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Directed by Des McAnuff
Sets by David F. Weiner; Lighting by David Lee Cuthbert; Production design by Michael Clark;
Sound by Steve Canyon Kennedy and John Shivers
Billy Crystal is a good guy. A good human being. The kind of person you can trust – onstage and off.
You just know that by listening to him. His humor is clean. He makes fun of himself, his family, his
friends. He loves them and he loves all the little weird bits about them. And he has discovered the real
secret – we all have the same five relatives.
When he is one of these characters he is miraculous. Aunty Sheila from Florida on the phone
describing a “lesbetyrian” wedding. His gaseous grandfather in the morning. His uncle being the
barbeque king. These are just jewels, and worth seeing. My sister and I were howling. And I don’t
often laugh out loud at the theatre.
But if you are looking for a real story – you won’t find it here. Which is too bad, because that’s what
Crystal is really trying to do. Tell us the story of his mother and father. Two insane and loving people
that he still adores, though both have passed on. Crystal is the weakest when he tries to be sincere
about them, and is the most sincere and pure when he goes for the jugular and makes us laugh so hard
we bark. He is not aided by the direction either which has Crystal bouncing back and forth like an
anxious job applicant, ignoring the lawn furniture there for the sitting, and only slowing down when he
lands into one of his magical relatives. The reason the show works at all is because Crystal is an icon,
and people will forgive an icon for being less than. It’s Billy Crystal, for God’s sake. If another
person were performing this same material, it wouldn’t fare so well.
The lights and sound were superb. Following Crystal flitting back and forth on the stage so smoothly
there were moments of “how are they doing that?”. The set was a model fo the front of his old house
with three windows that alternately showed home movies or closed blinds. An excellent touch, except
for the top window which couldn’t be seen by those of us in standing room or the last third of the
orchestra. Why do designers still design for the first 15 rows?
This is worth a look-see. Especially standing room, which you can buy in advance for $26.50. Expect
to be entertained and occasionally gobsmacked, but not blown away completely, and you will be very
pleased.