Up front and pulling no punches, Carrie Fisher bombards us with
the follies and foibles of her life with humor and sensitivity that
reach her audience to only the depth she wants it to reach.
Up front and pulling no punches, Carrie Fisher bombards us with the follies and foibles of her life with humor and sensitivity that reach her audience to only the depth she wants it to reach. She throws one liners out like a stand-up comic on a roll, but underneath it all there are moments of poignant truth that stab at the established line she has drawn. She is completely honest but at all times in control.
Drugs, booze, depression, bad choices in men, admitting to being diagnosed as bipolar and surviving the cinnamon bun hairdo of Princess Leia in “Star Wars” are all a part of this funny, (yes I said funny) hodgepodge of a life. Perhaps she was the most well-adjusted person in the theater at this performance. She makes no bones about owning all the baggage and yet she shares it with non-grim humor and rye wit. Perhaps that’s the secret to living with our truths and weaknesses – confront them with an honest amusing face.
Example: Her reference to her mom and dad, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and the Eddie Fisher/Elizabeth Taylor debacle, is cleared up for the younger crowd to understand and delivered with a black board and pointer. Debbie: Jennifer Aniston, Eddy: Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Taylor: Angelina Jolie. It’s all made very clear in this manner and there are very few questions left at the end of the second act.
She brings venerability to her story that takes it to more than a bunch of cheap shots to those she is talking about to an intellectual, whimsical, enjoyable level.
It is well-directed by Tony Taccone, with an interesting set that projects spotlight images at appropriate times. With a little audience participation here and there, “Wishful Drinking” is interesting and well played by a likeable, talented lady who has returned from a galaxy far, far away and has so far survived.
Camille Bounds is the arts and entertainment
editor for the Western Division of Sunrise Publications.
