David Cerda and Scott Lamberty, the creators of “Sexy Baby”,  have once again taken a  touchy subject, child beauty pageants, which are already riddled with parody and camp, and unleashed a veritable whirlwind of funny on Chicago audiences.

I fall in comedy love with pretty much every show David Cerda's Hell in a Handbag Productions puts out and “Sexy Baby” doesn't disappoint. I asked David after the show if he realizes what an incredible feminist he is, because the way he views the glamour of women and the unique predicaments in their life is always so dead on funny and supportive at the same time. “Sexy Baby” should be adapted for school age children because it hits on every single thing that little girls and boys are subjected to by their stage-momsters on the way to what they hope is pageant and Hollywood fame - without losing heart or one beat of funny.

Cerda's casting is always spot on as well and he never fails to attract some of the funniest and most talented singer/dancers in Chicago. The entire cast of “Sexy Baby” blew me away but stand-outs this time were Alex Grelle as “Beyansay Riddle” and Edlyn Griffin as “Epiphany Jones” who both absolutely had me screaming with laughter every time they came on stage. Grelle and Griffin's  faces reflected the exact wide eyed, sugary sweet and plastic stare and over extended posture of the five-year-old  girls you see on the TV show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. Billie Bryant as the wheelchair bound, white trash stage-momster “Cindy Jones” was also very, very funny, and Heather Currie has a wonderful singing voice.

Run, don't walk to see “Sexy Baby” at Mary's Attic in Andersonville, and don't forget your sash and tiara!!

“Sexy Baby” has 7:30pm performances Thursdays-Saturdays and has just been extended to July 23^rd. Tickets are a super reasonable $15-$22 and VIP packages are also available. Mary’s Attic is located in the heart of Andersonville at 5400 W Clark Street. For more information on “Sexy Baby”, visit http://www.handbagproductions.org/. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Spider Saloff's performance at Victory Gardens Theater. Spider has a wonderful, smooth, rich tone to her voice and impeccable phrasing.  Although there were serious technical difficulties

with her microphone that continued throughout her performance, she unflinchingly “drove right through it”

and maintained her focus on the eight characters she has so lovingly handcrafted.

 Spider has a great sense of humor and her Marlene Dietrich inspired character and dance number,

“Falling for Everyone” was absolutely spot on and completely adorable.

I highly recommend seeing “Roar Of the Butterfly” for appreciators of fine Jazz vocals who are looking for a delightful evening of light yet poignant and meaningful entertainment.

Spider Saloff on the creation of her one woman show;

"This performance is in the tradition of Lily Tomlin and Tracey Ullman, so I portray eight different characters in what's best described as a musical comedy," Saloff said.

"When my husband died, the play took a complete turnaround, and I eventually decided to write myself out of it and turn it into the story of Butterfly," says Saloff, whose show launches its Chicago premiere engagement Thursday night at Victory Gardens' Richard Christiansen Theater.

Saloff plays multiple characters who gather for Butterfly's memorial service, all soliloquizing and singing about how the late drag queen changed them.

"It's about an individual who touched so many lives in so many different ways,"says Natalija Nogulich, who's directing the show. "But it's not like he got up and sang a song to a bunch of schoolchildren and they were wowed. He had an alternative lifestyle. He seemed to touch everyone: a hairdresser, the waitress, the man who drove his limo.”

"Not only do they remember him, but he did something significant in their eyes. He sparked someone to follow a dream for dancing. He sparked someone (else) not to give up on his daughter's addiction. But I also made the decision that I was going to talk about loss, and not have it just be a crazy comedy. I mean, it is a silly comedy, it has wild characters, it's based on weird people … but it does talk about loss and death."

"The whole story has a kind of leavening feeling. Even though it's a memorial, like many memorials, it's a celebration."

Spider Saloff’s ‘The Roar of the Butterfly” is playing through May 20^th. For ticket information, visit www.victorygardens.org.

