But where are the Harlem Globetrotters?

    So the question becomes how does one set up Mourning Becomes Gilligan's Island? It has to be a funeral, or at least a wake, or mourning wouldn't be involved. It has to be on an island or it couldn't become Gilligan's Island. The deceased person has to have been eccentric and either rich or famous or both or he wouldn't likely be mourned by a movie star, a millionaire and his wife, let alone a professor and-- whatever MaryAnne was, contest winner or something. But if s/he were all that famous, why would s/he be mourned by only five people? Doesn't this sound more like Mourning Becomes An Agatha Christie Novel?
    It would be fun to do a straight parody of Mourning Becomes Elektra, but that would require reading it again. I actually read the whole damned thing just for fun once, but I was younger then and had a different idea what constitutes "fun." (I also read the entire Gulag Archipelago trilogy for fun. I wasn't invited to parties a lot during the '80s.) What I recall from the play is an impression of portent, which I guess would figure. Not a lot of that in Gilligan's Island, but maybe it would help.
    The problem with the Gilligan's Island aspect is the same problem that the TV show had. As every standup comic since 1965 or so has pointed out: if the Professor could make a radio out of a coconut, how come he couldn't patch the boat? In other words, how would you go about getting stranded on an island that's close enough to civilization to have a cemetery on it? Also complicating the situation is the passage of time. In 2011, between a millionaire, his wife and a movie star, you figure somebody has a fairly rockin' cell phone.
    I figure, it's a farce, so I just declare the situation and run with it. Eccentric millionaire invites these acquaintances to his wake on this semi-remote island. (It's a wake so I don't have to have a minister.) OK. Boat breaks down so they're stuck, and also saddled with a lummox skipper and his even dumber first mate. OK. There are no cell phone towers, so nobody can get any signal, so they're stuck. OK. The one sure thing is, sooner or later the Professor makes a cell phone tower out of, if not a coconut, a coconut tree. OK?