I saw August: Osage County on its Broadway opening night. Amy Morton's button for the Dinner Scene got the *wildest* ovation I have ever heard at a non-musical play—and it continued AFTER the house lights had come up.

I saw August: Osage County, a three-and-half-hour evening, seven times on Broadway.

I saw August: Osage County, a two-hour movie, once.

Revisiting the dinner scene; I didn't realize how often I quote from that scene in everyday life. It's a masterpiece.

It's also so darkly funny; that film adaptation was just dark.

How I wished we got an HBO taping of that OBC instead.

And a trip down August: Osage County Lane is incomplete without revisiting the play's final scene and Amy Morton's second-greatest line reading of all time: "Eat the fish, bitch!"

I saw Deanna Dunagan, Estelle Parsons, understudy Suzanne Marley, and Phylicia Rashad, and each actress gave a powerhouse performance as Violet Weston (I had a Violet dream list that included Sissy Spacek, Lily Tomlin, Cloris Leachman, and Sally Field, among others).

However, Amy Morton gave one of the most impressive performances I have ever seen in my years of theatergoing. I saw her work opposite three of the four Violets and she was the epitome of truth and storytelling. I will stan forever.

I would've gone a different route for the film: Sissy or Sally as Violet and Laura Linney as Barbara.

Margo Martindale, who I hoped would have gone into the Broadway play (if Jeff Richards had been a little more Merrick), was the only right note in the film.

Liz Ashley was forced by a bad illness to call out of the closing performance of August: Osage County on Broadway. The producers had an idea and called Rondi Reed, who was appearing in Wicked. Rondi secured permission to call out of the matinee and went over to the Music Box.

She was introduced to Phylicia Rashad, they discussed some brief notes while Rondi got prepared to go on (in Liz's costumes!). You would've thought the two had opened the play together. At one point in the wings, Phylicia stopped Rondi & told her how much fun she was to play with

The closing night was a triumph, but Rondi couldn't stick around to celebrate: she had an evening performance of Wicked at the Gershwin to rush to, making her—as far as I can tell—the only actor to ever go on in a Broadway play and musical in the same day.

“Y’see these little blue babies? These are my best fucking friends and they never let me down. Try to get ‘em away from me and I’ll eat you alive!”

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