DVD/150: WIDOWS 2 (Paul Annett, 1985, tv)

Filmed two years after WIDOWS, producer Linda Agran, writer Lynda La Plante and stars Ann Mitchell (Dolly), Fiona Hendley (Shirley) and Maureen O'Farrell (Linda) had a new director and a new 'Bella'.

Sadly WIDOWS 2 cannot escape the shadow of Eva Mottley, the original 'Bella'.  Due to repeat her role, Mottley left claiming sexual and racial abuse from the production team.  Two months before WIDOWS 2 was broadcast, she died from an overdose.  While Debby Bishop is bearable, she has none of Mottley's sharpness.

Six months after escaping to Rio after their heist, Dolly has returned to London for a facelift, Shirley is in LA, Bella is engaged to a wealthy landowner, but Linda is bored and drinking.

But Dolly's husband Eddie Rawlins is on their trail and terrorizes Linda into revealing Dolly is in London and where the money is hidden.

The Widows reunite to face their deadly nemesis...

Shelf or charity shop?  The widows are standing their ground on the shelf.  Lynda La Plante's script is at times overly-plotted and unevenly-paced, moments of high drama stranded by several slow scenes.  But while she created memorable characters in Linda, Bella and Shirley, once again Ann Mitchell brings almost a sense of Greek tragedy to the basiliske-stare of Dolly Rawlins.  Pain and anger burn inside her and she is quite magnificent.  Giving them a run for their stolen money is the wonderful Kate Williams as Shirley's mother, funny and heart-breaking sometimes in the same scene.  Maurice O'Connell is excellent as the dangerous Harry Rawlins, one of the great TV villains.  Among the gritty supporting cast, there are fine contributions from David Calder as the hospitalized but still-obssessed Detective Inspector Resnick, and Stephen Yardley as the private eye who tries to get closer to Dolly; Mike Felix, Peter Lovstrom, Richard Kane and Peter Jonfield are all given moments to shine as assorted dodgy geezers.  The drawbacks are some truly ghastly 80s frocks and a god-awful Gerard Kenny pop-rock song over the end credits."Hungry - women - crying / Now they're only crying out for more..." *boke*

 

50 Favourite Musicals: 47: BLUES IN THE NIGHT (1980) (various)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1980, Playhouse 46 NY
First seen by me: 1988, Piccadilly Theatre, London

Productions seen: two

Score: various

Book: Sheldon Epps

Plot: Three women sit in a run-down hotel waiting for the same no-good man to appear, and sing their lives through the classic blues and torch songs of the Golden Age of American jazz.

Five memorable numbers: BLUES IN THE NIGHT, ROUGH AND READY MAN, FOUR WALLS (AND ONE DIRTY WINDOW) BLUES, TAKE ME FOR A BUGGY RIDE, WASTED LIFE BLUES

Following on from similar jazz and blues revue-style shows like BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR and ONE MO' TIME, BLUES IN THE NIGHT changed the format from a night-club setting to a run-down hotel so the songs play more as a musical than an out-front recreation of a cabaret show.  Three women: an ingenue, a sophisticate and an older touring blues singer all interact with a man who seems to connect them through classic songs written by Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ida Cox and Harold Arlen among others.  It's a simple format that works because of the exhilarating song choices and having a tightly-focused quartet and I still remember the pure pleasure when I saw it 30 years ago.  An atmospheric live cast recording immortalizing the excellent original London quartet of Clarke Peters, Carol Woods, Maria Friedman and Debby Bishop has kept the show alive for me and I look forward to seeing a new production next year with Sharon D. Clarke and Clive Rowe in Kilburn,

Here is a compilation of scenes from a 1989 tv version of BLUES IN THE NIGHT with Peters, Woods, Bishop and Friedman.  The video quality is a bit shonky but it does give a flavour of the show's fun...