Ensemble Theatre Company opens its season with an effervescent brunch of a play in Jonathan Tolins’s Buyer and Cellar. Directed by Jamie Torcellini, Buyer and Cellar is a one-man show starring Brian McDonald as bubbly, underemployed actor Alex Moore, whose retail experience lands him a job in the private basement mall on Barbra Streisand’s Malibu estate. McDonald also plays several other characters who interact with Moore, including Barbra herself. The voice and character work is impressive, and McDonald does a nice job of creating conversation between characters to keep the show prancing along.
Buyer and Cellar exists at the crossroads of Streisand superfans, gay pop culture, and the life of a struggling artist. Moore develops a one-sided relationship with Barbra, who mostly treats him like a pet. He becomes fiercely wrapped up in the detached-from-reality world of this iconic performer — even though he’s relegated to the basement, where he hosts the “city street” storefronts that house all of Barbra’s various acquisitions. When the rubber meets the road, Babs can’t provide the kind of emotional support real friendship does, and Moore learns the lesson Little Red Riding Hood learned when she encounters the big, bad wolf in Sondheim’s Into the Woods: “Nice is different than good.”
The show meets a rewarding finish when, despite the inevitable realization that materialism fills a hole in the soul that can, in a healthy scenario, also be satisfied with meaningful relationships and social balance, Moore gains the wisdom of a diva in learning to, in appropriate situations, relish “perfectionism” (because there’s nothing wrong with demanding better for yourself). McDonald’s character is witty and joyful with infectious enthusiasm.
See Buyer and Cellar at the New Vic Theatre through October 25.
You must be logged in to post a comment.