IN CELEBRATION

OF THE 30th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOVIE

“MOMMIE DEAREST”

THE LA WEEKLY THEATER AWARD-WINNING COMEDY

MOMMIE QUEEREST

COMES TO SAN DIEGO’S DIVERSIONARY THEATER

AS THE THIRD STOP ON ITS NATIONAL TOUR

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DANNY PINTAURO

FROM TV’s “WHO’S THE BOSS?”

TO PLAY JOAN’s LONG-SUFFERING MAID CAROL ANN

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JOAN CRAWFORD. Oscar winner. Clean freak. Child Protective Services worst nightmare.

By now you know the story of Christina Crawford’s tell-all about her tumultuous relationship with her famous mother. First the book, then the 1981 movie that became an instant cult  classic. Yes, it's been 30 years since Faye Dunaway donned those famous arched eyebrows and big shoulder pads making us all go back in the closet and question our choice of clothes hanger.

For the last seven years Jamie Morris' twisted version, MOMMIE QUEEREST, has had sold-out audiences across the country re-thinking the oft-quoted tale with the simple premise, "What if Joan had really been a man all those years?"

Told by an all-male cast of four, MOMMIE QUEEREST entertains the notion that Crawford was actually a man in drag, a fact she hid from her fans, her children, and the world. Even when Christina finds out, takes revenge, and writes “Daddy Dearest” it’s Joan who still has the last laugh.

MOMMIE QUEEREST  will play the Diversionary Theater (4545 Park Boulevard) as the third stop on it's national tour. The show will play Thursday April 14 through Saturday April16 at 8pm, Sunday April 17 at  5pm.   Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at http://brownpapertickets.com/

 or by calling the 24/7 hotline at 800-838-3006

MOMMIE QUEEREST had its world premiere in Provincetown in 2003 and has since played in over two dozen cities including two sold-out runs both in NY and in LA where the show garnered 4 LA Weekly Theater Awards, winning for Best Comedy Direction for Christopher Kenney.

Kenney, who is also known to Las Vegas audiences as EDIE, the “Mistress of Sensuality” in Cirque du Soleil’s ZUMANITY at the NY-NY Hotel & Casino, is once again at the helm. He is joined by the original Joan (Jamie Morris) and Christina (Brooks Braselman), both nominated for the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Comedy Performance. Morris was also nominated for Best Adaptation.

Morris is a three-time winner of the One-Minute Play contest. He has performed his sketch comedy at Caroline’s Comedy Club and Catch a Rising Star in New York. In a addition to  “Mommie,” his other plays include “The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode,” “The Silence of the Clams,” “That Greasy Ridge Look” and “Life in Greasy Ridge.” Morris is a native of West Virginia who now lives and works in Vegas after 18 years in New York. He lives with Kenney, his partner of 12 years. For his performance in "Clams," Morris received the 2010 "Tony" Award as runner-up for Best Actor of the Year by Las Vegas Review Journal's Anthony Del Valle.  Morris is currently on hiatus from his role as Father Mark in the long-running interactive hit "Tony and Tina's Wedding" at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

Rounding out the cast is Jesse Highley who will play Joan’s plastic surgeon boyfriend and ten other roles; and Danny Pintauro who will play trusted assistant/maid Carol Ann and ten other roles as well. Pintauro reprises the role he played in “Queerest” in LA in 2005.

Pintauro is best known for his eight-year run as Jonathan Bower on the long-running 80s television sitcom, Who’s The Boss? Pintauro first began his professional career at the age of 2 as a model and commercial actor, and at age 3 began a five-year contract role on CBS’s daytime drama As The World Turns. This was followed by his acclaimed film debut as Tad in Stephen King’s “Cujo.” Other film and television credits include “The Benniker Gang” with Andrew McCarthy, CBS’s Timestalkers, and a two-part season opener on Highway To Heaven with Michael Landon.

A graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Drama, his theatre credits include Paula Vogel’s “Hot n’ Throbbing,” at Arena Stage, “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” at Charlotte Reparatory, Puck in Hangar Theater’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “A Queer Carol” at The Duplex in Manhattan, he played Allen Ginsberg in the acclaimed “beat” in the New York International Fringe Festival, and most recently he played the lead role of Tony Whitcomb in the longest running play in U.S. history – “Shear Madness.”  Pintauro made his professional New York debut at The Duplex in the one man show ”The Velocity Of Gary (Not His Real Name).” In 1997, in an interview with the National Enquirer, Pintauro declared he is openly gay. He is currently living in Los Angeles.