Oscar E Moore

Can a thirty year old Little Harry (a tall, harried and excellent Robb Sapp) break free of Big Harry (Philip Hoffman) – a Don Juan wannabe without hurting the family business – an Italian Restaurant serving different international dishes every night to drum up business which doesn’t seem to be working as they are three months behind in the rent and get the job of his dreams working for Lidia – of TV fame – learning to be a chef and not just a cook?

Will the twenty nine year old Sherri (a radiant Jillian Louis) break free of her wealthy mother Francine (Jane Summerhays) who just so happens to be the landlord of said restaurant CUDICINI’S – and recover from the break-up with her beau Brandon?

What is Ping (Kate Rigg) a performance artist doing in this retro romantic musical?

These questions and more are answered in this original two act musical – MARRY HARRY by Jennifer Robbins (book) and Dan Martin (music) and Michael Biello (lyrics) with various degrees of success.

The uneven book is the weakest link and needs refinement.  There are many good ideas here but it is more of an outline that skims over situations and characters too rapidly. 

The songs are much more successful delineating character with wit and melody – with an original voice emanating as one by these two life partners – Martin and Biello. 

Fun at moments, soaring at others or tugging at the heartstrings we care about these two people who are looking for a new life and new answers – “You Opened A Door” is especially moving.

When Sherri meets Little Harry and love blossoms instantaneously in the most delightful “The Date” we are off and running as their relationship develops with complications of course.

Debby (a fiery Annie Golden) is the restaurant manager who puts up with Big Harry’s dalliances up to a point – giving her all with “Too Busy Running”.  Cameron Folmar portrays a quartet of characters with élan and his “Totally Divine” is just that.  Kate Rigg is excellent as Ping – but really what’s the point? 

The point is Jillian Louis.  And she is a star.  The moment she steps on stage she captures our attention and it never wavers.  We care about her – totally.  She radiates sincerity, vulnerability, humor, spunkiness, a quirky charm, confidence and warmth with a glorious voice (“More Than Make Believe” a standout) and Robb Sapp makes the perfect match for her in MARRY HARRY as directed by Kent Nicholson.

www.nymf.org  Photo:  Carol Rosegg 

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Into the woods and wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, where Bigfoot aka the Sasquatch – Arthur (a believably human and centered T.J. Mannix) has been sited by a local dim witted camper and guzzler of beer Bert (Ryan Dietz), treks a television crew Chaz (Chris Gleim), Dakota (Laura Oldham) and cameraman (Jonathan Silver) seeking fame and fortune as are the keepers of the local bar – Zeke (Don Meehan) and his wife Thelma (Leasen Beth Almquist) who even go so far as to disguise themselves as fellow Sasquatchers – thinking if they find and film Bigfoot, tourists will flock to the area.

Also trekking onto the Pearl Theatre Stage where Sasquatched! The Musical is being presented as part of New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) ‘s 10^th season is Sam (a fine Cole Canzano) the overprotected son of Cindy (Leslie Henstock) and Jim (Billy Clark Taylor) – a son who escapes and gets lost during one of the better numbers of the show “Helicopter Parents Are We”.  He’s not the only one who gets lost.

Then we have Pat the Park Ranger (a delightfully spunky Laura Daniel) with a powerhouse presence and voice who meets in Act II a Seismologist Chris (Patrick John Moran – who might just be perfect for The Book of Morman).  Sparks fly between these two.

As you can see there are lots of silly plot lines to follow – mostly inhabited by cartoon characters.  But the heart of the show is the meeting and bonding and understanding between Bigfoot and Sam – which if better developed might enable this musical to have some legs.  Bigfoot is civilized, well spoken and kind and helps Sam to find his parents. And that’s nice.

