Torchlight Alley presents BOMBSHELL
- a tribute to Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe invented her public persona while she concealed a private side known only to her closest circle. 50 years after her death, her creation still blazes brightly in American cultural, while the woman behind the mask continues to remain a mystery. Drawing from recently discovered personal papers, diaries and letters, Bombshell explores the multiple aspects of the real Marilyn – ambition, passion, soul-searching, power and fear – in a captivating and surprising portrait that gives us a new and revelatory understanding of Monroe, revealing her carefully guarded life.

This review was created and choreographed by the incomparable Ms. Tipsy Rose Lee — an actress, dancer and lip-sync master. Tipsy is currently the co-creator and choreographer of “Mimosas with Mama,” the award winning, deeply funny drag brunch that has been running for over 3 years. She started her career in New York as a dancer in musical theatre, and has since performed in several national tours and locally at the 5^th Ave Theatre and Village Theatre.

Bombshell features many of the songs that you know and love from days gone by, as well as some contemporary additions to really showcase what was really going on with America’s sexiest film star.  It will explore Marilyn’s childhood in foster homes, and her career as a model which led to a film contract in with Twentieth Century-Fox. It will also closely follow her inner-turmoil as she studied at the Actors Studio and through relationships with Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller and JFK. The conclusion focusses on the final years of Monroe's life which were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for unreliability and being difficult to work with.  

Through song, dance, tears and laughter Bombshell will make you look at Marilyn’s life in a way you have never imagined.

You are going to witness something magical, the life of the incomparable Marilyn Monroe. Through song, dance and readings from the thousands of books, movies and songs that have been written about her but mostly her own personal memoirs, notes and poetry. Everyone knows the great American Cinderella story of the little orphan girl who then grows up to be the most beautiful princess and goes to the ball, and then the story takes a tragic turn and she dies, and she’s alone. The ancient Greeks have Oedipus, we have Marilyn. She had a very mysterious ability to inhabit our fantasies. She is still better known than most movie stars, world leaders, and television personalities of all time. The surprise is that she was never taken seriously enough to understand how that came to be so. There is such mystery surrounding her life that it is impossible to know exactly what she was thinking or feeling, but I hope that by the end of this evening, you will leave feeling that you know her as a human being, not just an icon. And in her own words, “Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to… but at least I have hope.”

– Tipsy Rose Lee