Barbra Streisand wrote a book about her work in design. It inspired Jonathan Tolins to write about that work of hers. As Remy Germinario tells Tolins’s story, he stresses it’s a fiction. But Barbra’s design is of her real Malibu estate, including a basement European-type mall in her copied-from-Connecticut barn. Remy’s Alex Moore, characters connected to him, and even Barbra fit into his intriguing, hilarious, surprising story. Alex had been dismissed from his Disneyland job when he got a rare chance to work for his admired Barbra by keeping and sort of clerking in her “shoppes.” Her subsequent visits to “buy” the merchandise, especially an antique doll for which Alex invents an intriguing history, fill his memories. Although he doesn’t “do” her, he evokes a vivid picture of her, particularly as she deals with him over the doll. He wonders if he will ever get to enter upstairs, where he’s heard her guests. He even meets her lover James Brolin when he dishes out a cone-full from her frozen yogurt store. With sprinkles! Will he get to really mingle with Barbra or her guests? What does his lover Barry think of all this, and what happens to his and Alex’s relationship? What is the ultimate place of Alex in Barbra’s Malibu house? There’s a lot of suspense in Alex’s story, and it’s fun to follow, even if it’s a tad overlong. Luckily, Remy Germinario is always good to listen to and see moving in the places he conjures up. Bruce Price has created a simple but evocative set with Frenchy furniture and fine background projections, all well lit by Nick Jones. Joe Parisi’s sound is perfect; every word of Alex comes through and a bit of music appropriately fills the air at times. Director Catherine Randazzo deserves praise for her and Germinario’s command of Tolins’s material and its execution. A good choice for FST’s Stage III series of special shows for audiences willing to see material not suited for only mainstage audiences!