What’s not so nice is the basic, generic, hodgepodge of songs.  Noble intentions do not a hit musical make.  Basic rhymes, with the emphasis on the wrong syllable are rampant.  The lyrics are rudimentary and repetitious to the point of distraction.  In an attempt to make the show a commentary on musical theatre – a tangent that should be avoided here “Rhubarb” just plain interfered with the story and made a long show even longer.  An Act II farcical chase didn’t help either.  The music is a variety of styles with an emphasis on what is best described as “thumping…”

There are a lot of nice touches by director Donald Brenner who has a knack for making the musical numbers entertaining with some basic dance steps that are cute and clever and fun.

Phil Darg is responsible for book, music and lyrics.  No new ground has been broken.  With a lot more work – especially in editing the material down to one act, Mr. Darg might make Sasquatched! The Musical memorable for the right reasons.

www.sasquatched.com

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In this Marx Brothers, Saturday Night Live, Sid Caesar Show of Shows inspired Victorian fractured fairy tale farce THE EXPLORERS CLUB written by Nell Benjamin which can at times be hysterically amusing includes everything but the kitchen sink.

And I believe there may be a kitchen sink lurking behind the elaborately detailed bar which is the main focus of the elaborately detailed set by Donyale Werle of the Victorian Club populated with an odd assortment of men who go on worldwide expeditions returning with the slew of skinned and stuffed animals and shrunken heads that decorate the walls of this bastion of male dominance.

Sometimes, however an explorer dies en route or gets lost as is the case with the most pompous of Presidents, Harry Percy (delightfully played by David Furr) who at the opening of the play is absent, leaving the nervous and clumsy Lucius Fretway (an equally delightful Lorenzo Pisoni) to preside over the club membership’s meeting.  They are both rapidly becoming two of my favorite actors.

Lucius Fretway is introducing, for club membership a Miss Phyllida Spotte-Hume (Jennifer Westfeldt) a beautiful, brilliant blonde “female” scientist/explorer looking very much like Nellie Bly – who has returned with her trophy – a live half naked male “savage” painted blue from a lost civilization whom she has named Luigi (Carson Elrod) who has an odd way of saying hello – he slaps your face.

A female!  This idea causes an uproar from the men, especially the Bible toting Professor Sloane (John McMartin) who has some dandy things to say in a most delightful throw away manner.

Professor Cope (Brian Avers) who wears his pet cobra James around his neck and Professor Walling (Steven Boyer) whose caged pet guinea pig/rat Jane is always with him are also reluctant but willing to hear her out – over brandy and cigars which make for a quick exit for this unwanted female until she returns as her twin sister.

Complication ensue when both Percy and Lucius vie for the charms of Phyllida, a plant straight out of Little Shop of Horrors takes over the stage and Luigi is presented to Queen Victoria and while saying hello…well you can imagine a slap that is heard all the way back to the Club and all hell breaks loose until Beebe (Arnie Burton) the lost companion of President Percy arrives and takes the fizzle right out this otherwise vintage champagne production.

That is, until they have drinks that new bartender Luigi makes and slings and slides them across the bar in a choreographed, side spitting, amazing display of acrobatic nimbleness where not a drop of liquor is spilled as the members each are thrown and catch their drinks.  Not once but three times and the finale tops them all.  Directed beautifully by Marc Bruni – these “toasts” save the show and make a more than mediocre and less than great farce more or less memorable.

At Manhattan Theatre Club New York City Center Stage 1

www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

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There was Bernie Madoff.  The Unavoidable Disappearance of TOM DURNIN is not a play about Bernie Madoff.  It is a compelling new work by Steven Levenson about a similar man in a similar situation, Tom Durnin (a superb David Morse) who is a charming crook and master manipulator who has just spent the last five years in jail for a white-collar crime involving the financial ruin of friends and family, including himself.  He knows all the right buttons to push and how hard to push them.

Tom Durnin arrives unannounced to the ramshackle home of his son James (an excellent Christopher Denham) looking for sympathy and a place to stay.  He is met with an intense silence.  The tension is palpable.  And yet this toxic dad remains calm and cheerful trying to get his son to agree to his terms, trying to regain the bond that they once shared, as we wonder – did they ever?

