newjerseynewsroom.com

Charles Busch presents a lovably unlovable heroine in his latest Manhattan comedy

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

An increasingly rancorous Seder dinner is among several gleeful highlights that peak throughout “Olive and the Bitter Herbs,” a new comedy by Charles Busch that bowed on Tuesday at 59E59 Theaters.

While Busch perhaps remains best known for the zany farces he has concocted for himself like “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,” he has enjoyed considerable success with comedies in which he has not performed, such as his Broadway hit “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.”

Like that play, “Olive and the Bitter Herbs” is set in a modern-day Manhattan apartment and regards a woman with a tendency to gripe a lot. Olive, in fact, is one of the biggest grumps you’ll ever encounter.

“I’m unlovable,” asserts Olive. “I can give you references.”

A semi-retired actress in her 70s whose single lasting claim to fame was a TV commercial – she was the “Gimme the Sausage” Lady, don’t cha know – Olive (Marcia Jean Kurtz) is a snarky soul who’s never met a person she couldn’t antagonize. Little wonder she has no friends other than Wendy (Julie Halston), a cheerful soul impervious to Olive’s dyspeptic attitude.

Then Olive becomes aware of a presence existing within a mirror hanging upon her living room wall.

As the play proceeds, this elusive spirit gradually is revealed as the ghost of someone known not only to both Olive and Wendy, but also to Trey (Dan Butler) and Robert (David Garrison), a middle-aged gay couple from next door. They join the ladies – and Sylvan (Richard Masur), a genial triple widower who wanders into their midst – for that argumentative Passover dinner that ends the first act so amusingly.

While the storyline ultimately doesn’t add up to so much, Busch’s diverting comedy is salted with funny business and peppered with laughs, and dished out very handsomely indeed by director Mark Brokaw’s energetic production for Primary Stages.

Led by Kurtz’s glowering Olive – a dumpy, finger-wagging misanthrope in frumpy housecoats — Brokaw’s company of excellent actors makes the utmost of their characters.