Martita Hunt as the Countess, with John Carradine as her friend, the Ragpicker.

A Broadway musical based on the play later was mounted. Titled “Dear World,” it starred Angela Lansbury.

A film version was released in 1969, with Katherine Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Richard Chamberlain, Donald Pleasance and Danny Kaye.