Times are tough in 2009 in this town somewhere off of Exit 41 where jobs are scarce and the rain abundant.  James has been reduced to selling stethoscopes.  He wants to write and has joined a class where he meets a nervous and quirky and altogether winsome young lady, Katie (Sarah Goldberg) supplying just the right amount of humor in this otherwise serious production.   Their scenes sparkle letting James relax a bit, but we soon become aware that he lies as well as his dad.  Maybe not as well, but he lies nonetheless.

Do lies, even small white lies, protect or hurt or do both?  Nothing else seems to matter to Tom except getting what he wants – on his terms.  He wants to reconnect with his ex-wife Karen (a tightly wound up and explosive Lisa Emery) who has remarried and is starting to regain and rebuild her life – something their son seems not able to do – his self esteem is low and his dad uses this to forge ahead. 

He also has some secret meetings in a parking lot with his nervous son-in-law Chris (Rich Sommer who garners sympathy for a while).  Chris got his job at the firm through Tom and Tom wastes no time in reminding him of this to obtain Karen’s phone number and new address and using guilt tactics to try to get his job back at the firm “It’s payback time”- not as a lawyer but as a consultant.  It’s hard to resist this slime who remains calm and confident and relentless throughout.

Playwright Levenson has a good ear for dialogue and his characters are always interesting as are his great blackout lines at the end of each scene which encourage us to want to learn more of the slowly exposed development of the relationships introduced.  As lies are exposed, we wonder what the truth really is as Tom tries to take them all in again as he did before.

Incidental music by Obadiah Eaves sets the mood just right.  The set design by Beowulf Boritt, once again, is perfect.  Scott Ellis has done an excellent job in guiding his actors through this difficult journey of lies keeping us all wanting to know the truth and the right answers – if there are indeed any right answers.

Tom Durnin uses loyalty, guilt and lies to try to get those that he has ruined to take him back into their trust.  But trust is such a difficult thing to win back.

At the Laura Pels Theatre.  A Roundabout production.  Through Augsut 25^th.

www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

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What if?  What if you imagined what it would be like to be hired by “the lady of the house” in Malibu to work in her self designed basement mall – a series of “shoppes” to house her various collections of antiques, dolls, clothing and whatever else with its very own frozen yogurt machine and popcorn maker?   

That is exactly what playwright Jonathan Tolins has fantasized and come up with a very funny concoction called BUYER & CELLAR that has recently transferred from the Rattlestick Theater to its new home at the intimate Barrow Street Theatre.  The “lady of the house” happens to be none other than super star, perfectionist and master negotiator Barbra Streisand whose motto here seems to be – How much is not enough?

Alex More, the unemployed and uninsured actor hired is the immensely talented, adorable and accomplished actor and man of many faces and voices Mr. Michael Urie.  Clutching a copy of Streisand’s 2010 tome MY PASSION FOR DESIGN (for which she credits herself for photography) Mr. Urie explains that this truly is a fantasy – to protect any and all against litigation.  They need not worry.  This is a loving tribute to the star, a star obviously admired by Mr. Tolins and Mr. Urie.

When Mr. Urie and “the lady of the house” who becomes Sadie and then Barbra as the two bond in the basement there are some hilarious exchanges between them over the purchase of a doll, Fifi, who blows bubbles.  The negotiation is one of the highlights of the play with Mr. Urie’s version of Ms. Streisand that is not an imitation but a physical rendering that captures her essence looking almost like a marionette incarnation of the star.  It’s pure perfection.

With a bounce to his step as he darts around the stage under the superb direction of Stephen Brackett he becomes Sharon, Streisand’s caustic assistant, Barry the boyfriend, James Brolin the husband and Streisand the star et al. 