I was completely under the spell of this dazzling, tribute to romance and the magical vocal stylings of Frank Sinatra by Twyla Tharp in “Come Fly Away”, performed at the Bank of America Theatre. Twyla Tharp’s 15 amazing dancers bring to life the stories of four couples falling in and out of love with tremendous style and some of the best choreography performed by some of the best dancers I have seen on the stage in a long time.

If you are a huge Sinatra fan like myself, get ready to get drunk with pleasure and fully satisfied on this smorgasbord of his best recordings brought to life including: “Let’s Fall in Love”, “Witchcraft”, “I’ve Got a Crush on You”, “Teach Me Tonight”, “Body and Soul”, and “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”. Sinatra sings all the songs with music performed by a fantastic 20-piece plus big band, which really gave the audience the feeling of being in the nightclub with all the dancers.

I believe the best dancers are also fine actors who emote their characters’ inner life through their faces as well as their bodies. Tharp’s stunning dancers, all of whom are superbly trained in ballet and modern dance equally, exude a raw sexuality that is a treat for the eyes. Twyla Tharp’s choreography is expert at dramatizing the flirtation and complex emotions of falling in and out of love that Sinatra standards describe so well.  

I can’t recommend highly enough this winning combination of my favorite singers of all time, Frank Sinatra’s standards about love interpreted and brought to life by one of my favorite choreographers of all time, Twyla Tharp.  It’s like peanut butter and chocolate, two great tastes that taste great together!

“Come Fly Away” runs through January 22^nd. For more information, visit www.broadwayinchicago.com.

After a 12 year run at Bailiwick Repertory, The Christmas Schooner sails again in a wonderfully revamped form at The Mercury Theater.

The Christmas Schooner relates the true story of German immigrants who risked their lives on the freezing waters of wintry Lake Michigan to bring Christmas trees to Chicago back in the 1880's.

The entire cast is excellent with lovely voices. 12 year old, Daniel Coonley (Karl Stossel) is very good in his role and not too saccharine sweet as some child actors can be.

Jim Sherman, (Gustav Stossel, Karl's grandfather) holds down the fort with his solid character study and really choked me up during the scene when he laments his dead son with a strangled cry of

“I miss him!”

Cory Goodrich (Ana Stossel, Karl's Mother) has a really rich, beautiful singing voice. Goodrich performs the role with grace and a great sense of humor.  Goodrich’s character Ana Stossel, really is the heart and center of the entire production, the schooner, if you will, that propels her son, husband, and father in law to become a part of history by attempting these dangerous but much lauded heroic voyages to Chicago.

This is a really lovely holiday production to bring your family to, as it makes you feel a part of the true history of Christmas in Chicago.  The Christmas Schooner also elucidates the history and magic of the Christmas tree itself as one of the things that helped families get through the long cold Chicago winters inspiring well wishes with it's beautiful shining lights and hopeful meaning.

At the end of the show the cast passes a branch of a Christmas tree hand to hand, right into the audience who continued to pass it along with the wish that each who touches it find love this holiday season.

The theater space at Mercury is really perfect for this show, as it is both intimate and expansive at the same time. I also loved that they served cookies, hot chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps in the lobby at intermission and that you can step straight out of the play and slip straight into the cozy confines of Cullin's Pub without going out in the cold.

I highly recommend making The Christmas Schooner at The Mercury Theater a new tradition in

Christmas Theater going for the entire family to enjoy together. For more information, visit www.mercurytheater.com.

Comedians Scott Thompson and Kevin MacDonald Live at Mayne Stage in Chicago

I really enjoyed the dueling comedy sets by “Kids in The Hall” cast members, Scott Thompson and Kevin MacDonald.  There is a certain type of ripple effect laughter that really great comics can get out of an audience that I think of as a “bouncy wave” or “bouncy ball” where the audience continues to laugh and giggle to themselves in between the jokes about the last joke. Then the laughter just continues to and build and bounce like a rubber ball even when the comedian isn't saying anything!

