The comedy revue Celebrity Autobiography has finally made its Broadway debut at the Shubert Theatre, proving that you truly cannot make this stuff up.
Developed by Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel, the simple concept features a rotating cast of stage and screen stars reading – completely verbatim and with deadpan earnestness – the unintentionally hilarious, self-absorbed memoirs of other famous figures.
Host Eugene Pack explained the idea came about once long time Wheel of Fortune Vana White wrote her biography explaining in detail her job of flipping letters on the board. Writers read approximately about 200 biographies. My favorites: Oprah, Cher and Gwyneth Paltrow. Hilarious!
While a few of the more dated passages from older pop-culture icons can occasionally stall the show’s momentum, the evening triumphs on the sheer, comedic brilliance of its ensemble; highlights include Jeff Hiller’s side-splittingly urgent impression of Cher and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer’s brilliantly take on Celine Dion, including a brief musical number.
Mario Cantone impersonated Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liza Minnelli, Carol Channing, and Ethel Merman.
Bobby Moynihan does Justin Bieber justice. Tiger Woods hints at his indiscretions in his own book, and Dolly Parton can be X-rated to the point where you wonder… Did she really write that?
Reaching its peak during a dramatic, multi-memoir “mash-up” chronicling the infamous Old Hollywood love quadrangle of Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, and Richard Burton, the production transforms public relations fluff into a high-stakes theatrical masterpiece.
It is a wonderfully lighthearted, 90-minute guilty pleasure that serves as both a riotous evening of sketch comedy and a cautionary tale for any star thinking about putting pen to paper.
Celebrity Autobiography
Run Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Shubert Theatre
225 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
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