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Madison in a Romance?
We’re in our 6th year and this is Madison’s first romance? I had never heard of “The Theater of Romance.” It was recommended to me by a person on the OTR subreddit. (r/OTR Check it out if you haven’t already!) It’s always exciting for me to discover a new show… but a new GENRE? For all the OTR sites I’m on and people I talk to, I recognize that I haven’t run across any Romance shows. Maybe there weren’t a lot of them? “The Theater of Romance” was, itself, a filler show. Something they could play in time slots while the other shows were on hiatus. “Reruns” weren’t really a thing yet. There are some good reasons for that. First, early technology for recording shows was still primitive, especially prior to WWII, and the sound quality suffered. In many cases, replaying recorded shows was banned by the networks. But, generally, showcasing something new was a way to keep audiences coming back.
So Madison in a Romance.
There has been a lot of mentions of Madison’s past boyfriends. In some cases, she really went for the toxic guys (loves musicians), in others, she might’ve been a little too much to handle. We did get to experience Madison’s “modern day” boyfriend, Jeff, in her origin story for episode 63. And I don’t think anyone listening begrudged Jeff trying to get as far away from her as possible! (not to mention poor Blake). So since one of the key components in “The Theater of Romance” is a happy ending… how could I put Madison into that kind of story? Enter: “Pride and Prejudice.”
I am not a reader of Jane Austen’s work. But I have enjoyed several of Hollywood’s representations of her books, her life, and just what a phenomenon her writings continue to be to this day. I enjoy her portrayals of a vast variety of women and Elizabeth Bennet? She’s quick with insults, steadfast in her beliefs, stands up for herself, and a bit of a know-it-all. What better role for Madison to step into.
The first decision I made was that Madison was going to be Madison in this role. No British accents (come on, you’ve heard how bad she is) and no explanation. If you need one, please refer to the theme song. Everyone referred to her as Elizabeth or Lizzie, and there was no “why” she was there and in that family. Maybe a bit like the Halloween episodes. Which I have always likened to the Simpson’s Halloween Specials. They’re still their characters, but in stories outside of their normal “reality.”
The next big obstacle was what happens at the end when she has her happy ending? I’ve been happy to play with original plots like in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” when the Queen decided she preferred to be a man, or “Forbidden Planet” saving sweet Alta from the 1950’s misogyny. But Mr. Darcy is such the quintessential love interest, how could even Madison turn him down? However, all of those sweet romantic professes of love… just didn’t feel Madison. So I turned her into the typical male in RomComs. Where he can’t quite bring himself to reveal his emotions out loud, even to the woman he loves the most. So Mr. Darcy had to do the heavy lifting and say the words Madison couldn’t. Which did bring me to her very last line in response: “I know. As you wish. Ditto.” Yeah. I grew up with a LOT of films with men would couldn’t speak their true feelings!
I have been asked if this means Madison is in a relationship now. Nope. Sorry. Just like all of her OTR encounters, once she is zapped into the next one, that relationship is gone. Oh, I’m sure she’ll remember Mr. Darcy fondly. But as long as she’s jumping around between shows, romance is just not in the cards for her.