Mr. Urie commands our attention immediately with laugh inducing line readings of some very funny lines with a nod and a wink and a comment or two with his eyes alone that will have you enjoying yourself for a full ninety minutes of barbs aimed at Babs and Brooklyn.  And insecurities.  And some sadness.

As they become closer (pure fantasy at work here) Mr. Urie becomes her acting coach after suggesting and planting the idea of her playing Mama Rose in the ultimate version of an already perfect GYPSY which still might be on Streisand’s agenda.

It’s ironic that Michael Urie starred in UGLY BETTY on television and all, it seems, that Barbra Streisand ever wanted was to be called “pretty” and have a real dolly, not a hot water bottle substitute and every award imaginable, and a barn with chickens and a gorgeous husband, and a doting son and her very own basement mall rendered beautifully by set designer Andrew Boyce in classic taupe, grey and white with projections by Alex Hoch that seamlessly transport us to other locations.  Great sound (Stowe Nelson) and lighting (Eric Southern) add to the festivities.  But it is Michael Urie’s virtuosic performance that manages to upstage the greatest star herself.

Photo:  Sandra Coudert

www.BuyerAndCellar.com

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This one person multi-media production does nothing to make you want to run out and read anything that Susan Sontag ever wrote – especially her journals on which SONTAG: REBORN is based – edited by her son David Rieff and directed by Marianne Weems (founder of The Builders Association – co-producer with NYTW) a good friend of Ms. Sontag who personally had a hand or two in developing this unfortunate piece performed and adapted by Moe Angelos.

We wonder what made this aloof, super smart Jewish wunderkind, chain smoking, tri-lingual essayist, critic, novelist and sexually charged and confused (she was married and bore a son and had many lesbian lovers) into the international “cause celebre” that she was. 

We learn that she was an avid reader (we hear almost all the titles), loved to travel and teach and that she was a Capricorn – which explains a lot. 

I thought it almost impossible that an actress, in this case Moe Angelos, could be upstaged by herself.   But upstage herself she does as an older, larger than life black and white filmed projection of Sontag hovers throughout – overseeing and smoking and giving us time and place and sometimes commenting.

The video projections and close-ups on an upstage screen are extraordinary by Austin Switser as is the sound design by Dan Dobson.  But when you take away these technical accoutrements there is less here than meets the ear.

Ms. Angelos lacks the passion and the angst, delivering the contents of Sontag’s journals in a monotone that could induce sleep without the marvelous multi media circus going on that induces one to wonder “how’d they do that?”

The sofa of Sue Mengers in Bette Midler’s terrific one woman homage “I’LL EAT YOU LAST” has been replaced here with a desk.  Sue Mengers has been replaced by Susan Sontag and entertainment and insight have been replaced by humorless intellectual boredom, despite the Herculean efforts to keep the audience awake by the spectacular visuals.

Served up without intermission.  Through June 30^th

www.nytw.org

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For all you lonely young singles out there, here is a show for you.  But be forewarned: drinking and falling in lust with the wrong person in a bar could be dangerous to your health.  But you know that already.  Or should.

In this sung through rock opera by Julia Jordan (book & lyrics) and Juliana Nash (music & lyrics) infused with some country western type songs, a love triangle is played out literally in the lap of some audience members at The Union Square Theatre that has been refashioned with a long bar, a pool table, band stand and a bloody bat.

The audience is in on the action up close – on three sides and on the main playing area at small tables lit with electronic candles.   One of the best aspects of the piece is the expert and spot on lighting by Ben Stanton.

Poor drunken and unhappy Sara (a sometimes shrill Caissie Levy) has fallen hard for Tom (the sexy Will Swenson).  They are like two animals in heat.  Magnets that cannot be separated.  But he won’t commit.  She’s confused and drunk and meets the unsuspecting Michael – the voice of reason (a terrific John Ellison Conlee) and before the narrator (Rebecca Naomi Jones) can clue us in it’s years later and they have a child and Sara is unhappy again and rekindles the sparks that once flew with Tom.  You can imagine the results.