Thompson and MacDonald really got that bouncy ball of laughter going to the point where I was actually wiping tears from my eyes.

Scott Thompson was over the top raunchy with a great story about how autographing a fan's penis turned into a full-blown sex romp and another great bit about his search for a genuine “Unicorn- the uncircumcised Jewish male.”

Thompson also covered some interesting ground when he described how bizarre it was to be a man diagnosed and treated for breast cancer- “The hospital elevators and even the medical forms are all PINK!!”

Kevin MacDonald's comedy was a little bit more tame but also very funny when he came out and told the audience that he is not really a stand-up comic that his jokes only have “middles” not beginnings or ends.

Kevin and Scott alternated sets and shared the stage three times, making for a generous, very funny, satisfying and balanced night of comedy.

Kids in the Hall' alumna, Dave Foley, happened to be in Chicago performing at the Improv and joined Thompson and MacDonald on stage at the end of the night for a little bit of funnin' around that involved Scott Thompson's' hand in Dave's pants. Foley also stuck around after the show with Scott Thompson to meet the audience.

Thompson recalls meeting a young Uma Thurman backstage early in the groups' career.

"Uma Thurman at the time was the sexiest woman in the world," he says. "We had never met a celebrity before. We all thought she wanted to sleep with us. It really was a big launching pad for us. It made us think that wow; we're in the big leagues. She was the first responder."

if you are a Kids in the Hall fan,  Thompson and MacDonald live  is a real treat , you must check out “Two Kids in the Hall” while they are on tour.

Yuri Lane was a child actor, almost cast as Doogie Howser until the producer decided to go blond.

Lane has performed on the stage with Matt Damon and has many commercials under his belt but fame eluded him until one of his videos showing his amazing beat box skills went viral on YouTube with a million hits. Yuri was flown around the country by Google, Yahoo and many other corporations came calling with offers, some paid, some not. After a while he says he “kind of lost himself” in the process of trying to make the phenomenon of his number one YouTube video profitable at 1/20^th of a penny per hit.

Lane has made an interesting and funny one man show about his wild run with YouTube, which showcases his unbelievable vocal skills as a beat box artist as well as his sense of humor.

Yuri plays his own father by projecting himself as his dad on a video screen above his head and it was a very effective and funny way to illustrate their relationship. Yuri's recollection of his own Jewish artist father, a painter who is living precariously on Social Security, is revealing. Yuri's dad tries   to help by making suggestions like “Just walk into advertising agencies and sell yourself!”  The way Lane's father constantly plies Yuri with guilt trips about why Yuri isn't making more money to help support him and questions about how much “art “Yuri is creating in the meantime, really hit home with me.

Lane brings up many interesting points about the process of becoming a star on YouTube and also how very difficult it is to make any money on YouTube even with a video that gets over 2 million hits.

“MeTube” also shows that a performer like Lane who is obviously multi talented as a vocalist and writer/ producer but in such a unique and unusual ways that it sometimes it is very difficult to get a lasting break in Hollywood.

I am always amazed by experiencing Sting performing live in concert. Sting has an incredible knack for creating an infinite number of new and compelling variations on his rich 25-year catalog of hit music. He never just rehashes his hits or performs them by wrote, he actively uses the fantastic musicians around him and his own life experience to innovate hip new arrangements that take each song to a whole new, truly new, level of intensity and meaning.

Sting appears on the stage for his Back to Bass Tour casually stripped down, with shaved head, zero body fat and wearing sheer gray T-Shirt and jeans. Sting appears relaxed yet energetic and completely in command of his band and the audience.

Sting has chosen such a small and an interesting group of players for this tour. Sting's right hand man, longtime guitarist, Dominic Miller, is on this tour, as well as Dominic's' 26 year old son, Rufus Miller. Rufus is a very good rhythm guitarist and already displays some of the handsome, pouty, nonchalant stage presence of a more seasoned player like his dad.

Drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta, is dynamite on the sticks, serving up some really great and tricked out yet solid rhythms for these arrangements.  On backing vocals Jo Lawry, has a rich, dramatic vocal presence, and also provided fiddle and additional percussion, which is doubly impressive. The show stealer is another young musician, Peter Tickell, who brought our house to a roaring standing ovation with his fiddle solo during “Love is Stronger than Justice”. Tickell really is an amazing player, like a Stevie Ray Vaughn on the violin. I've seen other young people solo with great skill like Peter, but in that boring, cold and speedy,  “music school” showing off sort of way. Tickell has the soul and rhythm to really feel out the emotional crescendo of his solo and it's catharsis and is a surprisingly mature, dead on rockin' and passionate player for his age.

I love that the Back to Bass Tour is utilizing smaller more intimate venues this time around. Sting has no difficulty projecting a great performance to a roaring outdoor crowd of 40,000, like with the Police Reunion Tour at Wrigley Field. However, I personally find that enjoying the superior quality of his voice and intricacies of his arrangements is so much more affecting in a smaller indoor venue.

Sting really is a master of transforming- or  “trance- forming”- musical performance. The combination of his detailed, lyric story telling, ultra-rhythmic bass lines and intensive Yogic training over the years   come together perfectly in a shaman like fashion, drawing the willing listener into a musical “trance” that is both entertaining and healing at the same time. I enjoy walking around after his concerts seeing the relaxed, happy, meditative looks on the faces of his satisfied audience members after the show.

Sting mentioned that he enjoys a great sense of “continuity when playing in Chicago, that it always feels like coming home to perform here.”

I feel a sense of continuity when Sting plays here as well because I have so many great memories of his concerts, meeting him and interviewing his band mates Dominic Miller and Chris Botti over the years.

In a way, Sting and Dominic gave me one of my very first breaks as a journalist when they allowed me to come backstage to do a live interview just 15 minutes before they ran out on stage in front of over 10,000 excited fans during the Sacred Love Tour.

I did not have my own Chicago magazine or PR firm established. Back then, I was writing for a teeny,  tiny newspaper in Brookfield Illinois. My cameraman and I drove six hours from Chicago to Grand Rapids but we were a full hour late for the scheduled interview because we forgot about the time change in Michigan, but they still had the ushers lead me back into the dressing area to conduct the interview with only minutes to spare before curtain.

I remember I had undergone a disastrous tanning booth experience the day before hoping to look good for the meeting wherein the entire back of my body ended up with 3^rd degree burns from double exposure and my front remained untouched and completely white. Now, I always make a point of giving my celebrity interview guests a big hug when we finish and I remember thinking, I don't care if it hurts- I am hugging Sting and Dominic for doing this interview- no matter what!

Then there was the wonderful, encouraging, 50 minute plus, phone interview that Chris Botti gave me just moments before taking the stage that night at Carnegie Hall. Chris Botti called me for the interview from Stings' condo in Manhattan, which Chris had just purchased from Sting and had barely moved into.

There are many wonderful and synchronistic events that I have experienced seeing Sting but the best has to be when he provided two wonderful seats to a rehearsal concert in Miami for my mother and I.  My mother was having major health problems at that moment and I flew to Miami to help her.

For my mom, attending Sting's concert that night turned out to be a miraculous, healing, dream-like, turning point for her and I really am indebted to him on a soul level for reviving her.  After that concert, Danny Quatrochi, Sting's personal bass assistant since The Police, hung out with my mom and I in the hotel bar and made her feel like the Belle of the Ball at the age of 73. The entire evening was amazingly generous and sweet.

Well, I could wax rhapsodic about more of my Sting-chronicity's over the years but I am sure with the shape Sting is in, there will be many more great concerts and mysterious dreams come to life in years to come.

