Dressing Room Divas, a one-act comedy that combines a couple of fictional characters with caricatures of five forceful movie stars, is a paean to the 20th century sensibility of camp. The show's premise is too inane to bear scrutiny, but it involves Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, Julie Andrews, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins and two florists being held hostage in a tiny dressing room prior to a benefit at Radio City Music Hall. The writing is on a par with those scripts, usually titled something like "Headin' For A Weddin'" or "Pick A Dilly," which are published for non-royalty performance by high school thespian clubs and unsophisticated community theaters.
The acting, at best, is patchy. But professionalism is not the goal of Dressing Room Divas; Sal Emine & Dane Hall's farce serves as an occasion for unabashed mugging and uncomplimentary impersonations, and the production's only reason for being is to turn an improbable mix of cultural references into crowd-tickling gags. Updated regularly to take account of fast-breaking stories and the latest celebrity scandals, the script keeps the audience chuckling and delivers a few really big laughs. And that's all we have the right to ask of any late-nite camp fest.
Ended:
1994
Country:
USA
State:
New York
City:
New York
Theater Type:
Cabaret
Theater:
Duplex
Theater Address:
61 Christopher Street
Phone:
(212) 255-5438
Running Time:
75 min
Genre:
Campy Comedy
Director:
Steven Helgoth
Review:
Cast:
David Brown, Amber Chase, Alice Connorton, Jill Foster, Rachel Kramer, Heather McAllister, Vinessa Milando, Joe Stockton, David Toussaint
Technical:
Exec. Producer: Steven Helgoth; SM: Steven E. Roberts; TD: Jim Latzel
Critic:
Charles Wright
Date Reviewed:
July 1994
