Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'M Feelin' So Sad

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'M Feelin' So Sad (1962), “a pseudoclassical tragifarce” by Arthur Kopit. [Phoenix Theatre, 454 perf.] Madame Rosepettle ( Jo Van Fleet) arrives at a Caribbean hotel accompanied by her usual ménage: the stuffed corpse of her husband, her pet piranha, and her stammering, neurotic son, Jonathan ( Austin Pendleton). Into their peripatetic world comes the wide‐eyed, determined prostitute, Rosalie ( Barbara Harris) who, as a “professional babysitter,” tries to seduce Jonathan. But her advances throw him into a panic and he smothers her to death. Entering the disordered bedroom, Mamma looks around in dismay and asks, “What is the meaning of this?” This choice American example of the theatre of the absurd was the Off‐Broadway sensation of its season and launched Kopit's career.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'M Feelin' So Sad." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'M Feelin' So Sad." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OhDdPrDdMmmsHngYnthClstnd.html

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