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Published Thursday
December 18, 2003
Review: 'Crawfords'
a hilarious holiday hit
BY BOB FISCHBACH
- WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The very title sells it to the camp-classic crowd: "Christmas
With the Crawfords." And though it's uneven, when it is good,
it is very, very good - good enough to make you laugh until it hurts.
This mostly
drag musical is set at Joan Crawford's home on Christmas Eve, as
she does a live radio show with Hedda Hopper. A train of famous
stars keeps dropping in, mistaking Joan's place for the party next
door at Gary Cooper's.
The show sports
outstanding costumes and makeup - the very appearance of new characters
produced howls - and features a conga line of truly inspired, wickedly
funny performances.
The running
gimmick is to slightly twist famous lines from each character's
career to fit the show's plot line.
If it's Bette
Davis, you're going to hear "But ya are, Blanche," from
"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." Hattie McDaniel will
find a reason to say, "I done tole ya and tole ya," from
"Gone With the Wind." Gloria Swanson has got to, at some
point, be ready for her close-up, a la "Sunset Boulevard."
And they all sing twisted Christmas carol lyrics, to hilarious effect.
And Joan? Well,
despite all those Oscar nominations, her lines come from a movie
she didn't act in but is most remembered for: "Mommie Dearest."
Ron Osborn,
towering in heels and a fright wig, looks scarily like Joan, and
in an over-the-top night, he's way out there - and way funny. A
sinister "Silent Night," in which the stage is lit only
by red lights from the tree, is a highlight.
Also a hoot
and a half is the diminutive Daena Schweiger, in that awful Baby
Jane getup, swaggering in full Bette Davis bombast. She's got the
mannerisms cold.
But the biggest
laughs went to scene-stealer Wai Yim as Gloria Swanson, facially
frozen in a leering trance as she haughtily recalls the silent era:
"I can say anything I want with my eyes."
Also outstanding
are Michal Simpson, a heavily accented Carmen Miranda ("Merry
Chreechma, Joan Crowbar") who mangles "Away in a Manger";
director Todd Brooks, who accompanies at the keyboards with Liberace's
flourish; Teri Fender, who can't fully replicate Judy Garland but
has the styling on a demented "Have Yourself a Merry Little
Christmas"; and Derrick Crawford, who rocks the house as Hattie
McDaniel in full gospel mode on "Children Go Where I Send Thee."
Michael Taylor-Stewart
cuts a fine figure as Hedda Hopper, and Matt Yohe and Cody Enicke
cringe convincingly as the Crawford children. Harrison Charter has
almost no lines as Edith Head but is dead-on visually and, like
most of the cast, drinks and totters to excess.
Excess is the
point all night, including excessive amounts of outrageous merriment.
The 55-seat venue is sure to sell out for this limited two-week
run.
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