Review: BUYER AND CELLAR in Westport

Believe it or not, it's not totally crazy to have a personal mall in the basement. After all, since the Great Recession, many women have been shopping their closets in order to keep their wardrobes fresh looking (read: they're saving money). My former editor and mentor kept clothes since middle school until the day she died so she could preserve some of her best memories. (I miss Dale Salm and her good taste in clothes.)

In Fairfield resident Jonathan Tolins' brilliant play, Buyer and Cellar, the basement is a very fashionable part of an exceptionally impressive Malibu estate. Set in the barn, the mall includes Bee's Doll House, an antiques shop, clothing from some of famous movies and a frozen yogurt shop.

Someone has to take care of the stores, the merchandise and, of course, the mall's most valuable shopper, in this case (whisper) Barbra Streisand. Of course, this play is fiction because it couldn't "possibly have happened with a person as famous, talented and litigious as Barbra Streisand."

That mall manager/shop clerk is struggling actor Alex More (played winningly by Michael Urie). Don't rain on her parade. Streisand is immensely talented not just as a performer and director, but as an interior designer. 60 Minutes featured one of her houses some 20 or 30 years ago, and in 2010 Streisand published her book My Passion for Design with most photos taken by guess who - the perfectionist herself.

She is unsurpassed her in talent and with that comes demands, quirks and ego. The employee who is hired to take care of that mall has to give in to those demands, give up his own ego, his own career and personal life as he becomes sweeper, duster, salesman, and psychologist. Easy peasy lemon squeezy for Alex More.

Also for Michael Urie. Affable and energetic, he plays not just Alex but Streisand, James Brolin, their housekeeper, and his boyfriend with lightning quick changes. (I'm waiting for Jonah Verdon to get older so that he can play this role in the future. He proved himself to be at least as dexterous as boy and girl twins in Disaster: The Musical when it was still OB.)

The audience learns a lot about Alex and about his employer, whom he meets frequently in the mall. In her mall, she gets what she wants and on her terms. He has the challenging task of keeping the store profitable and not wanting to tick off the owner. As Streisand's housekeeper Sharon tells Alex, "Remember, the customer is always right."

Tolins drops little jewels like that throught the play. Listen carefully for the customer to talk about pillows because Tollins cleverly refers to them towards the end. If Tolins had just written this fantasy comedy on one simple level, it would still be hysterically funny. But Tolins makes the audience understand that the lady of the manor's quest is to make "a perfect little world" of "relentless good taste" goes beyond a control freak's wish to compensate for her sad and impoverished childhood. It suggests a woman who, despite reaching the height of fame and being among the top 40 richest self-made women, still gets lonely and sad and her acquisitions never completely filled the void in her soul. All of this in 100 minutes without intermission under Stephen Brackett's superb direction. The sparse set by Andrew Boyce works well and is complemented by Eric Southern's excellent lighting and Alex Basco Koch's wonderful projections.

Don't miss this show, even if you are not a Streisand fan. It's funny and deep. It doesn't have to be about Streisand, but about any high-octane, which is why I see this play being produced in the future starring Urie or Verdon. I'm dead certain that a lot of today's biggest musical and movie stars, who don't have a fraction of Streisand's talent, feel emptiness even with their vast wardrobes and luxury cars. Celebrities are often emotionally bruised people, and Tollins conveys that delicately, yet powerfully. There's a song in Westport Country Playhouse's upcoming production of Camelot that says it all. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere wonder what the simple folk "to shed their weary lot." You'll just have to see it for the answer.

Until then, Buyer and Cellar runs at the Westport Country Playhouse until July 3. For more information, call 203-227-4177 or visit www.westportplayhouse.org.

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