The staging by Trip Cullman is fantastic – making great use of the space although sometimes words are lost when we watch the backs of the actors or try to locate them.

Doug Varone has done an excellent job with the dance moves particularly atop the pool table and there is an in your face confrontation but the finale fizzles.

Someone is done in but it doesn’t matter who as we don’t really care for any of them – particularly Sara.  It’s an odd hour and a half long evening where you can buy a beer or whatever and watch the clichéd and heated passions of these unhappy dudes play out.

MURDER BALLAD was originally produced by MTC.

www.MurderBallad.com EXTENDED through September 29^th

^{Photos:  Joan Marcus}

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MURDER BALLAD – a lusty rock opera fable for our times

REVIEW will be posted May 23^rd, 2013

MURDER BALLAD was originally produced in New Yrok City by the Manhattan Theatre Club

www.MurderBallad.com

NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 – from Ars Nova to Kazino

For a truly unique and spectacular theatrical and dining experience head on over to KAZINO – The Meatpacking District “Little Siberia” (13^th Street and Washington Street) home to NATASHA, PIERRE and THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 a new musical by the talented Dave Malloy. 

Dinner theater is alive and well and serving up a Russian feast that includes a shot of borsht, perogies, black bread, crudités, shrimp plus dinner and your choice of beverage from an extensive list that is not included in the $125.00 ticket to the extravaganza.

A special tent city has been constructed especially for this Off-Broadway production that had its incubation period at Ars Nova 511 West 54 Street (www.arsnovanyc.com) a tiny little theatre that has housed some unusual productions.  NATASHA, PIERRE and THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 has been super sized, retaining its 19^th century Russian supper club atmosphere designed by Mimi Lien.

The audience sits on banquets and chairs around small bistro tables.  We are surrounded by a raised stage that encircles the entire area.  And the actors perform all over the club and may sit down right next to you.  It’s somewhat tight and you may be in need of a neck massage at the end of this two and a half hour presentation based in part on Leo Tolstoy’s WAR and PEACE but it will be worth it.

Anyone who attempts a sung through musical based in part on WAR and PEACE is either a maniac, an egomaniac or a genius.  You must decide by attending, I can only be your guide.

I had a fantastic time.  The opening number of this “electropop opera” where all the characters are introduced and we are informed to hold onto and consult the program so that we’ll know what’s going on is hysterical and festive reminding me of The Twelve Days of Christmas.  The program has a full outline of the V parts with an intermission so that you can refill your vodka glass and a Family Tree of the characters involved.  It comes in handy.  But the show is perfectly clear.  And beautiful.  And funny.  And moving, smart and romantic.  The eclectic score is both traditional and modern and Russian with the orchestra scattered around the arena led by a terrific Or Matias.  The performers are all standouts.

The tale is your basic love triangle served Russian style.  Natasha (Phillipa Soo) is torn between her betrothed Andrey (Blake Delong) who is away fighting the war and Anatole (Lucas Steele) a swaggering drunken womanizer whom she meets at the Moscow Opera and immediately has some strange tinglings stirring within.  What will she do?  Will she be betrayed?  Will Andrey ever return?  Will Pierre (Dave Malloy) a scholar and drinker who has little or no sex with his slut of a wife Helene (Amber Gray) be able to console Natasha?

Beautifully directed by Rachael Chavkin and evocatively lit by Bradley King and gorgeously costumed by Paloma Young you will totally enjoy this festive Russian party, leaving impressed, contented, sated and perhaps a little tipsy. 

www.Kazinonyc.com       www.davemalloy.com  Photo:  Chad Batka

FIVE Drama Desk Nominations

HERE LIES LOVE – Imelda Marcos’ disco party

The third floor LuEsther Theater at The Public Theater has been transformed into a pulsating neon lit disco where HERE LIES LOVE is performing and you are standing. 

