Marilyn: Forever Blonde, The Marilyn Monroe Story in Her Own Words and Music

Synopsis

The story takes place at a photo shoot just prior to Marilyn's untimely death. She is 36 years old and while she still is beautiful, she has lost some of the little girl charm that made her Hollywood's biggest star in the 20th Century Fox prime of her early twenties. Divorced for the third time and now living alone, frustrated by Hollywood and tired of the label a sex symbol, Marilyn longs to be respected for her talent and loved for who she really is rather than the character she has created for the silver screen. She wonders what it would be like to do it all over again...

Our Review:

23 October 2009

The image of Marilyn Monroe is ubiquitous; it pervades the landscape of popular culture and it's become as familiar as an old friend. Forever Blonde is an affectionate homage to the ultimate leading lady, billed as ‘the Marilyn Monroe story in her own words and music’.

Forever Blonde is a one-woman show performed by Sunny Thompson, set on the day of Monroe’s last photo shoot. The star tells her life story to an unseen photographer (who appears only in the occasional corny voiceover) and takes us through her troubled childhood, rise to stardom and search for love.

Thompson does an uncanny impersonation, from the breathy voice to the famous wiggle. As the curtain opens she is posing for photographs, writhing and wrapped in white satin, and the initial resemblance is certainly striking. But no one can replicate the original’s mesmerising mixture of charisma and vulnerability. Although the story is ultimately tragic and Thompson evokes ...

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Latest User Review

sue - 16 November 2009:

A very good performance although it dragged slightly towards the end....

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