THEATER
Wonder Women
Reality, romance in tales of two powerful, passionate women
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
Harvey Fierstein is back
on stage at Manhattan
Theatre Club in “Bella
Bella,” a piece he wrote
about the iconic Bella Abzug and
in which he plays the fi rebrand
liberal known as “Battling Bella.”
Abzug made her career as an attorney,
a member of Congress, and
a tireless fi ghter for women’s rights
and civil rights more broadly.
Abzug was one of the earliest supporters
of LGBTQ rights, introducing
in 1974 essentially what is now
the Equality Act, an ardent champion
of the Equal Rights Amendment,
one of the strongest voices
in Congress against the Vietnam
War, and a proponent of Richard
Nixon’s impeachment a year before
he resigned. Her passion and ferocity
were as much a part of her personal
style as her trademark hats.
Her relentless advocacy continued
unabated after she concluded her
six years in Congress.
In Fierstein’s 85-minute monologue,
drawn from the speeches and
writings of Abzug, he brings her to
life with the same kind of intensity
and focus that drove the woman he
embodies. Fierstein plays the role
in black shirt and slacks, allowing
the words and ideas to convey Abzug’s
Love Unmasked Too Late
Daring “Cyrano” revamp both exhilarating and exasperating
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
When a beloved, timeless
classic like
“Cyrano de Bergerac”
is revived onstage,
it begs the question: What fresh
twist justifi es recounting this story
for the umpteenth time?
In this latest “Cyrano,” presented
by The New Group and originally
commissioned by Goodspeed Musicals,
dramatist Erica Schmidt has
concocted multiple twists for Edmond
Harvey Fierstein in his solo show “Bella Bella,” directed by Kimberly Senior, at City Center through
December 1.
gender, particularly when expressed
in relationship to practices
that minimized and marginalized
women and, in some cases, physically
separated them from men,
both in Orthodox Jewish practice
and in Congress.
The play is set in 1976 in a bathroom
in a suite at the Summit Hotel.
(John Lee Beatty designed the
Rostand’s 1897 tragicomic
drama about a hopelessly lopsided
love triangle. Not only has she reworked
the text from the original,
but she directs as well. Schmidt
takes bold, creative risks to challenge
the familiar and make the
drama more resonant for today’s
audiences. She only partially succeeds.
The setting is intentionally
vague. The original is based on a
true story that took place in Paris
in 1640, whereas this version borrows
JEREMY DANIEL
period-perfect set.) Abzug is hiding
out from her supporters as she
awaits the results of a fi ve-way race
in a US Senate primary. Needing to
get away from the tension and the
glad-handing, she takes advantage
of her respite to tell us the story of
her career and how she got to this
night. Any solo show is by its nature
contrived and needs some
elements from that and other
time periods. While the French
names are retained, the locale is
not specifi ed.
The smart, minimalist scenic
design, by Christine Jones and
Amy Rubin, is comprised of dark,
abstract shapes accented by the
occasional red velvet curtain or
purple wisteria vine. The costumes,
by Tom Broecker, are largely modern
spins on 17th century French
designs.
The dialogue, as directed in the
kind of framing device, and this is
a pretty good one. It creates an immediacy
that drives the story.
The stories she tells include her
defense of Willie McGee, a black
man accused of the capital crime
of raping a white woman in Mississippi
and convicted in three
minutes whom she represented on
appeal, her runs for Congress, and
her break with her Orthodox faith.
Fierstein delivers these with focus
and intensity, and under the direction
of Kimberly Senior the piece is
elegantly orchestrated to take us
into the heart and mind of Abzug.
Fierstein brings such authenticity
to the role that one never focuses
on him being a man playing a
woman. Rather, one feels the presence
of Abzug and all she stood
for. There is delicious nuance and
comedy in the performance, but it
is Abzug’s commitment and selfawareness
that drive the piece.
Abzug would lose that election
by one percentage point to Daniel
Patrick Moynihan and never serve
in public offi ce again. What she
never lost was her drive, idealism,
and intractable sense of right and
wrong. Aside from a celebration of
a truly inspiring life, Fierstein reminds
us of how uncommon and
➤ BELLA BELLA, continued on p.35
script, is “not precious but should
be delivered quickly and easily
with a modern ear.” This is clear
from the top of Act I, when Roxanne
shows up at the theater claiming
to be “fashionably late.”
The biggest change is that this
“Cyrano” is now a chamber musical,
fully scored, featuring 18
songs (it is not the fi rst — musical
adaptations appeared on Broadway
in 1973 and 1993 but failed to
➤ CYRANO, continued on p.27
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