Not a standing ovation mind you but you are literally standing and moving throughout this immersive performance piece/ sung through rock opera about Imelda Marcos and friends by David Byrne (Concept & Lyrics) and Music (David Byrne and Fatboy Slim) – additional music Tom Gandey, J Pardo – unless you request one of the higher box seats.

It’s another love triangle of sorts.  Imelda (Ruthie Ann Miles) a poor country girl who sometimes went without shoes wants more out of life – power and money and yes, love.  Her first suitor Aquino (Conrad Ricamora) is quickly replaced by Ferdinand Marcos (Jose Llana) – they remain fierce political opponents while her faithful and best friend Estrella (Melody Butiu) watches from the sidelines.  As does the audience in this high concept, interactive, manipulative musical ingeniously directed by Alex Timbers.  If Imelda and Ferdinand could manipulate the Filipinos why not have a show about them that manipulates the audience?

I can appreciate the production values, the score, the lively choreography by Anne-B Parson, the costumes (Clint Ramos) – that change faster than the years that go flying by covering the highlights and low of Imelda – the terrific lighting (Justin Townsend) and exceptional projections (Peter Nigrini) and the energetic and excellent ensemble of players 

The many moveable platforms (David Korins) have the traffic control crew working hard not to interfere with the actors while herding us around in circles careful that no one trips while boogieing which is encouraged to the catchy music that permeates the action. 

The audience is moved about like a herd of cattle and urged to root for and then despise Mr. and Mrs. Marcos while seeking sympathy for pill popping Imelda who learned too well from her husband.  A philandering husband who treated her as a puppet as their fame and fortunes rose and then fell.

Video cams, actual news footage, photos and songs trace her simple life to the wife of the President and escape to America.  She vows repeatedly that love is all that matters, although to help her people certain ugly sacrifices must be made.

HERE LIES LOVE has been awarded the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding new Off-Broadway musical and has five Drama Desk Nominations.

If you have the stamina and do not mind being led around like a flock of sheep and miss the long gone nights of disco dancing and want to see a unique theatrical presentation by all means go.  Programs are distributed upon exit.  Extended through June 30^th.

www.publictheater.org

www.davidbyrne.com

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You will be amazed, surprised and thrilled.  You will laugh.  You will sing along.  You will come under the spell of the magic created by some of the best creative minds and performers on Broadway.

And if you haven’t already, you will realize how talented and smart Stephen Schwartz is – the man behind the excellent and most pleasing score – music and lyrics.  After all he is the wizard behind WICKED.

PIPPIN – a production of the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge MA) is brilliantly directed by Diane Paulus, and along with Stephen Schwartz and book writer Roger O. Hirson have hit pay dirt with this spectacular circus setting by Scott Pask and circus creation by Gypsy Snider of the Montreal-based troupe Les 7 doigts de la main and equally spectacular costumes by Dominique Lemieux (from Cirque du Soleil) all lit dramatically by Kenneth Posner.

This definitive production utilizes every trick, illusion and special effect – juggling, acrobats, hoops, bouncing balls, flying bodies, pole dancing, trapeze artistry and more to make this production outstanding.  Everything moves the story along while amazing us every two seconds by its ingenuity.  And I haven’t even gotten to the cast.

And what an exceptional cast it is to tell the simple story of a boy looking for his rightful place in life – his “corner of the sky”.  It’s a coming of age story told within the framework of a group of circus performers headed by the Leading Player (Patina Miller) somewhat influenced by Fellini and Fosse – the original director/choreographer.  Chet Walker has reinterpreted Bob Fosse’s moves with its trademark hands and sinuous, sensual gyrating hips faithfully and added his own razzle dazzle.

The boy is Pippin (an adorable sweet voiced and strong matinee idol Matthew James Thomas), son of Charlemagne (Terrence Mann) and his conniving stepmother Fastrada (Charlotte d’Amboise) who wants her dim-witted son Lewis (Erik Altemus) on the throne. 

