News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Review: I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS is a Must-See at Diamond Stage Company

Playing through February 2nd

By: Jan. 31, 2025
Review: I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS is a Must-See at Diamond Stage Company  Image
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to see something and know that it’s special. I had that experience last summer when I saw, Oh, Mary! on Broadway. I had it again last weekend when I attended the second week of Diamond Stage Company’s inaugural production of I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers. In this arresting piece, Janis Stevens directs Natasha Hause in John Logan’s one-woman show about Hollywood superagent, Sue Mengers.

Hause is a recognizable figure in local theatre, having spent eight years with the Sacramento Theatre Company as an Associate Artist and Producer. She was last seen at Sierra Rep as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. As perfect as that role was for her, this one fits her even better. Hause slips into Sue Mengers until they are indistinguishable from each other. I’ll East You Last is a look into Mengers’s life as a top talent agent. She represented such figures as Barbra Streisand, Ali MacGraw, and Gene Hackman. Like Mengers, Hause is glamorous and talented. Hause is also wonderfully down-to-earth and inclusive, which shines through in her performance.

The play begins with Hause on a gorgeous orange sofa, courtesy of tasteful set design by John Ewing. Mengers is waiting for Streisand, with the “perm we won’t speak of,” to call. Sue has been fired as Barbra’s agent and, while she waits, is content to regale the audience with tales of her fight to the top and the lavish parties she throws once she’s there. She’s a maven of gossip about A-listers, with no qualms about who or what she exposes. She gleefully decrees, “Elton is the easiest dinner guest. He’ll eat anything but pussy.” With Hause’s raspy, deadpan delivery, the jokes take on a life of their own. She’s amused and confident as she invites us into her inner circle of Hollywood elite. The audience is let into a secret world that’s reserved for a select few, except Hause doesn’t make it feel that way. She holds everyone captive with her skillful delivery and paints such an engaging character that I was mesmerized the entire eighty minutes by the story of this fascinating German immigrant who learned to speak English by watching movies. While, I might add, making it look effortless. In between puffs on a joint and comfortably switching positions, even inviting an audience member to come up and remove his shoes, Hause is the ultimate Hollywood power player who eventually realizes that, despite all of the glamour, “the credits roll sooner than you think.”

If you see anything this month, it should be I’ll Eat You Last during its final weekend. You’re invited into Sue’s lounge to gossip, kvetch, and have fun. You’ll be one of the first to witness something special, and you’ll be in good company. As Sue said, “if you can’t say anything nice about someone, come sit by me.”

I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers plays at the Wilkerson Theatre with Diamond Stage Company through February 2nd. Tickets may be found at the attached link and more information may be found on Instagram at @diamondstagecompany and Facebook at Diamond Stage Company.

Photo credit: Don Hause




Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.



Videos