ME & JEZEBEL (2000)|Palm Beach Post Review

Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman presented ME & JEZEBEL, a play by Elizabeth Fuller at the Wilton Playhouse, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2000) ... the following is a review published in The Palm Beach Post:

Wednesday, May 24, 2000

Man, does unsafe Bette pay off

By Hap Erstein

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE—Who hasn’t wanted to meet a favorite movie idol or—indulging our fantasies further—have him or her stay over as a house guest?

Well, be careful what you wish for. It happened to Elizabeth Fuller, whose life, family and Westport, Conn. Home were disrupted by the arrival and open-ended stay of Bette Davis in the Spring of 1985. The experience—two parts joy and one part ordeal—spawned a book and then a play called Me & Jezebel, now at the Wilton Playhouse. The script is slight, but it becomes a campy romp because of the inspired casting of female impersonator Jim Bailey as the indomitable Davis.

Bailey uncannily captures the distinctive vocal and visual essences of the two-time Oscar winner, as well as the slyly larger-than-life version of her celebrity-has-its-privileges personality. The play, like Davis herself, overstays its welcome, but Bailey is so committed to the character and so compelling in his arm-flailing, chain-smoking caricature that he lessens the evening’s shortcomings.

Winsome Kim Cozort is the other half of the cast, playing perky housewife-author Fuller. She narrates and slips into a handful of supporting roles, telling how a dinner invitation to a neighbor turned into a meal with Davis. It is followed the next day by the star’s move into the Fullers’ guest room “for a night, possibly two,” ostensibly because of a hotel worker’s strike in New York.

Fuller is giddy with the prospect of such proximity to stardom, even if she gets a little more Baby Jane Hudson than she bargained for. Whether racking up long-distance calls to Europe or turning cups of coffee into ashtrays, Davis is an imperious handful on the home front. In public, she is always on her best behavior, taking Fuller to lunch in a chic café or holding court in the unfamiliar territory of McDonald’s.

Despite the good times, the daily catering to Davis’ whims soon become exhausting. Fuller’s husband threatens to move out if Davis won’t, and their 4-year-old son starts picking up new swear words and celebrity attitude from the house guest. Fuller’s scene-setting monologues begin with the day number of the Davis residency as if it were a hostage situation.

Ultimately, Me & Jezebel has a soft center, as the Fuller character remains star-struck throughout the month of Davis’ stay, concluding with misty-eyed wonderment that getting to know her idol has brought her closer to her dead grandmother.

Fortunately, Bailey often cuts through the play’s saccharine quality, booming out vintage Davis put-downs of Joan Crawford, intoning classic movie lines (“Fasten your seat belts—it’s going to be a bumpy night.”) our simply pulling audience focus with a withering facial expression.

Davis could be played by a woman, I suppose, but the results would not be nearly as much fun.

And probably not as convincing.

“Me & Jezebel,” a play by Elizabeth Fuller

Gary Waldman, Jamison Troutman, Kathi & Alan Glist and Jay H. Harris, producers,

Directed by Gary Waldman & Mark Graham

Set by Barry Axtel, Lighting by Jason Gould, Sound by John Wade

At the Wilton Playhouse through July 9th

ME & JEZEBEL (2000)|Miami Herald Review

Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman presented ME & JEZEBEL, a play by Elizabeth Fuller at the Wilton Playhouse, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2000) ... the following is a review published in The Miami Herald:

Monday, May 22, 2000

Funny ‘Jezebel’ Captures Bette Davis

BY CHRISTINE DOLEN

cdolen@herald.com

Our great stars have long been a character actor’s dream. Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Carol Channing: Their gestures, appearance and vocal tics make them instantly recognizable to adoring fans, irresistible to the transformative performers, who idolize and pay tribute to these dazzling ladies by “becoming” them.

Tops among these icons—and how this late, great star would love it—is Bette Davis. That swathed-in-cigarette-smoke “what a dump,” big-eyed, impossibly feisty Bette Davis, who is doubtless devoting herself in the Hereafter to tormenting the longtime object of her derision, Joan Crawford.

It seem only natural, therefore, to find …Jim Bailey playing Bette Davis in Elizabeth Fuller’s Me & Jezebel at the Wilton Playhouse in Wilton Manors. What is pleasantly surprising, though, is how thoroughly Bailey serves the play with his honest, nuanced performance.

Me & Jezebel, which co-stars Carbonell Award-winning actress Kim Cozort (so engaging here she seems to be glowing from within), is playwright Fuller’s recounting of the time in mid-1985 when Davis really did bunk and the Fuller household for “a few days”--and stayed and stayed and stayed. Fuller, a lifelong fan, is initially thrilled to have the star of Jezebel and All About Eve under her roof. But the celebrity tenant, who gives no indication of a firm departure date, quickly plunges the household into chaos.

Fuller’s cozy Connecticut house starts smelling like an ashtray. Her husband notes that Davis is conspicuously failing to pay for anything, and that she needs to move on pronto. Fuller’s 4-year-old son Christopher begins using language that no preschooler should even hear.

And yet this “Woman Who Came to Dinner” tale, played out on Barry Axtel’s skeletal yet evocative set, is often hilarious, tender and moving.

Under the direction of Gary Waldman and Mark Graham, Bailey shines, whether zinging one more dig about Crawford’s moral vacuity or feeling the sting of the Mommie Dearest-style expose written by Davis’ daughter. Cozort, who plays Fuller as well as evoking Christopher and others, keeps us a happily captive audience as her funny tale of wonder and woe unfolds.

The Wilton Playhouse itself is undergoing “renovation”—it looks, especially from the outside, like an uninviting mess—but it would be a mistake to let that keep you from Me & Jezebel, the little gem that Fuller, Bailey and Cozort are polishing within.

Christine Dolen is the Herald’s theater critic.