DIVA TO THE TOWEL SET
In this summer fluff title tells all–Bette, Live at the Continental Baths (in Chicago, upstairs at Mary’s Attic). This uncredited concoction by Hell in a Handbag Productions, staged and choreographed by Christopher Pazdernik, recreates the Divine Miss M in her gay salad days at New York’s biggest bathhouse. Here, where she was crowned greatest fag hag ever, a sassy star could be born between the orgy room and the showers. (As an origins tale, it flattens Smallville.) Inevitably, Bette Midler’s cabaret act became a showcase for what, going strong in Las Vega, has lasted nearly half a century, a cavalcade of showbiz hubris and motor-mouthed merriment. Everything is still coming up Bette.
More spirited homage than cunning impersonation, Caitlin Jackson’s take on the saucy spitfire lacks the machine-gun overkill of this Sophie Tucker on steroids. (She’s more like an edgy Barbara Cook.) Not quite the rabid redhead, Jackson’s more maternal Bette is, if not quite “a trip down Mammary Lane” (as the hype here goes), at least a gay creation myth set to song. Backing up her surprisingly mellow renditions are two suitably adorable bathhouse boys, twinkies served at room temperature (T.J. Crawford and Will Wilhelm). Their smiles are sweetness on sugar. The result is, as “Bette” brays forth beautifully, “T & A,” talent and attitude–and a bit of double-entendre delight, like the dentist who insists to Miss M that “Your cavity needs filling.”
As for the material, Jackson/Midler fetes us with period gossip about Za Za Gabor’s latest marriage and Martha Raye’s mouth. Mostly, zealously accompanied by no less than a moppet-headed Barry Manilow (music director Jeremy Ramey), our self-proclaimed “mother” just puts a nickel in her jukebox. And we’re instantly regaled with the opening “Too Many Fish in the Sea,” “Leader of the Pack,” and two beautiful blues numbers (including the poignant “Empty Bed Blues’). In 90 minutes Jackson also has time to belt out the still-racy “Mambo Italiano,” the self-characterizing “Great Balls of Fire,” and, of course, the signature number “Going to the Chapel” (a rouser that means so much more than in 1971). Saluting the 40s, the jaunty jester chugs through “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” (but, not, strangely and sadly, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”).
Miss M’s sole salutes to the disco era are “Do You Want to Dance?” and the soulful “Superstar.” (You don’t quite feel the 70’s groove here.) Her most personal ballad is for the audience, “You’ve Gotta Have Friends.” (It also becomes the show’s encore, though it’s really a reprise.) Like Judy, Bette’s friends were legend-makers (as much as cleanliness freaks). Sure, nostalgia still ain’t what it used to be but, judging from the show’s opening night, two generations later, even a near simulation can monger memories.
photos by Rick Aguilar Studios
Bette, Live at the Continental Baths
Hell in a Handbag Productions
Mary’s Attic, 5400 N. Clark St.
Fri & Sat at 8; select Thurs at 8
ends on August 21, 2015
for tickets, visit Handbag Productions
RETURN ENGAGEMENT:
August 12 – September 10, 2016
Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.
for tickets, call 773.327.5252 or visit Stage 773
for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago
