They wanted Day for Mrs. Robinson precisely because it went against the image she had established, the idea being to show
how treacherous even mid-American suburban life can be.
And Day would surely have been superb in the part. But Dolly is, I think, one of those bridges too far. Day as an adulterous
termagant--she gets quite vicious when Benjamin interrupts the wedding--would have been a fascinating shock. Dolly
would have found her just wrong for the character, neither typical Day nor the opposite. Dolly really is a kind of Topsy, and
I just don't associate Day with that kind of mischief-making.
I can see her Mrs. Robinson. I can't see her Dolly. For that matter, I think she was too American for Maria--but then so was
Mary Martin, and that worked out fine. |
