An evening of laughs, intimacy, and a galaxy far far away comes to audiences at The Hippodrome Theatre as Broadway Across America presents Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking.
Carrie Fischer. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.
At the opening of the show the standard no cell phones/no flash photography message was replaced by a note to the audience that tells everyone that “regrettably the role of Carrie Fisher will not be played by Meryl Streep and on such short notice the only person that we could get to replace Streep was Carrie Fisher.” From that moment the laughs don’t stop and Fisher will keep you in stitches.
The set is an eccentric living room perfectly befitting the Star Wars Icon – allowing her to drift easily around the stage during her anecdotes and friendly audience interactions. Scenic Designer David Korins creates a semi-fantasy land for Fisher to play in: plush couches, Star Wars memorabilia, strange fuzzy and feathery birds; all to help her delve into her insanity as she relates it to the audience.
Fisher gives a top-notch performance, giving a full two-hour show with great gusto. From the moment the curtain rises she’s already coming down the steps into the audience to ‘get to know us’ better and starts literally sprinkling her magic touch to audience members. Her affection toward the on-lookers is sweet and makes everyone feels at ease as she starts with a very morbid moment in her life as an ‘ice-breaker’ for her opening story. And when she starts up a question and answer session with the audience it’s heartwarming to see that she makes eye contact with each person that asks a question, and continues to do so while she answers them— I can attest to this because I was one of them.
The show encompasses many aspects of her life – most actually quite sad or depressing but she has such a charming way of spinning them around into something gut-bustingly hilarious. Fisher shares fond memories; intimate stories that allow the audience to glimpse into the windows of her life and understand her. She presents an uproarious notion of self-depreciation and takes the knocks as if they were the pride and joy of her life.
Her scene stealing moment in this show – though every moment is a new discovery of wonderfully hilarious things – comes during her interactive classroom lesson: “Hollywood Inbreeding 101” where Fisher draws the audience’s attention to her parents and how everyone everywhere along the way gets married, divorced, remarried, celebrates by having a child, etc. This segment is by far the most laughable and enjoyable in a brilliant show. She goes really in depth with stories regarding her family and is not afraid to dote upon her loving mother, Debbie Reynolds, in a good-natured but less than kind light, and speak fondly of father Eddie Fisher and daughter Billy.
Carrie Fischer. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.
The show is laced with dark humor. Fisher is captivating an engaging even in the more morbid moments that still manage to wrangle quite a few good laughs from the audience. She is nostalgic and her story flitters by just like the fragments of her life – her casual discussion regarding rehabs and mental hospitals as socially elite invitations are hysterical.
Fisher is the ultimate one-woman show of how it is to be a pop culture icon and still be batty and insane – proving to audiences everywhere that you really can have it all. May her force be with you.
Wishful Drinking plays through February 12, 2012, at The Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center – 12 N Eutaw Street, in Baltimore, MD. For tickets, call the box office at (410) 837-4000, or purchase them online.
LINKS
Watch a trailer for HBO’s presentation of Wishful Thinking.
Listen and watch a ‘brief’ story from Wishful Thinking.
Amanda Gunther is an actress, a writer, and loves the theatre. She graduated with her BFA in acting from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and spent two years studying abroad in Sydney, Australia at the University of New South Wales. Her time spent in Sydney taught her a lot about the performing arts, from Improv Comedy to performance art drama done completely in the dark. She loves theatre of all kinds, but loves musicals the best. When she’s not working, if she’s not at the theatre, you can usually find her reading a book, working on ideas for her own books, or just relaxing and taking in the sights and sounds of her Baltimore hometown. She loves to travel, exploring new venues for performing arts and other leisurely activities. Writing for the Maryland Theatre Guide will give her a chance to pursue her passion of the theatre and will broaden her horizons in the writer’s field.
