There's a variety of tricks to writing most archetypal celebrity 'autobiographies'. First, get in a ghost writer who can either make sense and good grammar out of prerecorded drivel posing as authentic memories, or can sum up the subject matter by putting a glossy sheen over the text that for the sake of the writer's sanity and the celebrity's vanity, won't ever dig deep. Who needs depth when shallow egotism can garner so much entertainment? Particularly when recited by skillful performers who can rephrase a gem of a paragraph or spot the key line to a character. Delivery is everything and the range of interpretations on offer in Celebrity Autobiography, from straightforward to naive to trepidatious, consistently draws us into the ludicrousness of fame, the business behind removed-from-reality presentation and, quite frankly, the astounding level of self-absorbed idiocy lurking in the minds of the chosen few.
In Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter, created, developed and performed by Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel, a rotating cast from stage and screen (in this instance: Tate Donovan, Jackie Hoffman, Geraldine Hughes, Eugene Pack, Maulik Pancholy, Dayle Reyfel, Michael Urie and Alan Zweibel) read selected passages from the ever-mounting collection of comic fodder VIP memoirs. The show's incongruous one-off appearance at the Upper West Side's Triad Theatre amid Origin Theatre Company's 1st Irish Festival only adds to the absurdity of celebrity musings.
Kris Jenner's hunt for the Mona Lisa at the Louvre rivetingly describes going up some stairs and down some others. Justin Bieber cheerfully reminds us that he never gets nervous, even after breaking his foot during a tricky dance maneuver at Wembley Arena. In separate biographies, Donald and Ivana Trump swap non sequiturs about sports, shirts and musicals. Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton and George Hamilton advise on how to improve posture, diet and pleasure respectively. Diana Ross, reminiscing about a 1983 Central Park concert downpour, reassures her readers that she was in a wet dream and it was alright. Ricky Martin, apparently so much more than he appears to be, describes himself as a philanthropist, while LL Cool J insists that he is a man. Meanwhile, Michael Bublé possesses two stuffed toys and enjoys ping pong. In the New York Times bestseller 'Kardashian Konfidential', the three cauldron stirring Kardashian sisters describe growing up the hard way and having to wash their own cars as well as getting waxed from age eleven. Elsewhere, it comes to something when the biographies of celebrity pets are no more preposterous than the fables of their fickle human counterparts. The climax of the show concentrates on the melodramatic true-life episode that was Debbie Reynolds losing her husband Eddie Fisher to the notorious femme fatale Elizabeth Taylor. The autobiographies of the three stars involved are cleverly dissected and pivot around one another.
Celebrity Autobiography is a show that can be taken anywhere, much like an airport purchased paperback memoir. The difference is that the former is far more satisfying.
Visit https://celebrityautobiography.com/ for the schedule of upcoming shows.