I'll leave you with this about the show last night. Sting has a great practice of really allowing his players to shine and temporarily take the spotlight away from him on stage, but just in case you were starting to get distracted by all the bells and whistles of his band, Sting takes his last of three encores alone, with only his voice and an acoustic guitar filling the excited space.

When he does this, the energy in the room stays strong and climbs even higher, proving without a doubt that Sting's voice and compositions alone are the reason we have congregated here and that Sting's magnificent voice and songs really need no adornment whatsoever.

I highly recommend seeing the Sting, Back to Bass Tour. When it comes to your city in 2011.

The performance of Back to Bass that I attended here in Chicago at The Rosemont Theater was sheer concert perfection, a “must see” concert event of this season for any Sting fan.

For Tour dates through December of 2011 visit www.Sting.com.

www.Buzznews.net

www.kimberlykatzpr.com

I actually started cutting my teeth as a booking agent 20 years ago. by booking my own band into nightclubs. It seemed straightforward at first, there was a contact name and number and process for submitting your band's music but then I found out each club had a huge stack of unopened music and it was difficult to get the manager on the phone. If the manager wasn't a friend or at least a friend of a friend who liked your band you may get the runaround for months or wind up being given an opening slot at 6:30 PM on a Tuesday night that you can't possibly get your fans to show up at, let alone make any money playing. After a few rounds of this time wasting futility, I learned that by booking other bands along with my own for a whole night of music or a festival, I could get a lot more respect from the club, and more control over the split of funds from the door and which band got the prime slot- mine.

 *(above) Kimberly Katz with Taylor Negron

Theatrical booking by comparison is about 100 times more selective, complex, political, and cliquish than club/musical booking.

For ease of explanation, I group theatrical bookings in three tiers, based on length of run, not size of venue. For example a Tier One booking is for one or two nights max including speaking engagements. It doesn't matter if the theater is 300 hundred seats or 3000. A Tier Two engagement is a week or longer up to two weeks max. A Tier Three is the most intensive booking logistically; it lasts for two weeks or longer and may include a run extension of several months in the same venue.

After 25 years in the New York and Chicago theater scene, I know exactly what each theater or venue is like to see a show in from top to bottom. I know what type of experience theater goers and my productions' members will have right down to the restrooms, bar area, parking options, and disabled access. I am aware of the general age and personality of the theaters' subscriber audience as a whole and I am aware of the success or failure of each of their past productions season to season.  The artistic directors and general managers who decide which productions to run, know me from reviewing their shows for Buzz and are friends from college or just respect my taste in theater and talent.

Booking a theater for a production is a lot like hosting an important party. I have to find the best room with the best vibe for that style and size party, with all the right amenities, ample parking and bar/restaurant foot traffic in the right neighborhood.  Then if there is competition for that venue, and those dates, I have to really sell my production to a number of company heads based on what I project will be it's success and get the best deal financially for my clients.

Of the three aspects, the vision, the budget and the schedule, the schedule is actually the most pivotal. The vision for a show changes and evolves. The budget or lack thereof, also changes over time and alters the execution of the vision but not necessarily in a bad way.  You may have a large budget and pump a lot of money into a play with big sets, lighting design, and costumes but it doesn't mean the show will be successful in proportion to the money you have spent. Bigger isn't always better, in fact, it may gild the lily to the point where the show is ruined.  For example, actor, writer, Jeff Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm did a successful two-week run at Steppenwolf this past summer with no set at all. Garlin performed his piece “No Sugar Tonight” with just an old ladder, some scaffolding strewn about and a plastic pumpkin with ladle full of water and a ukulele he said he would not play but was there for visual suspense. Garlin said he thought the ladder, etc. would indicate that this was a “work in progress” and that he did not even have a name for the show until the theater pressed him for one.

When I look at the calendar as a booking agent I see years flying by, not weeks or days because in a sense the best dates of the theatrical calendar year are already booked well before it begins.