Throughout his journey Pippin deals with war and sex and politics and a love that he shares with Catherine (a stellar, poignant Rachael Bay Jones) a simple widow and her son Theo (Andrew Cekala).  Will Pippin finally discover that a simple life with his new chosen family is what matters most or will he succumb to the taunts of the circus people to jump into the fire of the finale?

Pippin also has a feisty, still very attractive grandmother – Berthe – played by the feisty and still very attractive and very funny Andrea Martin who stops the show midway through the first act getting a standing ovation for her incredible fearless and seemingly effortless performance of “No Time at All” aloft on a trapeze and hanging upside down while getting the audience to sing along.  It is the best performance on Broadway and will be one of the many moments that you will remember from this PIPPIN including a talking decapitated head (Colin Cunliffe).

Ben Vereen became a star with his original portrayal of the Leading Player.  The gender has been changed but the star power remains.  Patina Miller has stepped into the role making it her own with her incandescent smile and in control spunk, belting out her numbers with an edgy cynical meanness caressed with charm.

You will have the best time ever at this extraordinary production of PIPPIN now at The Music Box on 45^th Street.  You may even want to run away and join a circus.

www.PippinTheMusical.com  Photos:  Joan Marcus

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For anyone seeking some biographical information about super agent to the A-list stars Sue Mengers during her heyday of 1970’s Hollywood just GOOGLE.  If you desire to see the next to the real thing and get the inside dish with some juicy added embellishments just fork over some dough to see The Divine Miss M in all her glory acting out the role in John Logan’s one woman talk-a-thon I’LL EAT YOU LAST – a chat with Sue Mengers (although she does all of the chatting in this 85 minute inside LA Confidential monologue) at the Booth Theatre where Ms. M has just broken the house record.

Bette Midler is in top form.  Sitting throughout on a divine sofa plush with pillows in a divine house (décor by Scott Pask) that once belonged to Zsa Zsa Gabor with a pool somewhere outside (but that’s not important) wearing a divine caftan designed by Edith Head – sorry I mean Ann Roth circa 1981.

What is important is that Mengers (who died in 2011) is hosting one of her infamous dinner parties and has just been informed by the lawyers of her used to be best friend Barbra Streisand that her services will no longer be needed.  There is a new agency on the block CAA (Creative Artists Agency – ironically the playwright’s rep) and the winds of change are blowing at hurricane force and clients are jumping ship.

Looking radiant after an absence of more than thirty years on Broadway and fit as a fiddle and ready for just about anything including profanity, smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use and gossip that we have been warned about on the show curtain Bette Midler basks in the glow of her adoring fans who by play’s end adore her even more for her grand performance that has been coaxed on by director Joe Mantello.  Between the two, strategic smoking and drinking have been timed precisely to get every laugh line there is.  And Midler knows how to prolong and milk a laugh till its dry.

She tells us, while waiting for La Streisand to call, about her rise from a German/Jewish waif to receptionist to super agent to such luminaries as Julie Harris, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Ali McGraw and Sissy Spacek.  And how to go about being a super agent.  Like her.  When someone said “No” she heard “Maybe”.  Most of the anecdotes are hilarious as told by the Divine Miss M.

Sue Mengers first and foremost wanted to have fun.  And she did.  And Bette continues to do so, especially when she beckons an unsuspecting guy from the audience to fetch her cigarettes and vodka – after removing his shoes so as not to soil her newly cleaned carpet.

Brash, outspoken, fearless with a self made image and determination of steel could be used to describe both Mengers and Midler.  Both have done it their way.  And we are the grateful recipients of a great performance about a great super agent.  It’s delish.  Go see it.

www.illeatyoulast.com  A strictly limited engagement through June 30^th.  Opened April 24^th the birthday of Streisand.

Photos:  Richard Termine

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