INTERVIEW: Hey, celebrities — thanks for the Broadway material!
Image: Courtesy of Celebrity Autobiography / Provided by BBB with permission.
Celebrity Autobiography finishes up its Mondays-only limited engagement Dec. 17 at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway. The comedy show, featuring a rotating roster of actors and comedians, shines a spotlight on celebrity memoirs from a variety of entertainment figures.
Eugene Pack created the show in Los Angeles, and helping him develop it was Dayle Reyfel. They both also perform in the piece.
“We did it completely for fun,” Reyfel said in a recent phone interview. “We were both writers and creators and actors, and we didn’t expect this show to do anything but bring us fun. … We were just having the best time, and it just came out of love. And then one day we did it at a different space in L.A., and the room was packed. Steve Martin came, and everybody started coming to see the show. And it eventually evolved into something bigger, but it really started very simple and just for pleasure.”
When Reyfel takes the stage, she often performs the memoir of Diana Ross, and she relishes the chance of recounting the time the singer had to appear in front of a crowd at Central Park in the rain.
“She can’t believe how could there be rain when she’s there,” Reyfel said with a laugh. “Also, I like doing Marilu Henner. I do a Marilu Henner reading about her romance with Tony Danza, and Tony Danza [recently was] standing next to me while I’m reading it as he reads from another book. So that’s pretty funny, and most of all, probably [my favorite is] Debbie Reynolds because we do a finale where Gene plays Eddie Fisher. And in the [Dec. 10] show, Alec Baldwin will be Richard Burton, and Susan Lucci will be Elizabeth Taylor. And we combine all the books together. … That’s our big finale.”
For the Broadway engagement, Reyfel and Pack have attracted the comedic talents of Baldwin, Lucci, Mario Cantone, Lewis Black, Rachel Dratch, Cecily Strong and Antoni Porowski, among others. When these performers take to the Marquis Theatre stage, they try to recreate a casual recitation of the celebrity’s memoir, as if the audience is sitting across at a coffee table.
“The whole premise of the show that Gene originally created was, if you’re sitting let’s say at a breakfast table, and you say, ‘Let me read this to you,'” she said. “And you read it out loud because you think it’s so funny. You’re reading it to the person across the table; that’s the whole premise of the show. It’s that simple, so usually if it captures my fancy, I’m going to assume that it’s going to be funny. … Sometimes I’m surprised when I don’t quite find the funny right away, and then I end up doing it and realizing that it’s hilarious.”
When Reyfel found out the show would be heading to Broadway, she was thrilled. She understood there would be more pressure in front of such a large crowd, but she and Pack were ready for the challenge.
One pressure that is not on the shoulders of the performers is the refraining from laughter. Reyfel and Pack love when the comedians on stage break the fourth wall and laugh along with the crowd.
“We laugh a lot,” Reyfel admitted. “We’re not making fun of anybody. We’re just communicating their story as if it’s our story, but there’s always that sense of the irony and the tongue-in-cheek aspect of it. It’s a little bit different than anything else we do as an actor, but I definitely believe in the sincerity of all their words.”
There’s a wealth of material to choose from, but the team has their favorites. Vanna White is one; Justin Bieber is another — and everyone in between.
“There’s a book practically every week, so this is endless,” she said. “And so we always have new memoirs to work with, so we definitely move on. But we keep some of our classics. … We’re grateful to all these authors for writing such great material.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Celebrity Autobiography continues Monday, Dec. 17 at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
