Wishful Drinking with Carrie Fisher

I should have known what type of evening I was headed for when I saw four old women dressed in the Red Hat Society uniform — scarlet red sequent berets with head too toe matching ensembles probably purchased from QVC — enjoying the roast turkey special in the window at Cosmic diner. As I walked by thinking «that will be me one day» little did I know I was already one of them.
I would run into this gaggle of elderly girl power again in the first mezzanine of Studio 54 for a preview performance of Carrie Fisher’s one woman show Wishful Drinking.
Now, you may ask, «why did you get a ticket to that, Kristen?» Good question, a one-​woman show created and performed by the woman most famous for being chained to a blob while wearing a metal bikini normally would not be on my theatre to-​see list, but I love solo performances. To carry an entire show solo, in my opinion, is the boldest act of theatrical courage I can witness and when one pops up I like to support the person who takes on the challenge.
Highlights of this style have been Vanessa Redgrave in Year of Magical Thinking and the most memorable of them all Christopher Plummer in Barrymore. So where does a bipolar Princess Leia fit into the mix? I have to say she doesn’t.
If I was in Branson, MO with my fellow silver fox bus tour members I think I would have loved this show, or at least would have been giggly shocked by some of the references to drugs, gay men and the love life of Eddie Fisher. But I’m a New Yorker, please — we are sitting in Studio 54 the walls have more shocking stories. And as for opening the show with a charming — and odd — antidote about waking up next to a gay guy dead in your bed — hello I live in Chelsea I can hear more hard core gay stories during Musical Monday at Splash.
Ms. Fisher is a snappy lady. I would love to have her as a guest at a dinner party because I bet she is magnificent with her spontaneous one-​liners and jokes around a table, but she is not much of an actress — or she was having a manic episode on stage — I’m not sure which.
I felt bad for the director because I can’t imagine his instruction was pace, use your hands a lot and talk fast. Plus, did she choose the costumes? She kept making jokes about her weight and her looks — she looks like her Mother (Debbie Reynolds) with a hint of her Step-​Mother (Connie Stevens) added on via plastic surgery — but she came out wearing silk pajamas and kicked off her shoes. You wear pajamas for comfort not for attractiveness, so don’t make fun of yourself for not looking great.
The delivery of the stories felt very stale and she forgot her accounts more then once blaming her early morning trip to the Today show as the reason (I would also blame whatever medication she obviously is on). There was some predictable interaction with the audience and a very predictable bit about a Princess Leia sex doll that looked more like an animé character to me, but I guess the point was made.
The Red Hats loved the show laughing at all the bits and blushing at the mere mention of «gay». I suspect they stayed after to get pictures and autographs that I know Ms. Fisher happily obliged.
I left vowing to never move to Florida, keep my plastic surgery to a minimum and if I ever end up marrying a man who leaves me for another man I will do the sensible thing and act like it never happened.

On a Tuesday night, the last thing I want to do is surround myself with high art and pretentious people. I want to unwind.
Last night, Carrie Fisher’s show was a little like reading Entertainment Weekly on heavy doses of codeine (which happens to be her drug of choice). There was this warm relaxing glow to the whole evening, complete with complimentary wine after the show.
Oh, and George Lucas was sitting three rows in front of me. As in, THE George Lucas. As in, «these are not the droids you are looking for» George Lucas.
Debbie Reynolds was in the audience once again (she came for the first preview), and Fisher even «outed» her at one point, yelling «Right, mom? RIGHT??».
Perfection.
The production is not a play as much as a loosely organized string of silly anecdotes about Hollywood and testimonials to addiction and its aftermath. You won’t be able to discuss the actress’s «layered performance» and the «subtle nuances» of the character’s rites of passage.
This show is not for culture snobs but for Americans hooked on reality tv and Flavor Flav.
The next production at Berkeley Rep, Les Waters’ TRAGEDY, will bring back your exploration of the futility of man’s existence in a postmodern world. I’m sure it will be brilliant.
But for now, I’ll pour myself a drink and keep laughing.

We went to the 7:00pm show of Wishful Drinking last night and laughed out loud too many times to count. The show’s bittersweet, of course, but CF was a delight – a consumate performer; a warm, witty, and inventive host; and a down-​to-​earth person. The staging is minimal but natural and intimate, quite fantastic, and the slide show and other visual extras are fascinating. To make a great evening at the Berkeley Rep (Roda Theater) even better, Debbie Reynolds was in the audience (upper right mezzanine, first row), and toward the end of the show (but still with significant time left) her daughter acknowledged and interacted with her, and then the audience was interacting with them both. It’s a very polished show, but CF definitely leaves considerable room for improvisation and audience contributions. The audience gave her a standing O. And who knew that Eddie Fisher lives in San Francisco?

wishful drinking
written and performed by Carrie fisher
I wonderful night of Hollywood stories with Carrie Fisher. I get the feeling the show changes a bit each night as she tailors the set for the crowd that night.
And as she does admit her memory is light headed — Many tales some and go and appear in different versions depending what night you see the 90 minute performance.
Its all good and she is entertaining as she talks deeply about her mother and dad — and her short marriage to Paul Simon.
Of course star wars is a topic — and its done very funny as she pokes fun at the film that changed her career and life with one funny wig and white gown.
worth the night to the rep to see this show.
Carrie Rocks
Vince
Vmedia Berkeley Castro Valley
more info about the show: runs thru March 30^th 2008
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wishful drinking
written and performed by carrie fisher
directed by tony taccone
in association with jonathan reinis productions
the roda theatre
february 8-​march 30, 2008
running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes,
including one 15 minute intermission
the art
multimedia
Visit Carrie’s website
Carrie Fisher is the life of the party on Berkeley Rep’s 40^th birthday with Wishful Drinking, an uproarious and sobering look at her Hollywood hangover. Fisher tells a true and intoxicating story with the strong, wry wit that she poured into bestsellers like Postcards from the Edge. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in the original Star Wars when only 19 years old. Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother, Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It’s an incredible tale – from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed. Entertainment Weekly declares Drinking «drolly hysterical,» and the Los Angeles Times dubs it a «Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes.» Don’t miss this outrageous chance to get Carried away.
the artists
The daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher became a cultural icon when she starred as Princess Leia in the first Star Wars trilogy. Her star-​studded career includes roles in countless films such as Austin Powers, The Blues Brothers, Hannah and her Sisters, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Man with One Red Shoe, Romancing the Bride, Shampoo, When Harry Met Sally and Wonderland. Fisher’s first novel, Postcards from the Edge, leapt onto the New York Times’ bestseller list – and she turned it into a screenplay for a hit film starring Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep. Fisher followed this with three more bestsellers: The Best Awful, Delusions of Grandma and Surrender the Pink. Her television credits range all the way from Laverne and Shirley to Jack and Bobby. Fisher hosted her own show on the Oxygen network, Conversations from the Edge, and is currently a celebrity judge for Steven Spielberg’s On the Lot. Her experiences with addiction and mental illness – and her willingness to speak honestly about them – have made her a sought after speaker and respected advocate for this community.