A Very Bette Christmas

Last weekend I went to see "A Very Bette Christmas," a play with music by Elizabeth Fuller and starring Tommy Femia as Bette Davis. I love seeing off the wall holiday specials during this season. The irreverence keeps me sane as the commercial holiday season swirls around me like snow in a blizzard.

The press materials describe the show as follows: "The setting is a 1962 Christmas television special starring Miss Davis. Miss Fuller speculates, 'Naturally Bette would be holding court and dominating the entire TV show, especially when her special guest star was to be her co-star in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?--Joan Crawford. A Very Bette Christmas is fictional, but I imagine it depicts Bette exactly as she would have acted, butting heads with her director, slinging icy zingers at Crawford, and mingling with the audience as a sly method to take full control of the television special'."

While the show has some funny moments, it feels a bit scattered, and the plot doesn't fully work. Hiding the show behind a faux TV special only exposes some of the weaknesses of the writing. The show needs more zingers between Bette and Joan. The show needs to be tightened up. And it just needs to be funnier. It's not a loss, but I think Miss Fuller should go back to her laptop and keep writing. Then she should spend some time work shopping the piece. Hopefully a better work would emerge.

THEATRE

Don't Tell Mama

OPENS

December 1, 2005

CLOSES

January 8, 2006

PERFORMANCES

Thu at 8:30pm; Fri - Sat at 11pm; Sun at 6pm

also Dec 23, 30, Jan 6 at 8:30pm

no perf Nov 24, Dec 2, 15, 24, 25, 31, Jan 1

TICKETS

$20

2 drink minimum

212-757-0788

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