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July 7-13, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25
That’s so Amish! by Richard Dodds
T
he siblings Sedaris, David and Amy, possess views of society that share off-kilter dimensions that can sometimes overlap and at other times spin off in different directions. David Sedaris is best known for his essays and short stories that look at everyday experiences through a lens that magnifies life’s little inanities. Amy Sedaris is best known as a comic actress, as well as a writer, who finds a more slapstick route to exploring an absurd world. You can see both their imprints on The Book of Liz, a comedy they wrote together a decade ago that is now being revived by Custom Made Theatre Company. Part of the symbiosis that surely assisted the original New York production – Amy Sedaris bringing her innately comical physical presence to the custom-built title character – obviously cannot be repeated in this local production. But Marie O’Donnell, as a renegade from an Amish-like cult, brings an unflagging cheer to the role that wins over the audience with warmth if not abundant mirth. In fact, The Book of Liz is far less zany, wacky, madcap or whatever synonym you prefer than what you might expect from the Sedaris team. But wait, doesn’t Liz find her humanity while dressed as Mr. Peanut? Isn’t she given refuge by a Ukrainian couple with cockney accents who used to be professional cat-declawers? Doesn’t the sect’s annual Chastity Parade have a float dedicated to the dangers of casual glancing? And isn’t the secret ingredient in Sister Elizabeth’s famous cheeseballs her own beads of sweat that drop into the batter? Zany, wacky, and madcap elements are certainly in attendance, but the Sedaris team maintains a sedate view of such anomalies. That is also the tone that director Gabriel A. Ross takes in this fewfrills production that is more often than not awash in a uniformly and atmosphere-sapping bright light. The lighting limitations – blackouts
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Out There From page 24
world would make us run for the border. But these aviatrixes were all Valhalla-bound, so that was OK. The list of Ring-derivative artwork includes Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Apocalypse Now, and half of modern music. In the press room, the arts editor for a big Chicago paper apprised us of another Ring legacy. She was in town to catch the Ring while with a Vertigo-themed tour group, visiting all its SF locations, such as Carlota’s portrait at the Legion of Honor. She told us that the film’s composer, Bernard Hermann, based his score largely on the music for the Ring. You live, you learn. Poor Brünnhilde had to spend an eternity asleep on a rock pillow on a set based on a Presidio battery, from the end of Walküre until Siegfried, Act III, and believe us, that’s an eon. Siegfried is a long sitz, but worth it. Starts off Slackers, gets real Fisher King, then goes Transformers in a big way. At the top of Götterdämmerung, the three Norn sisters recapitulate the whole Story Thus Far, which takes forever. Later, so does Siegfried. Then everyone is horrible and gruesome to each other until ecological devastation is complete. How prescient of the 21st century!
Message in a bottle Producer Marc Huestis has given
Jay Yamada
Marie O’Donnell plays a member of an Amish-like cult who decides to break loose in David and Amy Sedaris’ The Book of Liz at Custom Made Theatre.
that are casual rather than crisp – can also squander energy in the multi-scene play. But getting away from the zany et cetera ingredients, there are also passages of subtle skewering of human hubris. As the head of a branch of the Squeamish order, the Rev. Tollhouse (a twinkly Stephen Pawley) offers a prayer to God filled with compliments that reflect back more on the prayer-giver than the creator himself. Alcoholic waiters at an Amish-theme restaurant and homosexuals who are the scourges of yard sales figure into the world according to the Sedarises. Allison Page and Tavis Kammet show their versatility as a variety of characters who populate this world. The Book of Liz was a big hit for
us a sneak peek at the 19-ft.-tall bottle constructed for the Barbara Eden shindig at the Castro Theatre on this coming Sunday (see cover story, girl). Yikes, we haven’t seen an erectile this big at the Castro since the Gay Video Awards! And the guy Jeremy Weld next to it ain’t bad, either – and haven’t we seen him in those gay video-type movies under another nom de plume? We’re told this bottle was whipped up by a ex-member of the legendary Angels of Light/Cockettes by the name of Phillip Ruise. Cock on! Frameline follow-up: Winning! Frameline 35 has announced the winners of its Juried Awards. Here they are. Frameline35 Outstanding Documentary Feature: Wish Me Away directors Bobbie Birleffi & Beverly Kopf. Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature: Hit So Hard director P. David Ebersole. Frameline35 Outstanding First Feature: The Evening Dress director Myriam Aziza. Honorable Mention for the First Feature: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same director Madeleine Olnek. Audience Awards: Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Documentary: Gen Silent director Stu Maddux. Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Feature: Tomboy director Céline Sciamma. Frameline35 AT&T Audience Award, Best Short: BaldGuy (Skalla Mann) director Maria Block. Congratulations to them all!▼
Custom Made several years ago, but not having seen it, I cannot attest to how this new production stacks up. But with some sharpening of scenes, and maybe a few technical tweaks, this Liz might be just the ticket for a summer tiptoe through the Sedaris cutups.▼ The Book of Liz will run at the Gough Street Playhouse through Aug. 21. Tickets are $28-$32. Call (510) 207-5774 or go to www.custommade.org.
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