Review - Judith of Bethulia

Clearly, I don’t even need to do a review of this show.  It’s the new Charles Busch play.  You all KNOW what I’m going to say:

THUMBS UP!!!!

Seriously, Charles Busch deserves an Obie, Drama Desk, Tony, Olivier, Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, Kennedy Center Honor, Sarah Siddons Award, Nobel Peace Prize and whatever hell else we can give him.  To me, the man is a treasure.  A TREASURE, I tell you!!  J

Following The Divine Sister and its witty take on films featuring nuns,  Judith of Bethulia is a ‘celebration’ of biblical epics.  The preshow music even included tunes from The Ten Commandments.  Oh yeah.  I love that movie!  This play is everything you expect from a Charles Busch piece: high brow/low brow comedy, wit, camp, warmth, affection, craft and joy.  It was tons of fun and full of laughs.  If it didn’t have quite the sustained giddiness of The Divine Sister, well, that’s ok.  It’s early and they’re still playing.

Charles is playing Judith, a wealthy Jewish widow who isn’t quite what she appears to be.  How she evolves into the woman we see at the end of the evening is a tons-of-fun journey.  As always, Charles is gorgeously attired and wigged (seriously, I need to have my hair and makeup done by Charles’ peeps – he’s gorgeous!).  His first entrance is frankly worth the price of admission!  I won’t spoil it for you.  Regarding his co-stars, Charles has again surrounded himself with actors who are as fast and funny as he is – Mary Testa, Jen Cody, Jennifer Van Dyck and Christopher Borg were my favorites.  And another reason to love Charles (as if I need one):  after the curtain call, he steps forward and gives such a lovely thank-you to the audience.  It’s genuine and heartfelt and reflects exactly how we all feel watching him.  Love-fests are so few and far between, I say indulge in them when you can.  J

Of course I urge everyone to see this show.  Now, truth be told, the entire run at Theater for the New City is sold out, BUT they have a waiting list and I can tell you with absolute certainty that there were empty seats last night.  Two of them were in front of me.  So don’t give up!  

I guess I’m unable to write a very critical review.  Sorry, but I have next to no objectivity about Charles or his work.  I just love him.  I knew very little about him or his work when I moved to New York (shame on me), then I happened to see him speak on a panel.  He was so charming and so delightful, I immediately decided to read all his plays.  The first play of his I saw was Queen Amarantha at the WPA in 1997.  And...I was hooked.  I’ve seen them all since then.  I just love his very sincere, very real love for the movies, theater and women/actresses.  It all shows in his work.  I don’t enjoy camp for camp’s sake most of the time, but his stuff transcends.  Plus, it's just joyfully fun.  In my humble opinion, of course.  Your mileage may vary.  J