Imagine the entire theater community on a big Monopoly board of the United States.  On the board there is a fixed number of major theaters in each of the major cities. Every agent or producer already knows which venues and which dates they need for their production’s tour schedule that year.

The in- house subscriber series are locked in a full year in advance.  Major Holidays like Christmas are always in the same place and have either a good effect on your particular show (A Christmas Carol) or a dead zone effect that you want to avoid, etc.  Booking is done as far in advance as possible to get the best slots and have ample time to promote the show and fill seats.

For more information visit www.KimberlyKatzPR.com   

Carrie Fishers' one woman show is a delightful piece of theater and makes you feel you are spending an evening with this witty, intelligent star in the cozy comfort of her own posh living room. I don't always make note of set design, but this set by David Korins, was a warmly lit, richly colorful, multidimensional representation of a southwestern styled den and screening room which really drew me in and showcased Carrie's casual, energetic style of storytelling perfectly.

When Fisher puffs on her electronic cigarette speaking excitedly about her days as cultural icon, Princess Leia, while perched on the edge of a comfy leather sofa or tiptoes right off the proscenium into the audience to hand out free drink coupons to the front row, you feel that she has actually brought her home to you. You feel that Carrie wants you to join her for some Hollywood gossip and a cup of tea - well not tea exactly, maybe some Vicodin and a tumbler of martinis.

Carrie Fisher has a laugh at her own unique childhood growing up as the daughter of stars Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She has a fantastic line about when Elizabeth Taylor’s husband, Mike Todd, died in a plane crash, Carrie's father “Eddie rushed to Elizabeth's' side to comfort her in her grief ...and eventually worked his way around to Elizabeth Taylor's front.”

Carrie tells the younger audiences members who might not know the history of her superstar parents that the huge amount of publicity from this dramatic love triangle would be cast today with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Anniston and Angelina Jolie.

Carrie Fisher pokes fun at and tries to come to terms with the supper massive success of her character Princess Leia and the Star Wars Trilogy at age 19, describing how George Lucas convinced her not to wear a bra under her Princess costume stating that it was necessary for realism because “there is no underwear in outer space”. She also has fun onstage with some of the seemingly endless series of toys, memorabilia and merchandise that came out of the role including a life size Princess Leia' Love Doll,

a “Mr. Potato Head Princess Leia” and a PEZ dispenser. My prayer for Carrie Fisher is that she got a piece of the billion dollars in merchandising that is still being earned on all these licenses written into her contract at some point.

I remember standing in a long line to see the first Star Wars with my family as an impressionable eleven-year-old and although I had a crush on Harrison Ford, I was deeply impressed by the appearance of a feisty, brown eyed, brown-haired royal princess who was pensive instead of bubbly and a little bit smarter than she was pretty.

I think Carrie Fisher’s casting as Princess Leia back in 1976 was one of the first times I remember seeing a young, powerful woman cast as a lead in her own right and not just as the lead males' love interest. In other words Carrie Fisher's character at age 19, was written with enough meat and intelligence to be placed in the center of the giant Star Wars movie poster, not just working her cleavage “off to the left”.

I also remember first hand when Carrie Fishers' best selling book “Postcards from the Edge” came out and was made into a hit movie that Fisher also wrote the screenplay for starring Meryl Streep and Shirley Maclaine. At the time I was so inspired and influenced by her candor and acerbic wit regarding the entertainment industry at large and that she was able to parlay an acting career into a writing career with huge success.

Like Karen Carpenter who first made the disease of anorexia a household term, or Rita Hayworth, whose public illness pioneered the way for Alzheimer's patients, I also remember firsthand how important and groundbreaking it was when Carrie Fisher came out in the press about being Bi- Polar.

There is a great moment in the show when Carrie talks about the new electro shock treatment and her

“invitation” to stay in a mental hospital. She asks the audience if any of them have ever been “invited” to stay at a mental hospital, and only one brave soul raised his hand.  My grandmother Lillian was a classic Bi Polar, with very high highs and predictable plunging lows in her thinking patterns and speech.. I grew up knowing that she was undergoing the early form of electro-shock treatment, which erases several months of memory and watching her succumb in misery to the various heavy-duty drugs available at the time like Lithium. It was very difficult to witness let alone explain to my friends what she was going through partly because at that time very few public figures, if any, had spoken openly about their struggles with manic depression in the press.

Fisher has since appeared on the Senate floor to urge state legislators to increase government funding on medication for people living with mental health issues. Carrie is very courageous to have written openly about her own illness and drug dependencies because through her wonderful and witty sense of humor she has helped pave the way to removing the stigma still associated with mental illness in our society.

Of course, Carrie's show has some interesting tidbits about her marriage and divorce from singer Paul

Simon, including some of the lyrics he wrote about her describing her “cold coffee eyes” and from Hearts and Bones “One and one-half wandering Jews, (Carrie being the “half Jew”) returned to their natural coasts...to speculate who had been damaged the most.”

Carrie Fishers casting as the fictional Princess Leia in the Star Wars Trilogy may have both

“made her” and broken her at the same time, but as an activist, and an accomplished writer - a  Critics Circle' Award winning, New York Times best-selling , Grammy and Emmy nominated author in her own right, Carrie Fishers'  identity as genuine Hollywood royalty is not a work of fiction.

I only wish I had watched the film “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” the night before seeing this hilarious and touching send up because “Pussy on the House”, written by Ryan Landry, really hit the parody right on the head with huge laughs scene by scene and line for line.

In “Pussy on the House”, the failed ex-TV star Brick Pollup, and his stunningly gorgeous, sexually frustrated wife, Maggie Pollup, emotionally battle it out around the bed Maggie has dragged up to the roof where she is finally gratified when the full truth comes out about recent tragic events in the family.

Jeremy Myers in Elizabeth Taylor's role as “Maggie the Cat”, was absolutely beautiful to look at, very sexy and convincing. I loved that Jeremy achieved a strikingly natural resemblance to Taylor in his costume and makeup because his interpretation of her was as multi layered and dramatically rich as it was funny.

David Cerda as the very pregnant, money hungry sister-in-law and house-frau, Mae Pollup, was hysterical, often bringing the full house to a stop with laughter with just a single word or a smirking spot on look from under his false eyelashes.

The whole cast was dynamite and Honey West as Big Mama Pollup, “the richest, butchest lesbian in six counties who built the biggest polyester plantation the South has ever seen” gave the show some drama and weight with a rich voice and straight delivery that lifted this piece above great parody and into great melodrama.

Director Matthew Gunnels, who previously did such a smash up job directing “POSEIDON: An Upside Down Musical” stated about “Pussy on the House”, “Tennessee Williams is one of my favorite all-time playwrights and I have a special place in my heart for Cat. Mr. Landry’s play is clearly a love letter to the original material, but adds tons of campy fun and touches upon current events such as gay marriage, the effects of cancer on family members and same-sex adoption. Since being diagnosed with cancer this spring, it has changed the way I view characters in the play and has added importance and a sense of urgency to present this amazing script to Chicago.”

What I loved about this play and see in every play that David Cerda produces for his company, Hell in a Handbag, is a strong passion and devotion for keeping truly great drag alive. Great drag doesn't make fun of women, or make clowns of men, it elucidates and glamorously celebrates women’s' social condition in life and relationships.

Great drag, which Hell in a Handbag consistently delivers, makes you laugh and sympathize with grand dames like Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Crawford. A great drag performer uses humor and compassion to also celebrate the men who would like to embody great women.

“Pussy on the House” is playing at The Atheneum Theatre through October 30^th. For more information visit www.hellinahandbag.org.