Directed
by Charles Nolte
Ron
Perlman in the role of Billy Einhorn.
[Once
again I was unable to find any further details on Ron's version of
this production, so I have used extracts from a review by John Guare
on a later production of "House of Blue Leaves" to give
an idea of the storyline.]
The show opens with
Artie Shaughnessy, a zoo-keeper who writes and sings show-songs, but
admits he's too old to be a young star anymore. He's held back because
his wife is crazy --- I mean round-the-bend bonkers (her name, "Bananas
Shaughnessy" says it all). His snappy solution, though, is to sock
her away in a booby-hatch (That Blue Leaves house; it's a sort of
a poetical, metaphorical thingie --- you gotta go see it to understand
it) and run away with the supportive --- well okay pushy love of his
life Bunny Flingus, who wants Pope Paul on his visit Stateside to
bless their union before His Holiness stops the Vietnam War. Oh yeah,
this is all taking place on October 4, 1965, in a cold apartment in
Queens, okay?
And Artie's got a shot,
because he went through grammar school with his life-long pal Billy
Einhorn, who never lost touch even though he's become a top movie
director. He even comes to visit at the apartment, but only after
the star of his first hit picture and new girl-friend, drops in and
has a tragic accident. (I can't tell you about the tragic accident
because it'd spoil the plot. Actually, it's her second tragic accident,
but I can't tell you about the first one either, except to say the
consequences of it make her nearly every line screamingly funny. But
you gotta go see it to understand, because My Lips Are Sealed.)
Guare's script demands
one shockingly inventive surprise after another, plateau after higher
plateau of credibility and schtick, and everyone delivers.
Full review can be found at:
http://www.theatermirror.com/hbl.htm