|
Regional Reviews: St. Louis Buyer & Cellar Also see Richard's review of Sight Unseen
Jeremy Webb is full of fabulosity (and charm, and even pain and sorrow) as he spins a tale of celebrity behind the scenes. He primarily plays Alex More, an out of work actor in Los Angeles. And perhaps inevitably, when an odd sounding job offer comes along, taking him behind the gates at the singer's Malibu reserve, Miss Streisand gradually takes over his entire life. It's all billed as a totally fictional tale-but somehow a firm denial of factuality only seems to add to the gleeful verisimilitude. Wendy Dann directs the 90-minute show from 2013, written by Jonathan Tolins. And with his director's help, Mr. Webb fills the stage with a most unusual tale. Among other roles, he plays the wary megastar (though, as he freely admits, it's just an approximation), despite the fact that her true existence seems to be hidden away inside a series of nesting dolls, including the literal false front of a Connecticut-style barn. And that charming structure conceals an underground storage area designed to look like a quaint series of shops ... It turns out that all these little make-believe retail outlets are a kind of shopper-tainment version of the museum of Streisand's own life: warehousing her old clothes and curiosities, along with a little storefront "selling" frozen yogurt, and more. And each time she goes down to take visit with him, she also gains the very human thrill of the hunt, just like any shopper would at a public mall. Oh! And the memories: not unlike the corners of her mind ... It all may remind you of the big inventory scene at the end of Citizen Kane, hidden under that big red barn. But most of the other disguising layers in this fast and funny confabulation are a bit more ephemeral. Miss Streisand is presented as prickly, mildly conniving, occasionally self-pitying, and conveniently unaware of the grandiose bubble she's made for herself. And Alex, waiting patiently for his one and only customer in the "shops," is ready and willing to be swallowed up as well. There's always the terrible dread of some mega-tantrum, as she tentatively interacts with him, here and there. But he proves to be a very good match for this particular imagining of the reclusive diva. Fortunately (or not), Alex also happens to have a boyfriend who's an expert Barbraologist: a former Brooklynite, and something of a Hollywood insider himself. As embodied by Mr. Webb, Barry may not subscribe to "Barbra Quarterly" (the ultimate fanzine of her followers), but his own life has prepared him to read the star herself, just like that, with one eye closed in dark of night. He gives us a trenchant counterpoint to everything Babs says in the play, and also to what her films have said about her, in a dazzling meta-commentary on celebrity. Of course it all has to come crashing down sooner or later—Alex is too yearning, and Miss Streisand, well, far too self-centered. But it sure is a lot of fun as the veil is lifted, inch by inch, along the way. Inspired by Miss Streisand's book "My Passion for Design," Off-Broadway's 2013 award winning Buyer & Cellar runs through April 5, 2015, downstairs in the Rep's studio theatre: 130 Edgar Road, on the campus of Webster University. For more information visit www.repstl.org. The Player Production Staff
|
