I'LL EAT YOU LAST at the Booth Theatre

(Seen May 6, 2013)


It's been almost fifty years since Bette Middler was a replacement in Broadway's FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.  She returns now in a one-person show, subtitled "A Chat With Sue Mengers".  It's less of a chat and more of a revelatory look into a day in the life of a Hollywood super agent.

It's a special day in her life --- Barbra Streisand has just fired her, and she sits on her couch in her opulent Beverly Hills home.  She is continuously smoking joints and cigarettes in tandem, waiting for a call from Barbra, which never comes.  

John Logan has written this intense study of Mengers, which is meticulously directed by Joe Mantello.  The team of Middler/Logan/Mantello capture the essence of the character and of the times.

Although the material wouldn't suffer from excising some superfluous chatting, Middler never loses a moment of Menger's personality.  It's another example of a show with a Hollywood legend coming to Broadway --- and in this case, it works well.