Summer is for relaxing. If you are looking for a relaxing theater experience, “Buyer & Cellar” playing at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham is the ideal show. Think of it as the theater equivalent of a beach-read book.
Or, in the case of “Buyer & Cellar,” perhaps it’s more like a long magazine article. The one-man show, performed without an intermission, is only about 70-minutes long. I wouldn’t want it a minute longer, nor would I be happy if it was anything less.
“Buyer & Cellar” is about an unemployed, gay actor who gets his dream job of working for his idol, Barbra Streisand. The job consists of being the sole employee at her personal shopping mall located in the basement of her Malibu estate.
Great pains are taken to make clear that the events in “Buyer & Cellar” are fictional. But, it also points out that such a place does exist. The actress-singer has taken the mementos of her life and career and arranged them in shops by categories – clothes, dolls, etc. - as if it were a shopping village in her home. Bizarre, but true.
Obviously the only shopper would be Babs, who would, in effect, be buying her own things. Playwright Jonathan Tolins imagines what would happen if she had to negotiate with someone on a price for an item that she actually owned. It does happen in the play and is extremely funny.
However, if the concept suggests a lack of substance - that’s not quite true. There is something about the material that resonates with you. The character Alex More is typical of us all. When he finally meets his idol he is lured into thinking the arrangement is something more than it could ever be. When Barbra Streisand eventually acts like we expect Barbra Streisand to act, it is funny but kind of sad to realize superheroes aren’t always heroic, and rarely are they super.
Too, the play also reminds us that people who live lives of splendid isolation aren’t leading splendid lives.
The genius of the play’s conceit is that though it is pure fiction, you leave the play wondering if the events told are described as fiction just to avoid breaking a confidentiality agreement. The play rings that truthful.
Of course, this is a tribute to the performance of Kris Anderson. One of the area’s finest actors, he makes everything he does seem easy and honest. A one-man show does not mean a one-character play. There are several people to meet, the most important are Barbra and Alex’s boyfriend Barry. Each character is distinctive, funny and well-drawn.
Anderson and director Carol Max make wise choices by showing Alex and Barry having delightful touches of gay humor, but not playing them as queens or letting camp enter the production.
Restraint is also shown in portraying Ms. Streisand. Anderson does not try to impersonate the woman but finds the essence of the woman in his delivery. By showing Streisand as a real person, who probably would like but can’t be friends with Alex, she comes across more as a tragic person than as if played like a bitchy caricature.
“Buyer & Cellar” is very funny, kind of wise, and always delightful. It continues at Curtain Call Theater, Latham Thursdays to Sundays through August 5. For tickets and schedule information call 877-7529.
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
